The town of Jukkasjärvi in far northwestern Sweden, 90 miles by road from the Norwegian border at Riksgränsen and just a few more miles from the Finnish border at Karesuvanto, is once again opening its world-famous Icehotel, hosting guests up for adventure and wishing to see nature at its most pristine.

This season, the Icehotel 33 — the number corresponds to the number of years the hotel has been constructed — opened on Dec. 16 and will close on April 16.

Icehotel Group launched the first ice hotel in 1989, and in 2016 added a permanent ice section where guests can stay year-round. The company also operates traditional hotel rooms and chalets on the resort.

But the true experience comes when artists build the new renditions of ice rooms and suites every season.

Management suggests that to obtain the full Arctic experience, most guests stay one night in a deluxe, very warm sleeping bag in one of the chilly sleeping options and two nights in traditional rooms kept toasty warm by conventional heating.

Icehotel 33 sits beside the Torne River, which for many miles of its course forms the border between Sweden and Finland.

For its 2022-23 season, 24 artists from 15 countries were invited to help design the hotel and the site’s other facilities and attractions, which include a main reception and lobby, a lounge, art gallery and an ice bar.

The Icehotel’s creative director, Luca Roncoroni, said 135 artists from 23 different countries applied to be involved.

She said this year’s Icehotel will be memorable "because we were finally able to hold an open international competition again. It has been a challenge to pick only 12 concepts out of so many great ideas.”

Marie Herrey, CEO of the hotel, said she is amazed, even a little emotional, to see the response the hotel receives every winter.

“Since the start in 1989, several hundred artists and builders have put all their knowledge and passion into the project, and their efforts are still mesmerizing our guests,” she said.

Twelve “Art Suites” are on site, with some designed by the French duo of Mathieu Brison and Luc Voisin. Their contributions are collectively named Bauh-ice, a nod to the German Bauhaus design era.

There also are 24 rooms designed by Icehotel33’s in-house team.

According to Roncoroni, 2,500 blocks of ice are carved out of Torne River ice every year, for a collective weight in ice of 5,000 tons, and approximately 70,000 people make the long trek to the hotel over the course of a year, many attending one of the 80 weddings held annually.

Herrey said there always are challenges involved in such a complex and spectacular hotel.

“Of course, it is a big job to harvest ice and build a new Icehotel every year, but I prefer to focus on the possibilities this gives us. We have the unique opportunity to create new spaces and experiences every year, and not many companies do.

“The building process is also an inspiring time, when creatives from all over the world meet up in tiny Jukkasjärvi, above the Arctic Circle. It is really a magical time of the year, to see Icehotel come to life every December,” she said.

Climate change, too, causes headaches in both operations and development, she said.

“Winter is less predictable, and temperatures much more ‘swinging.’ We may have -35 Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit) one day and -2 Celsius (28.4 Fahrenheit) the day after.

"It is definitely more challenging to build Icehotel now, and that is why I’m grateful for the extremely skilled team we have,” she added.

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