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In the middle of the Mojave Dessert sits a bar made of ice. An Oasis from the hot desert sun, perfect for cooling off and sipping an ‘ice’ cold drink. The Minus5 Ice Bar is the coolest in Vegas, kept at a cold -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit). Everything inside the bar is made of ice, from the cups to the seats, even the walls, you are surrounded by ice! On our trip, we wanted to find the best bar in Las Vegas, and this place certainly did not disappoint! We booked the standard ticket for $24 per person, and included in the price was the use of a parka, gloves, and entrance to the ice bar.
Minus5 also offers $49 and $79 tickets. The $49 “Coolest Experience" includes two cocktails along with the use of a parka and gloves. Drinks were about $15-$20 inside, but the two included drinks in this package come out to $12.50 each. If you plan on getting drinks inside, this could save you a few bucks! The $79 “V-Ice-P Polar Passport” includes gloves, the use of a faux fur coat, 2 cocktails, a souvenir hat, re-entry per location, and 20% off Daiquiri Bars.
Even though this is a bar, kids aged 7-12 are allowed inside, with an adult, before 9:00 PM! They offer two tickets for kids, a basic entry for $13 that includes the use of a jacket and gloves, and a $29 ticket that includes a mocktail and souvenir.
Our Experience at The Coolest Bar in Vegas, Minus5 Ice Bar at LINQ:
We booked our Minus5 Ice Bar tickets online the day we wanted to go, and reserved a 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM time slot on a Monday. We arrived around 5:00 PM and there was no line to get in. We checked in with the staff out front and showed our IDs. After our IDs were checked we were taken to get “fitted” for a parka. A team member looked at us both, and then handed us a jacket they thought would fit the best. As we were putting them on we were directed to follow them into the bar area.
We walked into a small hallway, where we were given gloves and a quick rundown of how the bar worked. Once we were inside we realized our jackets were not a great fit and did not button up comfortably. We wore them unbuttoned and they still served as a nice buffer between us and the ice. They offer parkas ranging in size from small to 3XL, and fur coats in sizes small to XXL. The gloves we were given did not work with our phone touch screens, so to take pictures and videos we had to remove the gloves.
The door to enter the ice bar from the hallway was an industrial freezer door, which makes sense since this is a bar made of ice in the desert. When you walk inside you are greeted by a “Welcome to the Ice Bar” sign themed like the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign, along with a narrow hallway with walls made of ice!
The theming starts from the second you enter the bar. The walls had Heat Miser and Snow Miser made of ice and their respective colors glowing from within the ice. As we made our way further into the bar we quickly realized…we were the only people inside.
The entire bar was empty. We took advantage of this to get pictures and videos without anyone else in them, and to explore everything in the bar. The ice bar is not very large, and did not take long to explore! It is probably close to 500 square feet, about the size of a small apartment. It did not take more than a few minutes to see everything!
We wanted to try some of the drinks on the menu but there were no bartenders to be seen! Eventually, a bartender came out, and we were able to order a drink. The drink menu was pretty small with only a handful of options, including a few mocktails. They also offer boozy hot chocolate (does boozy hot chocolate warm you up twice as fast?)! Everything on the drink menu was about $15-20. We ordered an Old Fashioned, and it was about $18 before the tip. It was on the weaker side for the price!! We were surprised to see that they did not offer any sort of happy hour deals, especially since it was so slow!
The gloves may not have been good for texting or taking photos but they did come in handy to hold the ice cups! There were coasters everywhere (not made of ice) so you could put your drink down without it freezing to the tables.
One thing that we thought was interesting was that the ice glasses are reused. This brought up an interesting question of how a cup made of ice is sanitized between uses. We still are not super sure what their sanitization process looks like, but if anyone knows please tell us because we are so curious!
There are a bunch of booths for groups, and on top of the benches are fur throws so you are not sitting directly on ice. They did tend to move a little, and I did make contact with the ice a few times! The bar was never too cold for us and was a welcome change from the heat outside. There were also a few standing tables throughout the bar.
The walls of the entire bar are made from ice and are decorated with intricate carvings and statues. Some may not be kid-friendly, like the multiple topless woman statues!
There were a bunch of fun ice carvings on theme with the time of year. We visited right before Halloween, and they had a few ice carvings of well-known characters like Ghostface from the Scream movies, and even King Kong. They also had an ice DJ booth and an Ice Bar music fest TV with videos of people dancing.
We sat at our ice booth for a while, because we felt like we needed to stay longer to get our money's worth from the experience. By this point, we had already seen the entire bar, had a drink, and taken a bunch of pictures and videos. We entertained ourselves by taking .5 pictures of one another in funny spots of the bar.
Eventually, we called it quits since our phones were dying, and we had seen everything the bar had to offer. We were not in there for more than an hour and spent about $70 for entrance tickets and a drink.
One thing we did not like was when we were leaving and returning the jackets we were told we could either keep the gloves or throw them away. There was a huge trashcan full of gloves next to the exit! We were shocked at how many had been thrown away. We wish that the Minus5 Ice Bar would find a way to reuse or repurpose the gloves. Perhaps even invest in better quality gloves that can be washed and reused. So much single-use waste!
What to bring:
Closed-toe shoes, your toes will be freezing in sandals!!
Camera/phone to take pictures
Money to buy drinks
Summary:
We thought that the Minus5 Ice Bar was a ‘cool’ experience, literally. It was fun, well-themed, and got us out of the heat for about an hour. Would we go again? Maybe if we had a large group of friends or family with us who wanted to check it out, or if it was a busy Friday or Saturday night. Going again by ourselves on a Monday evening, no! It felt so weird being the only two people in there, and the bartender was nonexistent for the first 10-15 minutes. As more people came it was beginning to liven up, so if you go, try to go at a busier time, or with a large group. Being in an ice bar by yourself feels ice-olating!
In terms of pricing, there are more expensive things to do in the area. $24 to get into a fun-themed bar and take some pictures is cheap in terms of Vegas!
Would you visit the coolest bar on the Vegas Strip? Let us know in the comments below!
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