We paid $475 to spend the night in an ice hotel in Norway. It was a cool experience, but I'd never do it again.
Dana McMahan
- My husband and I spent $475 to stay in the the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel in Norway.
- Sleeping in the hotel, which is made of ice and snow, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
- Next time, though, I'd rather skip the sleeping bags and stay in a warm lodge.
When my husband and I traveled to Norway and the Arctic Circle last year, we decided to stay in an otherworldly ice hotel — the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel at Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge in Alta, Norway.
At $475 per night, this was the most we've ever spent on a hotel stay. However, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to check off a bucket-list experience and stay at a place made of ice and snow.
Although the stunning hotel and scenery looked like something straight out of a fantasy, the closer it got to bedtime, the more I second-guessed our decision to sleep on ice.
Here's what our experience at the Igloo Hotel was like.
Dana McMahan
The ice hotel is open to the public for tours, so we didn't get access to our room until 8 p.m. However, due to the timing of our flight, we arrived around 1 p.m., which left us with plenty of time to explore.
We walked around outside, marveled at how dark it was, had some food, and hung out in the lobby, where we were fortunate enough to be able to see the northern lights.
Dana McMahan
Aside from its rooms and suites, the hotel's star attraction is its ice bar. It's only open for drinks during specific time slots, but the sheer fun of having a shot glass made of ice slid across an ice bar made up for the limited hours.
Here, I was able to sit down with my drink on a reindeer-hide-draped ice seat and channel my inner ice queen.
Dana McMahan
At around 10 p.m., we retrieved our bulky sleeping bags and pillows and toted them a short distance through sub-zero temperatures to get to our room.
The suite, which was entirely constructed of ice and snow and glowed with an otherworldly purple color, had two main sections: a sitting area and the main bedroom.
The bed was essentially a platform of ice topped with a comfy mattress and reindeer hides. Instead of a headboard, our room had a snow carving featuring an illuminated tree of life, an important symbol in Norse mythology.
Notably, there was no bathroom in the suite, so we were told to avoid drinking anything too close to bedtime — unless we wanted to walk to another building in the middle of the night.
Dana McMahan
Neither of us are campers, so burrowing down into sleeping bags and getting comfortable was a new process for us. Once we were settled, our room was very dark and incredibly quiet — you could almost feel the tons of snow overhead.
I tossed and turned most of the night (unlike my husband, who snoozed peacefully, as usual).
Our room wasn't uncomfortably cold, really, but I felt clammy inside the sleeping bag. Plus, the novelty of sleeping on ice felt too exciting for me to relax and fall asleep.
By 7 a.m., we were ready for warmth, coffee, and a wonderful Nordic breakfast buffet in the main lodge.
Dana McMahan
Staying at the Igloo Hotel was incredible, but I'm happy to keep it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We loved everything about the Arctic, but considering how much time we spent contending with extreme cold, it was a little over the top to also sleep in an ice hotel.
If I were to return to the hotel, I'd take a tour, have a drink at its ice bar, and then go sleep in a cheaper, warmer lodge nearby.
