Aurora Ice Museum

My husband and I booked a tour of the ice museum and ordered a martini. You do need to make a reservation. We met at the Chena Hot Springs Activity Center to start the tour and walked to the museum as a group. They do provide parkas if you need them. There is a process for entry and exiting. You all enter the entryway where the parkas are stored at one time. The exterior door is closed. Then, once everyone is ready, the interior door is opened, and the entire group enters. You exit the same way in reverse, but they did allow us to stay and explore as long as we wanted, we just had to let the staff know when we were ready to leave for him to open and close the doors. The experience was cool, although the drink itself was only like 3 oz total.It's not really worth the money. We were there a total of maybe 20 minutes. The drink itself was good. I'm glad our group was small, less than 10 people. If the group were larger I can see it being a pain trying to get photos. It is definitely a nice way to cool off when it's hot outside or warm up a little during winter. It's definitely a unique experience.

Such a fun and unique experience! The Chena Ice Bar and Museum is entirely sculpted from ice, including the walls, furniture, and even the cocktail glasses. We were prepared in our winter clothes. The ice sculptures are stunning and incredibly detailed. The best part? Enjoying cocktails served in hand-carved ice glasses—definitely a cool highlight. It’s a quick visit, but totally worth it for the photos and the vibe.

This was a very cool experience. It’s a short walk through tour through some amazing ice sculptures and you can even stay overnight in one of the 2 “ice bedrooms”! We stayed for the $20 apple-tini in a glass made out of ice, but that was a bit of a waste - unless you want the full experience and like apple-tini! The tour guide, Carlos, was very pleasant. VictorB

If you take this for what it is it’s very enjoyable and truly one of a kind experience. Yes you do need a reservation but that’s to keep the integrity of the ice and what’s inside preserved. I respect that they do that to keep everything in tact and functional for the next persons to see. Beautiful colors, well lit, I highly reccomended drinking out of the drinks at the bar it’s worth the experience. I went here with my mom and we just had an amazing time.

Amazing, unique Ice bar. Nothing I've ever seen before being from the lower 48, more specifically Florida. It's beautiful and the appletini was good. Dress warm, but I think they gave us coats to wear while inside. You also need to make a tour reservation.

They will lend you a parka if you aren't dressed warmly enough for 24°F. inside temperature. Craftsman is carving ice as you are entering. We didn't have an apple martini, as is a tradition here. We should have.

This was a cute experience. You cannot just pay to go in. They will make you pick a time slot and then you comeback in to go as a group to the museum. Yes some of the sculptures are damaged from people not listening or people being in a rush to leave and leaving the front door open. Which caused the scultures to melt. Had such friendly staff and for one guy he was very friendly to everyone. It is not directed. He gave some information on the sculptures and then you are free to walk around as he tends to the bar. In all my son loved the igloo and the giant polar bear statue. I personally liked watching our glasses being carved up front. Warning. You will feel cramped. Everyone has to fit in a small room before the inner door can be opened. And of course people up front will have to be told to go further in. It's free walk after everyone gets inside. That was the biggest pain of it all. Prices are mainly due to it well being at the resort. The roads can't be helped. We're up in a mountain yall. But they keep their parking lot cleared and there's plenty of parking. If you don't want to walk across the lot park closer to the plane near the museum. It's where you enter and exit.

Interesting to see ice cups being made, the ice sculptures, and themed rooms, although a bit smaller than expected. While it isn't entirely communicated upfront, a main part of the tour is the Ice Bar, and if you don't pre-purchase an appletini (and strangely this is the ONLY option), you miss out on a big part of the experience and are done in less than 30 minutes.