Sweden's Icehotel reveals its breathtaking new suites for 2024

This year's hotel is the 35th iteration of the Icehotel, with 26 artists from 13 countries spending weeks crafting the hotel's dazzling 12 art suites.

A 'short-sighted' rhinoceros, an 'immersive' bird's nest and an 'underwater world', are among the breathtaking ice sculptures that have been created for this year's hotel.

On top of that, the hotel's 'iconic' Main Hall will this year be almost 30m (98ft) long and feature 'crystal chandeliers created from 220 handcrafted ice crystals'.

Guests can also look forward to seeing the new 'Ceremony Hall', which is 'filled with icy floral splendour for weddings and events' and grabbing a drink at the hotel's Icebar.

This year's Icebar 'takes guests on a space journey' where they can 'sip on a drink beside a life-sized ice and snow astronaut'.

Each year, the hotel's construction process begins in the spring when ice blocks are harvested from the Torne River and then stored in the Icehotel's ice production hall.

The Icehotel is then created over the course of six weeks, using 500 tons of ice as well as 10 Olympic swimming pools' worth of 'snis' - a mixture of snow and ice.

The artists were joined by a 'dedicated team of builders, artists, lighting designers, ice production and [support staff]' to craft their icy masterpieces.

Guests checking in to one of the hotel's astounding suites will need to wrap up warm as the Icehotel's temperature is maintained at minus five degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) to keep its incredible sculptures in tip-top condition.

In 'Whoops Wrong Room!!', designed by Swedish artist AnnaSofia Maag, 'a shortsighted rhinoceros crashes through a hotel room wall, symbolising the sudden and unseen disruptions in our lives'.

Carl and Malena Wellander are the brains behind the 'Give Us a Kiss' suite, which features cavorting animals and offers a 'vision of what happens in the Swedish woods when we are not there'.

'Ice Kiln', designed by U.S architects Jaeyual Lee and Daeho Lee, is 'inspired by the elegance of traditional Korean pottery kilns' and 'blends ancient craftmanship with modern architecture'.

Drawing inspiration from 'ancient Greek heroes', the 'Antique Myths' suite highlights the 'fight between good and evil' and was created by Ukrainian artists Iemelianenko Viacheslav and Bogdan Kutsevych.

The 'Hideaway' suite was designed by Dutch artists Pieke Bergmans and Peter De Wit as a 'shelter' and 'protected space where guests can retreat'.

According to the designers, the 'Yesterday's Tomorrow' suite 'explores how our futures might have appeared, had we persisted in designing the world with the aesthetics and principles of the Art Deco and Streamline Modern movements'.

A SNOWSTORM OF FACTS ABOUT THE 2024 ICEHOTEL

• Twenty-six artists (from 13 countries) have created the new suites in Icehotel 35

• Five hundred and fifty tons of ice were used to build Icehotel 35

• Ten Olympic swimming pools of snis, a mix of snow and ice, were used to create the hotel

• Two hundred and twenty handcrafted ice crystals were used to make the chandeliers

• It took six weeks to build from start to finish

• 76 people worked on this year's Icehotel

• The total amount of ice used from the Torne River is equivalent to ten seconds of water flow in the river

• Icehotel maintains a temperature of -5 degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) to keep the sculptures from melting

Inside the Nacken suite, created by Tjasa Gusfors and Sam Gusfors, guests are invited to 'a meeting with the magical underwater world of the Nixie', 'an aquatic creature' that lives next to streams and 'dangerous bodies of water'.

The 'Akhu Fahcat' suite translates as 'Grandmother's Mittens' in the Sami language and was created by Elisabeth Kristensen in 'honour and celebration of knitting'.

Guests who check in to the 'Flight' suite will sleep on a bed surrounded by birds. 'The pillars that rise from [the bed] are transformed and released into the sky as birds,' say the artists. In another bird-themed creation, the 'Come Warm Up' suite by Isabelle Gasse & Joelle Gagnon, offers an 'immersive experience' where guests will be 'situated inside a black-capped chickadee's nest'.

Father and son duo Rob and Timsan Harding designed the 'Change through Time' suite to honour the 'pure beauty' of a 'raw block of ice', while The 'Zig and Zag' suite by Nicolas Triboulot and Clement Daquin features 'meanders, curves and convolutions' that represent how 'the shortest path is not always the most beautiful'.

Once the guests have explored their icy surroundings, activities on offer at the hotel include snowmobiling, Northern Lights tours, saunas, ice-sculpting and wilderness dining.

This year's hotel will be open until April 2025.

By ESTHER MARSHALL