The Ice Hotel is located at Jukkasjärvi which is within the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland.

The hotel is built entirely of ice taken from the adjacent Torne River together with snow and a mixture of both called 'snice'. The internal temperature varies between minus 5 and minus 8 degrees centigrade. Each spring the hotel melts and is rebuilt to a completely different design when the river freezes over again.

The Chapel, Ice Bar, Reception and all the Bedrooms are built entirely of ice with the exception of the mattresses, pillows and reindeer skin seat and bed covers. Even the beds and chairs are sculptured from ice.