02/20/2008
Abisko Ark Hotel: Few Amenities But a Great View
This is part of the latest hotel to open in northern Sweden, the Abisko Ark hotel. It's made up of a few huts in the middle of Lake Tornetrask, three kilometers out where the ice is a meter and a half thick. The main purpose of the hotel? To view the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights as some call it.
"Guests are expected to bring essentials such as thermal underwear, fleeces and woolly hats, but the hotel provides thick outerwear and heavy snowmobile boots. From a distance the huts look anything but substantial. With a pitched roof, a small window and narrow door, they squat on the snow-covered ice like dark blemishes. But they are more than a match for the elements, constructed of double-skinned pine and plywood with a thick layer of insulation in between, and kept warm with propane heaters. Each is about six metres square and sleeps three comfortably on single beds. The best part is that by each bed is a resealable hole in the wooden floor, allowing guests to fish from the comfort of their down-filled sleeping bags."
The writer of this piece took on the lights completely naked. For those like him, there's a sauna and hot tub waiting.
(Gallery)
Ice, Fire, and a Free Light Show [the observer]
(via bldg blog)
Posted 5:01 PM EST by Andy in Hotels, News, Space, Sweden | Permalink
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I like to think that the writer of this blog posts whilst completely naked.
*makes dreamy eyes*
Posted by: Jayde | Feb 20, 2008 5:14:47 PM
I'm too much of a Prince to enjoy these accommodations.
Posted by: Maverick69 | Feb 20, 2008 6:51:14 PM
Yeah.........
No thanks! :-)
Posted by: KevinQC | Feb 21, 2008 12:43:23 AM
This just made my list of the top ten places I want to stay. Incredible!
Posted by: peterparker | Feb 21, 2008 1:01:02 AM
Not to pour cold water on the article, but the area is hardly off the beaten track: Abisko is on the main road between Narvik in Norway and Kiruna in Sweden where the Ice Hotel is located. ( http://tinyurl.com/3dn5js )
I was up there around this time last year, and on my trip out to see the aurora was part of the only group that week to see *anything*. It's an amazing part of the world but be prepared for low low temps (-40C, -60C windchill) and high high prices.
Posted by: Mike | Feb 21, 2008 5:38:20 AM
What, no photos of the naked writer!?
Posted by: shane | Feb 21, 2008 7:09:02 AM
It's well worth the trip to see this phenomenon.
BTW-did everyone in the U.S. watch the lunar eclipse last night? I was in NYC so I couldn't take nice photographs but it was a lovely sight.
Posted by: Gary | Feb 21, 2008 9:11:45 AM