Iglu-Dorf builds whole villages of igloos in the Alps every winter, complete with carved snow art, an ice bar and hot tubs under the stars, and lets you spend the night inside. The company, based in Stansstad, Switzerland, runs igloo villages in Zermatt, Gstaad and Davos Klosters in Switzerland, at Kühtai near Innsbruck in Austria, and on the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain.
How the igloos are built every winter
None of the igloos survive the summer. Each village is rebuilt from scratch every year, taking about 3,000 working hours. The domes are shaped over large balloons, with snow ploughs moving the snow and the rest done by hand. By midwinter the snow is so hard that a piste groomer could drive over it without damage.
Because the villages are rebuilt each season, the layout, room designs and services change from year to year. Rows of rounded entrances are often all you see from outside.
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Iglu-Dorf locations and season
For the 2026–27 winter, the five villages open between 19 and 26 December and close in early April:
- Zermatt, Switzerland: 19 December to 4 April, with views of the Matterhorn.
- Gstaad, Switzerland: 25 December to 4 April.
- Davos Klosters, Switzerland: 26 December to 4 April.
- Zugspitze, Germany: 26 December to 4 April.
- Innsbruck Kühtai, Austria: 26 December to 29 March.
All the villages except Kühtai can only be reached by cable car, and overnight guests meet their guide at a set time to match the lift schedule. Once the last cable car has gone, there is no way up. Day visitors can walk to the village on a snowy footpath, about 5–7 minutes at Gstaad and the Zugspitze and around 20 minutes at Zermatt and Davos.
What a night in an igloo is like
Inside, the temperature stays between −2 °C and +2 °C, whatever the weather outside. The beds are platforms of snow topped with thermal mats, thin mattresses and real sheepskins, and every guest gets an expedition sleeping bag with a liner and a small pillow.
A standard overnight stay includes:
- a welcome drink and a tour of the igloos;
- an all-you-can-eat Swiss cheese fondue;
- a shared whirlpool and/or sauna, depending on the location;
- an optional night walk or snowshoe hike;
- morning tea brought to your sleeping bag, then breakfast in the mountain restaurant.
Romantic igloos for two in Zermatt start at about CHF 538 a night, and the Panorama Suite, with its own whirlpool, from about CHF 1,098. Cable car tickets and local tourist tax are extra.
Snow art, ice bars and practical details
Artists carve faces, figures and reliefs into the walls each season, and coloured lights turn the igloo bars and lounges blue, purple, red and green at night. An igloo restaurant with an ice bar is open to day visitors as well as overnight guests.
Toilets at the Swiss villages and on the Zugspitze are dry toilets set into the snow, while Kühtai uses the facilities of a neighbouring sports field. Running water and showers are available at Gstaad, Kühtai and Zermatt, and the higher categories have private toilets. Overnight stays are recommended for healthy guests aged six and over; families with younger children are pointed to the lower-lying villages at Gstaad and Kühtai.
The expedition sleeping bags are made for serious cold, but dress in warm layers for the evening outdoors and ask for an extra fleece blanket if you feel the cold.
More ice architecture: step inside Québec’s Hôtel de Glace or see a privately built Ontario ice fort.
Related reading
- Titlis Cliff Walk: The High-Alpine Bridge and the View Around It
- 15 Swiss Ski Resorts: Compare the Villages, Terrain and Connected Areas
- Step Into the Void: the Glass Skywalk in the French Alps
- Highlining Between Vanoise Express Cable Cars
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