Rebuilt every December from ice blocks cut from the nearby lake, Kirkenes Snow Hotel is one of the more serious examples of the seasonal ice-hotel genre. Each room is carved with its own sculptural theme by a team of artists; the ice bar serves cocktails in cups made of ice, the corridors glow with embedded lighting, and the whole structure holds together by virtue of the Arctic cold.
Guests sleep in expedition sleeping bags on ice platforms — the rooms hover around −5 °C while the outside temperature is typically far lower — and there is a heated wooden annex with showers and a sauna for those who need a break from the cold. Day visitors and tour groups can walk through for a fee. The hotel sits on a lake about 10 km from central Kirkenes, far enough outside town for reasonable aurora views on clear nights. Open roughly December to April.