Igloo City

Igloo City in Cantwell, Alaska, is the strangest kind of tourist attraction. First, it’s in a remote region of one of the most remote states in the United States. But second, and more surprisingly, it’s an attraction that never even opened for business.

Intended to one day serve as a hotel, Igloo City in Cantwell, Alaska, was never completed. It was constructed sometime in the 1970s, but could not meet the building codes of the time; while it might be easier to meet some of those codes today, too much of the hotel has deteriorated over the years to make renovation worthwhile. Not for lack of trying, though; ever since its construction, the building has gone through many owners, none of whom could get it up to par. The most recent lessees announced they are planning to turn it into a distillery in June 2023.

The four-story concrete structure can be seen by airplanes at 30,000 feet it is so large. But the interior was never finished. We know this because the igloo is no longer padlocked as it once was—with so many parts starting to fall apart, it’s impossible to keep curious passersby from wandering in to explore—and many have made their way inside.

It’s primary significance today is that it mark the halfway point between Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska’s two largest cities on the Parks Highway.