A very ice place to stay

By Katharine MacColl

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YOU may think it's chilly here now, but that's nothing compared with some of the world's coolest hotels.

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How do you fancy a stay in the coldest hotel ever, a place where the artwork, cinema, chapel and even the beds are made out of ice The Ice Hotel, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in the village of Jukkasjarvi in Swedish Lapland, is literally that. Over 2,000 goblets are made from, yes, ice, as are the tables chairs, windows and even the beds.

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Guests don snowsuits, then sleep in polar sleeping bags, covered by reindeer skins, and temperatures drop to a cool -5C. For more information, ring the Swedish Travel and Tourism Council on 020 7870 5600.

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��Press Association

The Ice Hotel bar, Quebec

And ice seems to be proving nice, as another ice hotel has opened up at Montmorency Falls Park in Quebec, Canada - for more information click here.

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But if you're looking for the unusual where else can you head

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If you've a head for heights, how about a night on a wooden platform 87ft above the ground in a huge banyan tree The Green Magic Treehouse Resort in the southern Indian state of Kerala is surely one of the most exotic places for a lie-in A bamboo cage lift takes you up and you've a bathroom open to the squirrels. Book through Colours of India on 020 8343 3446.

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Diehard Star Wars fans will already know of Matmata, a small village in a dry, mountainous landscape in the south of Tunisia, an easy trip from Jerba. Check out the Hotel Sidi Driss - a set of caves which served as Luke Skywalker's home in the 1977 movie. For �8, you get dinner, bed and breakfast in weird cell-like rooms, open to the sky. You can contact the Sidi Driss on 00 216 5 230 005.

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Closer to home, how about a tipi There's an authentic little community of North American Indian tipis near a converted quarry in Padstow, Cornwall. Call Cornish Tipi Holidays on 01208 880781.

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Happy Holidays!