A Night at the Iglu Hotel

Iglu Hotel, Grau Roig

When you think of your typical ski holiday, you don’t tend to think that you can stay in an igloo sculpted from ice… but in Grau Roig in the Grandvalira ski area you can do exactly that!  Towards the end of last winter Sofia and Ella from the Andorra Resorts team were lucky enough to experience this for themselves with a visit to the Iglu Hotel.

Sofia & Ella of Andorra Resorts with a piste basher

It all started at 7pm where we met for a champagne reception with views over the slopes of Grau Roig before we started the ascent to the hotel in a pistenbully, a special experience in itself!  It felt slightly wrong to be going UP a red run, but we got to see some brilliant views and managed to not fall on top of the others all seated in the piste basher as we made our way up the steep run.

You can see the Iglu Hotel when you are skiing in Grau Roig but it felt completely different when the slopes were empty, with the silent mountain and stunning views creating a lovely atmosphere.

Iglu Hotel, Grandvalira Grau Roig

First we were given a tour of the hotel where each room had different ice carvings and we were told that the reason there were frozen flowers and a Scottish carving on the roof was because a wedding had recently been held there. At this point, we got to see the Jacuzzi but were told going in them was being saved for later!

Ice carving in the igloo

As the sun went down, we were then taken on a snowshoe walk with our guide Oriole, and we walked up past the TK Coma II drag lift for views across Grandvalira as it got darker and we could see the lights of the pistenbullys preparing the slopes for the following day.

As we started to get hungry, we headed back to the hotel ready for our four-course dinner, for which they had taken our orders on the tour.  We ate in the dinner hall part of the Iglu which was made completely from ice and we sat on fur blankets to stop ourselves getting cold.  To start, we enjoyed an oyster and smoked salmon, followed by either lentejas (lentil stew) or vegetable soup, then pork cheek/risotto and finally an apple tart, all accompanied by more champagne (there was also a choice of red/white wine).

Sofia & Ella having dinner in the Iglu Hotel

After dinner, we went back outside to savour a hot chocolate before it was time to enjoy the Jacuzzi. It felt slightly like cheating, but we were thankful to be able to get changed in a heated room!! There were two different Jacuzzis, both of which had views of the stars thanks to wholes carved out in the top of the igloo. The hardest part of the trip (maybe even the season!) was getting out of the Jacuzzi in to the freezing temperatures but we got to run straight to the sauna to warm up, dry off and truly relax!

Once we were warm and dry, heading back to the room seemed easy and we were definitely ready to sleep… and what a cosy night it was! With sleeping bags for temperatures down to -25 degrees Celsius, we did keep our thermals on to sleep in but woke up really warm despite our room being made out of ice with butterfly carvings.

Ice carving in the bedroom

You can bring your skis to ski down in the morning (after tea/coffee up the mountain) or you have the option of getting the chairlift back down the main point of Grau Roig where we were served a lovely buffet breakfast including scrambled eggs, croissants and fresh orange juice.

Breakfast

Sadly at this point, the experience was over and it was time to enjoy the rest of the day skiing but we would highly recommend it to others to enjoy, whether it is for a romantic escape, or simply a night to experience something brand new!

If you’re interested in booking the Iglu Hotel experience please contact us for more information.

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