While the weather is heating up, here are some places you can take your group to chill out.
1. Ice Hotel – Wilderness Camps, Sweden
Specialist tour operator Simply Sweden is now offering a holiday in Swedish Lapland with a stay at an ice hotel. Icehotel365 is located on the banks of the Torne River and features 24 rooms and suites. Inside each room there are ice sculptures and ice art and each room comes with warm ensuites
If an overnight stay is too much, groups can test the icy waters with a visit to the Ice Bar London to experience a bar made of ice that is kept at 5°C all year round. The walls, bars, tables and glasses are made of ice, and groups don designer cloaks to enter the area for 40 minutes. There’s a warmer restaurant on site, but visitors can also indulge in bar snacks inside the main ice area.
If a snow hotel doesn’t tickle your fancy, how about a snow castle instead? The SnowCastle is located in Mansikkanokankatu in Finland, and visiting groups can take part in daily snow-related activities.
The castle itself is home to the SnowRestauraunt, SnowHotel and SnowChapel, with snow sculptures and ice carvings. There’s also an exhibition which teaches visitors about the SnowCastle’s history since it opened in 1996.
4. Snozone, Milton Keynes and Castleford
Snozone is another one closer to home and is perhaps for the more adventurous. Groups can learn how to ski or snowboard on an indoors snow slope, with skiing and snowboard lessons or freestyle visits. Many group packages include restaurant and bar facilities, plus links with hotels. Visitors can also try their hand at sledging, or, at the Castleford location, experience the ice slide.
Groups hoping to spot the Northern Lights or the Midnight Sun could do so with a visit to the Igloo Village in Kakslauttanen. Visitors have the option to stay in glass igloos, kelo-glass igloos (wooden cabins with smaller igloos, too), log chalets and snow igloos. The glass igloos are a popular choice, as they allow views of the night sky through an entire glass ceiling.
