ROUTE 02

The Nordic Light Route.

Iceland and Sweden, where the architecture is the weather. Harpa's glass scales reflect the aurora; the Ice Hotel rebuilds its concert hall from the Torne River every winter.

The North does the architectural work that the Mediterranean does in air and water: cold light, transparent volumes, rooms that change every winter and back again. This route reads as a five-day pilgrimage from Reykjavík to Jukkasjärvi, peaking inside an ice cathedral that did not exist in October and will not exist in May.

The rooms on this route.

Harpa Concert Hall

Eldborg hall at Harpa seen from the stalls, with tiers of red balconies around the stage

VENUE_002 · IS

HARPA CONCERT HALL

REYKJAVÍK · 64.15°, -21.93°

Reykjavík's concert hall and conference centre on the old harbour at Austurbakka 2, opened in May 2011. The glass facade is by Olafur Eliasson and the architects. Free to enter; Eldborg seats up to 1,734.

TYPEModern Concert Hall

FREQClassical · Ambient · Electronica

PATHNordic Light

VIEWVENUE PAGE →

The Ice Hotel Concerts

A carved ice bar in blue light with a figure standing at the counter

VENUE_013 · SE

THE ICE HOTEL CONCERTS

JUKKASJÄRVI · 67.85°, 20.59°

Inside a cathedral carved from frozen river water, every note reverberates like a prayer trapped in time. The hall is rebuilt by hand each winter from ice cut from the Torne River.

TYPEAmbient Ice Acoustic Experimental

FREQAmbient · Choral · Neoclassical

PATHNordic Circuit

VIEWVENUE PAGE →

More routes.

Stitch your own week of beautiful music.

All journeys → Full atlas (153) → Editorial lists →