ICEHOTEL Entrance

(Ben Nilsson/Big Ben Productions)

With the summer months quickly approaching, most folks are already ditching layers of clothing in favor of tank-tops, bikinis, and a few sweat-inducing hours under the sun.

But not in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Sunscreen and sand are in short order in this tourist hub situated just north of the Arctic Circle. Here you're much more likely to find yourself in a pair of thermal underwear nuzzled into the warmth of a reindeer hide. That's because Jukkasjärvi is the only place you can find yourself in the world's largest hotel made entirely of ice.

Aptly dubbed ICEHOTEL, this isn't your run of the mill Motel 6; it's crystalline monolith situated on, and created out of, the Torne River, that features rooms carved by the creative hands of global artists. Instead of taupe walls and sticky floral comforters,ICEHOTEL offers up nights in rooms with themes like "Dragon Residence," in which you'll find yourself sleeping atop a block of ice under the vigilant eyes of a dragon ice sculpture. You may want to pack an extra sweater though, temperatures inside the hotel can drop as low as 17 degrees Fahrenheit.

During the summer the hotel melts and runs off into theTorne,but a three suite summerICEHOTEL, housed in a freezer, is available in the months between. By then, the purveyors of ICEHOTEL already possess enough ice to make next year's edition.In Spring, crews work around the clock using specialized chainsaws to harvest blocks of ice weighing roughly two tons until they've accumulated 4,000 tons. All that ice is then shipped to a massive freezer where it lay untouched until mid-November when construction begins. The towering blocks are fitted into place on the same plot that housed the previous ICEHOTEL, and strengthened using 30,000 tons of 'snice'--a dedicated mixture of snow and ice sprayed over the ice blocks to solidify the structure. Once complete, the hotel opens for business, and keeps its doors open until the summer sun returns the ice to the Torne.

Make sure to check out all of the unique features the hotel has to offer in the slideshow above.