smee
Posted: 01 Dec 2006
4:01am | | Ice Hotel - tours and activities | | Hi,
Can anyone recommend a tour provider operating from the Ice Hotel or Kiruna? I've found quite a few on the internet but it would be nice to go with a recommendation, although I'm sure they are all good. Looking for various half or one day tours, all the usual stuff - snowmobiling, dog sledding, northern lights, showshoeing etc.
Thanks! |
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peterscot
Posted: 01 Dec 2006
5:02am | | 1. | | Not sure I understand the question. The Ice Hotel will organise all that for you. I doubt they would be too happy about another operator using their premises to run tours.
If you are not staying in the Ice Hotel, then there are numerous operators in the area and Kiruna. There's some good tourism sites, but I can't remember the URLs offhand. try the FAQs here, or one of the hundreds of posts on the ice hotel, or searching on "kiruna tourism" on google.
I didn't try snowshoeing, but the others are brilliant. cross-country ski-ing is hot work, and elk safari makes for a interesting trip to the airport.
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smee
Posted: 03 Dec 2006
1:29pm | | 2. | | Well, we are staying at the ice hotel but they don't seem to publish their prices anymore, plus we have requested a price list for activities and they have not sent it. It seems from comments I have seen on the internet that you can bank on them charging double....?
I'm just wondering which Kiruna tour providers can pick up from the ice hotel, I know it's a way out of Kiruna. Found a great website since I posted this though, looks like Kiruna Guidetur do a great selection. |
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Ria
Posted: 06 Dec 2006
1:42am | | 3. | | Quote
Not sure I understand the question. The Ice Hotel will organise all that for you. I doubt they would be too happy about another operator using their premises to run tours.
Exactly.
We booked all ours though the Icehotel & we had an amazing time...
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All evil needs is for good men to do nothing... |
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Ria
Posted: 23 Jan 2007
8:10am | | 4. | | As requested Smee - here it is:
We went in Feb two years ago and the whole experience was wonderful.
As you might realise they re-build it every year and each time it's different expect this!! It's the only thing they re-build every year.
I hate the cold but because, included in the price, you can borrow this wonderful warm overalls, shoes and gloves (take your own hat though, the ones on offer are so ugly) you are never cold. I really didn’t expect to have that much fun. As I said, I thought I’d be cold, not sleep properly (see below), that it would be a bit dull in-between activates (especially since it’s in the middle of nowhere) – I’m glad to admit I was very, very wrong. I loved every minute of it.
When we stayed in the actual Ice Hotel I was worried that I'd be awake all night, freezing my ass of (on a bed made out of snow and ice) and/or panicking over the 'mummy' sleeping bag, but neither happened. The sleeping bags have loads of room and are very warm and we slept like babies, which I hadn't expected at all. In the morning we were greeted by a member of staff bearing a mug of warm lingonberry juice, which was very welcome as we climbed out of our sleeping bags before going for breakfast. One hint, if you want them to take a picture of you in the morning, leave the camera IN the sleeping bag, as the battery will die in the cold! Oh, make sure you don't drink anything for most of the latter part of the day or you might have to get up in the night! I heard of a guy that had to go in the night and he couldn't face getting back in the cold to his room so he slept in the locker-room! What a waste of money!
We stayed one night in one of the adorable cabins. We chose the ‘Aurora Cabin’ as it has a window over the bed to watch the stars or if you’re lucky – the northern lights. It is fully equipped for self-catering. Although there’s a small shop in the village we only used the fridge for beer and the freezer for the ice-glasses (see below).
The ice-bar is brilliant. The bar, tables and even the glasses are made out of solid clear ice (no the glasses doesn’t stick to your lips). The year we went there was a 10m (30ft) high dome is made out of 100,000 snowballs. There is music and a disco on the weekend. The drinks are all Absolute vodka-cocktails of all sorts. The first drink is the most expensive as it includes for the glasses. The refill is cheaper and you can get +5 drinks out of it before it melts completely. If you only have one (and you want to save money) you can take it back to the cabin and put in the freezer. I think we tried almost all varieties of cocktails by the time we left. My favourite "Spicy Ice" (as I like spicy things) was the one made with Absolute Peppar, spicy syrup and a dash of cranberry juice! Yummy!
