Explore the Lake Geneva Ice Castles in Wisconsin for a Magical Experience

For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to go to an ice castle, so I was overjoyed when I found the Lake Geneva Ice Castles. I’m not sure where I first saw ice castles, but something about them really called to me! You’d think, being in the Midwest I would have had enough of snow and ice, but apparently not. So, it had always been in the back of my head that it would be awesome to see one of these ice castles, but I had never acted on it. Then, I remember watching a Hallmark movie (yes, those are my jam!) where a family goes to an ice hotel for a wedding and the spark was reignited that I needed to figure out how to visit one of these places. So I started searching.

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During my search, I found an ice hotel in Canada that I definitely want to (and will) visit, but I also found Ice Castles in the United States, and one even in Wisconsin! This ice castle was going to be in Lake Geneva, which is not a far drive from where we are in Iowa, so I knew we had to go!

Ice Castles is a frozen attraction built using hundreds of thousands of icicles that are hand-placed by ice artists (doesn’t that sound like a cool job). There are LED lights built in so the colors shine through the icicles, making an even more magical experience. Throughout the castle, there are tunnels you can crawl through, slides, frozen thrones, lots of little alcoves to wander into, frozen sculptures, and many other amazing things!

We had such a great time when we visited the Ice Castle in Lake Geneva! Here are a few more photos from our visit. I…

Posted by Living Audaciously on Friday, March 5, 2021

Tips for Your Ice Castles Visit

If I were to give you some tips for visiting the Ice Castle, these would be it:

• Wear snow pants! I mean, if your purpose is to take a photo in a dress walking through the castle, go ahead. If you want to get down and enjoy all the castle has to offer, wear snow pants! You don’t want to be crawling around in tunnels or going down ice slides in your jeans! Also, a good jacket and gloves. Basically, it’s cold outside, so be smart in how you dress!
• Go either during the day or very early in the evening when there’s still some light out. Yes, the castle will light up in the dark and you can see just fine as you are walking around. However, I had wished it was just a little lighter out when we went. First off, it would have been better for the photos. Secondly, I think you could enjoy the intricate details in the ice if there was just a bit more light. That’s my opinion at least!
• If you are into these things as much as I am, bring someone along who wants to see it, but isn’t as into it as you are, to take photos for/of you. While enjoying the beauty of the castle I would forget to take photos. Plus, if you bring in a good camera and not just your phone, then crawling through tunnels and such could be rather tricky. Unfortunately, it was also stupid cold out when we went, so I actually just turned my phone onto video and recorded walking through the entire thing so I didn’t forget to catch anything or lose a finger to the cold.

Pricing for Your Lake Geneva Ice Castles Visit

At Lake Geneva, the tickets were:

• General Admission (ages 12 and up) – $18.99 Monday – Thursday and $22.99 Friday – Sunday
• Child Admission (ages 4-11) – $12.99 Monday – Thursday and $18.99 Friday – Sunday
• Children ages 3 and under are FREE
• There are some discounts available for seniors, military, and locals, but check the FAQ page for their specific codes to use when you purchase your tickets online.

Enjoy!!

A few other notes about the Lake Geneva Ice Castles:

• Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by someone over 18 who can sign the liability waiver.
• You can’t bring strollers into Ice Castles, but you could bring a sled in to pull a child.
• There are restrooms, but just outside of the castle.
• You have to pre-purchase your tickets online, and they go FAST! I’d recommend you sign up for the email newsletter to know more about when the tickets will go on sale. Each location has a different start and end date since it is all very weather-dependent!
• After the castle, there was an area for snacks and some outside fires. At the Lake Geneva Ice Castles, there was also an area indoors where you could gather after exploring the castle.

Overall, I loved visiting the Ice Castle, and plan on doing it again.  When we went this year, it was my mother and me. I think my nieces would love it, so I’m hoping to take those girls next year too! It’s all just so magical in my opinion, and the thought that goes into creating them is just amazing!  I highly recommend you add visiting Ice Castles to your winter bucket list. 

Have you been to Ice Castles?

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