Jukkasjärvi
A Sami meeting place on the Torne River, two hundred kilometres above the Arctic Circle, where a hotel has been carved anew from the river ice every winter since 1989.
- Arrival
- Kiruna Airport · KRN
- To the village
- About 11 km from the airport
- Private jets
- Kiruna, slots required
- Best time
- December to April
The city
Ice from the river, art for a season.
Jukkasjärvi is a village of some five hundred people in Swedish Lapland. Its Sami name, Čohkkiras, means the lake of assembly: this was a Sami marketplace before Finnish-speaking settlers arrived in the seventeenth century. The wooden church, built around 1607, is the oldest building in the village.
Since 1989 the ICEHOTEL has been rebuilt every winter with ice cut from the Torne River, its art suites shaped by artists from around the world and open from December to April. Part of it now stays frozen all year in a solar-cooled building with permanent ice suites and a bar, and in summer the sun stays above the village for forty-seven days.
- ICEHOTEL Rooms and art suites made from Torne River ice, rebuilt every winter since 1989.
- Jukkasjärvi Church Built around 1607, the only surviving block-pillar church in Sweden, with a carved altarpiece by Bror Hjorth.
- ICEHOTEL 365 An all-season building where the ice suites and the Ice Bar stay frozen through the summer.
Arriving
Kiruna, between the town and the village.
Kiruna Airport, with a 2,502-metre runway, lies between the town of Kiruna and the village, about eleven kilometres from Jukkasjärvi as the crow flies.
- Stockholm 1 h 35
- Copenhagen 2 h 10
- Zurich 3 h 25
- Toronto 8 h 00 long-range jet
- Seoul 9 h 05 long-range jet
When to go
December to April.
Sub-arctic and dry: afternoons stay below freezing from November to March, falling to about -10 °C in January. December to April is the season of the ice rooms, of snow and of the northern lights. July is the warmest and wettest month, at about 17 °C, under the midnight sun.
- -10° J 26
- -8° F 23
- -4° M 21
- 1° A 26
- 8° M 33
- 14° J 53
- 17° J 81
- 14° A 68
- 9° S 46
- 2° O 35
- -4° N 32
- -8° D 29
Where to dine
Dinner at the ice hotel, and in Kiruna.
No MICHELIN star reaches Swedish Lapland this far north. These tables are scored in the Falstaff Restaurant & Bistro Guide Nordics 2026 or the White Guide 2026.
- Verandan Falstaff, 92 points Chef’s table, Sámi seasons ICEHOTEL, Jukkasjärvi
- ICEHOTEL Restaurant White Guide 2026, Very Fine level Nordic ICEHOTEL, Jukkasjärvi
- Camp Ripan Falstaff, 88 points Nordic and Sámi Kiruna, about 16 km west
Elsewhere in Sweden
More reasons to come.
- Stockholm Gamla Stan, the Vasa museum, and a city built across fourteen islands.
- Vaxholm A town at the mouth of the Stockholm archipelago, its fortress on the old sea lane.
- Gothenburg The west coast, its shellfish and its rocky islands.
- Båstad Tennis and summer houses on the coast of Skåne.
- Åre The leading ski resort of Scandinavia.
Flying to Jukkasjärvi?
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