The Most Beautiful Ice Castles in the World

A winter trip to the Swiss Alps isn’t complete without visiting Jungfraujoch, not just for the Jungfraujoch ice palace, but to experience the high-elevation railway and see Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The highest-altitude ice palace in the world, it's sculpted from the longest glacier in Europe. A mountain guide started building the ice palace in 1934, carving birds, animals, cars, and furniture—as well as a bar—into its frosty exterior. If you take the Jungfrau railway through the Swiss Alps, you’ll come to the highest-altitude train station in Europe—and that’s where you’ll find this ornate ice castle.

Hôtel de Glace is an absolute wonder and the only ice hotel in North America. Rebuilt each year to provide guests with a unique, icy experience, stay for the weekend and enjoy all the luxuries on offer, from outdoor hot tubs to cocktails served in ice glasses. Getting to Hôtel de Glace is easy, too—and less than three miles from Quebec City. With a bed frame carved from ice (don’t worry, there are extra cozy blankets to keep you warm at night), you’ll stay in your own igloo-like room. If you aren’t able to visit for a full weekend, you can still tour the Hôtel de Glace and visit the ice bar.

Rebuilt each winter by local contractors, this spellbinding Finnish castle is the most significant snow fort in the world. (For the 2019 winter season, it will be open from January to April.) Erected on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, the SnowCastle of Kemi has a snow restaurant and even a snow chapel with intricate ice sculptures, where visitors can get married. Accommodations come with sleeping bags designed for arctic conditions, as room temperatures can reach well below freezing. Kemi is located near the Swedish border along the Bothnian gulf in Southern Lapland, which locals refer to as Sea Lapland.

When you come to Lincoln Ice Castle with small children, they recommend placing your tots in sleds instead of using a stroller—if that’s not authentic ice castle charm, what is? There’s plenty of entertainment for the whole family at Lincoln Ice Castle, from enchanted princesses to live fire performances. Buy a ticket to scope out the dreamy icicles—and make sure to see them in the evening when the massive sculptures are illuminated.  The company that builds Lincoln Ice Castle has several ice installations around the world, including castles in Canada and New Zealand.

The legendary Sapporo Snow Festival, a spectacular celebration of light, ice, and ingenuity, is held in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. It spans across three sites (Odori Park, Susukino, and the Tsu Dome) and attracts about two million tourists from around the world for one week every February. One year, its main ice castle was an homage to Stockholm Cathedral. (Sculpting enormous ice castles is part of an annual tradition, with artisans sometimes crafting replicas of well-known landmarks like the Taj Mahal.) The Sapporo Ice Festival is essentially one of the biggest winter wonderlands in the world and the fact that it’s set in the Japanese mountains, and the charming city of Sapporo, only adds to its appeal.

Constructed annually on Lake Louise is a gorgeous ice castle you can skate straight across. With the Rocky Mountains and Victoria Glacier as the backdrop, the seasonal castle on display during Banff’s Ice Magic Festival has been a tradition for more than 20 years, with the same man constructing the ice castle on Lake Louise since 2007. If you stay at one of six Lake Louise resorts, including Castle Mountain Chalets and Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, you’ll even get free tickets to the festival. This season, the magic will take place Jan. 15 - 26, 2020.