Ice Hotels

This one is a year-round ice building, which is rare. Sixty miles from Fairbanks, the museum is held below freezing through an absorption chiller running on geothermal energy drawn from the hot springs the resort is named for — heat from the ground, in other words, is what keeps the ice standing in July.

Inside are carved chandeliers lit in shifting colour, an ice bar serving drinks in glasses cut from ice, and sculpted rooms with beds of ice laid with hides and heavy sleeping bags. Overnight stays are limited and seasonal; most visitors come for the tour, then cross the snow to the hot spring lake outside. The contrast between the two is the whole reason the place exists.