The breakfast area in the building across the road turns in to a top-notch restaurant at night and there’s a bar downstairs for anyone that misses his or her beer.
The dog-sledge ride with a coffee break was brilliant and loads of fun! To sit there as the dogs pulled us through the wilderness and watching the sun go down was stunning. We were like kids in the snow (making snow-angels), who cares - it's not like we're going to see those people again. :-)
The trip to the Sami camp was brilliant and I'm really glad we chose to do it at the earlier time of 3pm instead of 6. That meant that we could take great pictures and also watch the beautiful sunset. The snowmobile ride there was fun, you're on a sled behind it rather than driving it (well normally that's what happens). However on the day we went they were a guide short, so when he asked if anyone had driven a snowmobile before, I told them that I had. I didn't expect to actually drive it! It was scary but fun! The 800m alone reindeer ride was hilarious! If you don't take control they ignore you and eat snow! I got mine to run like crazy around the track but my arms were so tired after driving the snowmobile that I didn't have the strength to hold the harness properly at the end so mine too got bored and ate snow!
The scariest by far was the outdoor ice bath that we chose to do. You start with a sauna, then go outdoors and take a plunge in the ice bath (yes a hole in the ice into the 0 Celsius water), the out as quick as possible before jumping into the outdoor hottub! I'm glad I did it but I don't think I'd do it again. It was a total shock to the system going from +70 degrees of the sauna to the 0 degrees of the water! It takes your breath away completely. We couldn't wait to get into the large hottub. I could have stayed in there all evening floating around and watching the stars. Apart from our hair freezing it was wonderful. The weirdest thing is that afterwards I felt so warm that I didn’t wear my hat or gloves and at one point even tide the overall around me waist (outside). Someone told me that the shock of hot to cold somehow reset your ‘thermostat’.
We never went to the 'The Globe Theatre' (yes a replica of Shakespeare Globe in ice) as we didn’t have enough time but there are shows every night.
There's also a ‘proper’ church (also made of ice) where you can get married and many do!
We also stayed one night in Kiruna at the The Winter Palace . I can't begin to tell you how underrated this place is in the guidebooks! The rooms are fantastic, you can (for free) hire the sauna, Jacuzzi and sunbed area privately for an hour (and I would highly recommend) and the breakfast was amazing - much better than the Icehotel for example! We didn't have time to go into the mines but the people that did said it was great.
I would highly recommend the experience to anyone!
Depending on when you go, in mid-Feb there is the biggest winter market in the world (I think) of the Sami people where you can get great hand made crafts. We missed it by one day :-(
-------------------------
All evil needs is for good men to do nothing... |
|
Ria
Posted: 23 Jan 2007
8:10am | | 5. | | As requested Smee - here it is:
We went in Feb two years ago and the whole experience was wonderful.
As you might realise they re-build it every year and each time it's different expect this!! It's the only thing they re-build every year.
I hate the cold but because, included in the price, you can borrow this wonderful warm overalls, shoes and gloves (take your own hat though, the ones on offer are so ugly) you are never cold. I really didn’t expect to have that much fun. As I said, I thought I’d be cold, not sleep properly (see below), that it would be a bit dull in-between activates (especially since it’s in the middle of nowhere) – I’m glad to admit I was very, very wrong. I loved every minute of it.
When we stayed in the actual Ice Hotel I was worried that I'd be awake all night, freezing my ass of (on a bed made out of snow and ice) and/or panicking over the 'mummy' sleeping bag, but neither happened. The sleeping bags have loads of room and are very warm and we slept like babies, which I hadn't expected at all. In the morning we were greeted by a member of staff bearing a mug of warm lingonberry juice, which was very welcome as we climbed out of our sleeping bags before going for breakfast. One hint, if you want them to take a picture of you in the morning, leave the camera IN the sleeping bag, as the battery will die in the cold! Oh, make sure you don't drink anything for most of the latter part of the day or you might have to get up in the night! I heard of a guy that had to go in the night and he couldn't face getting back in the cold to his room so he slept in the locker-room! What a waste of money!
