Iceland Holiday | Independent Winter Tour 

ICEHOTEL® & Iceland

 The Restaurant © Mario Sirvio, Icehotel

Two very welcoming restaurants, one located almost opposite reception the other just a short walk from the ICEHOTEL, provide quite different dining experiences. Both incorporate the freshest local ingredients and offer a superb choice of first-rate food to enliven the taste buds.

The ICEHOTEL restaurant is a traditional building surrounded by pine trees. The interior has a light and airy feel and the candle-lit tables are set with crisp white linen, white tableware and silver cutlery. This is where the breakfast buffet is set out and for the evenings, there is a full service menu with delectable dishes put together by highly skilled chefs – traditionally based recipes as well as internationally inspired fusion food. Immaculately presented meals often feature reindeer, elk, grouse and Arctic char and the desserts are truly wicked! Complemented by an excellent wine list, this is fine dining in a very fine setting. Underneath the restaurant, you’ll find a cosy basement bar, the Nice Bar which serves light snacks.

Around a 10-minute walk from the ICEHOTEL is the Homestead restaurant. This large log cabin, with crackling fires and chequered tablecloths has a very rustic, homely atmosphere. The food has a ‘homecooked’ feel and is presented in a mix of buffet and waiter service.

The lounge bar located at the ICEHOTEL provides a comfortable evening retreat as well as somewhere to warm up during the day between excursions – light snacks available.

 Bar drinks in the Icebar © RTH Sigurdsson

One of the special features at the ICEHOTEL is the ice bar. No two designs are alike and every year, a stunning bar, complete with ample reindeer-covered seating, see-through counter and stacks of chunky ice glasses, provides a great albeit unusual way for its international guests to while away an evening.

In 1994 a partnership between the ICEHOTEL and ABSOLUT resulted in the very first ‘ICEBAR’. And today, that partnership with the world’s third largest spirit brand is still going strong. Their premium vodka, which comes in many exotic flavours and shades is mixed into cocktails and served not ‘on the rocks’ but ‘in the rocks’ at the ICEHOTEL and other ICEBARS which have opened in several capital cities.

Walking into the ABSOLUT ICEBAR, you’ll marvel at the innovative design and architectural brilliance of this large open space. The bar itself is built of blocks of pure ice always with a creatively carved backdrop behind the rows of cleverly stacked vodka bottles. This is a place to chat to your fellow guests and to admire the expert barmen as they create their colourful concoctions. You don’t have to drink vodka, if you’d prefer to warm up with a hot chocolate that’s fine – just don’t set your cup down on the bar!

Guests arriving at the ICEHOTEL pay a daytime visit to the bar, that’s when most people bring their cameras. In the evening however, it’s time to chill out in the coolest bar in the world…