Cool & the Gang: The Queen of All Ice Hotels Has Faces Carved Into the Walls

Thursday, January 23, 2014, by Lily di Costanzo

Photo via My Modern Met

While a few fun-hating critics may have cooled toward the whole ice-building trend, it's clearly just because they've never witnessed the totally bonkers majesty of the IgluLodge, an ice hotel nestled in the Allgäu Alps near Oberstdorf, Germany. Sure, frosty hotels of the past have dallied in ice sculpting—constructing impressive UFO-themed rooms and awesomely meta ice buildings within ice buildings—but none have quite taken it to the level of this secluded German hideaway, which boasts a different theme for each room. In the restaurant, for example, leering snow queens and goblins pop out from the walls, while in the bar there are some very cold, very out-of-place Totem poles taking center stage. In each individual sleeping hut is a bed insulated with "original Norwegian reindeer skin," a rose frozen into an ice-block, and, yep, more massive wall art. Not unlike the epic creations on display at China's famed Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, every creation is lit up in neon colors, further enhancing the effect. Find a few more shots below, and then head over to My Modern Met for the full gallery.

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