We stayed one night in one of the adorable cabins. We chose the ‘Aurora Cabin’ as it has a window over the bed to watch the stars or if you’re lucky – the northern lights. It is fully equipped for self-catering. Although there’s a small shop in the village we only used the fridge for beer and the freezer for the ice-glasses (see below).
The ice-bar is brilliant. The bar, tables and even the glasses are made out of solid clear ice (no the glasses doesn’t stick to your lips). The year we went there was a 10m (30ft) high dome is made out of 100,000 snowballs. There is music and a disco on the weekend. The drinks are all Absolute vodka-cocktails of all sorts. The first drink is the most expensive as it includes for the glasses. The refill is cheaper and you can get +5 drinks out of it before it melts completely. If you only have one (and you want to save money) you can take it back to the cabin and put in the freezer. I think we tried almost all varieties of cocktails by the time we left. My favourite "Spicy Ice" (as I like spicy things) was the one made with Absolute Peppar, spicy syrup and a dash of cranberry juice! Yummy!
The breakfast area in the building across the road turns in to a top-notch restaurant at night and there’s a bar downstairs for anyone that misses his or her beer.
The dog-sledge ride with a coffee break was brilliant and loads of fun! To sit there as the dogs pulled us through the wilderness and watching the sun go down was stunning. We were like kids in the snow (making snow-angels), who cares - it's not like we're going to see those people again. :-)
The trip to the Sami camp was brilliant and I'm really glad we chose to do it at the earlier time of 3pm instead of 6. That meant that we could take great pictures and also watch the beautiful sunset. The snowmobile ride there was fun, you're on a sled behind it rather than driving it (well normally that's what happens). However on the day we went they were a guide short, so when he asked if anyone had driven a snowmobile before, I told them that I had. I didn't expect to actually drive it! It was scary but fun! The 800m alone reindeer ride was hilarious! If you don't take control they ignore you and eat snow! I got mine to run like crazy around the track but my arms were so tired after driving the snowmobile that I didn't have the strength to hold the harness properly at the end so mine too got bored and ate snow!
The scariest by far was the outdoor ice bath that we chose to do. You start with a sauna, then go outdoors and take a plunge in the ice bath (yes a hole in the ice into the 0 Celsius water), the out as quick as possible before jumping into the outdoor hottub! I'm glad I did it but I don't think I'd do it again. It was a total shock to the system going from +70 degrees of the sauna to the 0 degrees of the water! It takes your breath away completely. We couldn't wait to get into the large hottub. I could have stayed in there all evening floating around and watching the stars. Apart from our hair freezing it was wonderful. The weirdest thing is that afterwards I felt so warm that I didn’t wear my hat or gloves and at one point even tide the overall around me waist (outside). Someone told me that the shock of hot to cold somehow reset your ‘thermostat’.
We never went to the 'The Globe Theatre' (yes a replica of Shakespeare Globe in ice) as we didn’t have enough time but there are shows every night.
There's also a ‘proper’ church (also made of ice) where you can get married and many do!
We also stayed one night in Kiruna at the The Winter Palace . I can't begin to tell you how underrated this place is in the guidebooks! The rooms are fantastic, you can (for free) hire the sauna, Jacuzzi and sunbed area privately for an hour (and I would highly recommend) and the breakfast was amazing - much better than the Icehotel for example! We didn't have time to go into the mines but the people that did said it was great.
I would highly recommend the experience to anyone!
Depending on when you go, in mid-Feb there is the biggest winter market in the world (I think) of the Sami people where you can get great hand made crafts. We missed it by one day :-(
-------------------------
All evil needs is for good men to do nothing... |
|
smee
Posted: 23 Jan 2007
8:20am | |
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