The is a taste of real life on the icey rocks, if you head 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden to check into the ICE HOTEL. Constructed annually in ice from scratch in the near-unpronounceable hamlet of Jukkasjärvi when the area’s meter-thick ice layer forms in late Fall, the hotel is built by a team of artists who are responsible for the temporary building’s architecture and overall design which includes 10 suites, the Absolut Vodka-sponsored IceBar, an onsite restaurant, and even an ice church. With no heat in the giant igloo, guests sleep in thermal sleeping bags on beds built of snow and ice, covered in native reindeer skins. Lounging about is done on chairs made of ice blocks and by nite the IceBar serves vodka at subzero temperatures in carved ice shot glasses. Recreational activities around the hotel include dogsled rides, Reindeer rustling, northern lights watching, and frozen waterfall climbing. The highlight of this year’s construction by far is guest artist Ben Rousseau’s suite, “Operation Blade” that features a barrel-vaulted space with a bed surrounded by fins of ice. The curious have until the 15th of April to bed down. Click on the Images for a larger view.