You won't be able to shake off that cold - but why would you want to?

If you are one of those rare Aussies that dreads the thought of a humid summer and would rather carve up the ice or spend the night in an igloo, then you've come to the right place.

Lonely Planet have put together their top 10 list of below-zero global destinations, so you'll be sure never to run out of places to chill out - literally.

Taken from LONELY PLANET'S BEST IN TRAVEL 2009 - 850 trends, destinations, journeys & experiences for the year ahead.

Spot the Northern Lights - Alaska (USA)
Light might be scarce during the winter months in Fairbanks, Alaska, but that's what makes this northern interior city an ideal place to set eyes on the aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights. Typically this visual night-sky spectacular, taking place 80km to 320km above the earth, can be seen on an average 200 days per year, more if you head out of the city away from those other lights, the electric ones.

Carve up the Ice - Heilongjiang Province (China)
Anywhere further north than Vladivostok, Russia, is bound to be cold, so it stands to reason Harbin, the capital of China's Heilongjiang Province, plays host to the International Ice and Snow Festival, a teeth-chattering event of extreme Disney-esque proportions held in January each year. The city's average winter temperature is -17°C, but the mercury can sink to -38°C - ideal temperatures for cutting massive blocks of ice from the Songhua Jiang River and using them to carve 30m-high larger-than-life sculptures.

Sleep in an Ice Hotel - Jukkasjarvi (Sweden)
Pieced together each December from the frosty ice blocks of the Torne River in the Swedish Arctic Circle, Jukkasjarvi's huge Icehotel will make your teeth chatter. To counteract below-zero temperatures, guests don woolly overalls, hats, mittens and boots and sleep under reindeer-fur blankets. Still cold? The toilet seats are heated.

Float on an Icefield - Finnish Lapland (Finland)
Kemi, in Finnish Lapland, offers an icy reception to those who dare dip into freezing water. With the help of a specialised thermal suit, guests aboard the world's only tourist icebreaker, the Sampo, can step off the boat into the middle of Europe's largest icefi eld and bob around like an iceblock amid sheets of frozen Arctic water.

Walk on a Frozen River - Chardar Ice Trek (India)
At the end of January for a few short weeks, India's Zanskar River freezes over, opening the way for an epic icy river-gorge trek through the isolated high passes of the Zanskar mountains. The Chadar Ice Trek, as it's known, is not for the faint-hearted. Temperatures can plummet to -30°C. When this happens the only way to warm up is to keep walking at least until you reach cave accommodation and campfires are lit. Cold comfort?

Go Cold Camping - New South Wales (Australia)
Follow the oversized footsteps of your snow-shoed guide into the gum-spotted Snowy Mountain scenery surrounding Australia's Thredbo ski resort. Here, an insulated tent, a boiling billy and a survival skill or two are essential ingredients for an overnight camp on one of Australia's snowiest peaks. Sleep serenely under the Southern Cross while the snow flutters down around you.

Drink in an Igloo - Hokkaido (Japan)
On Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, Niseko's bizarre Ice Bar is in fact an igloo where the barmen wear more ski gear pouring drinks than they need on the powdery slopes. Finish off a day's backcountry snowboarding with an ice-cold beer or a whiskey on the rocks. Actually, make that a mulled wine.

Dive Below the Ice - French Alps (France)
If the cold doesn't make your teeth chatter, the fear factor will. Ice diving under the frozen surface of Lake Tignes in the French Alps pushes the limits of extreme activity. Don a thick drysuit, gloves and mask, attach the rope then descend through an Eskimo-style hole into an icy playground where bubbles dance to the surface through turquoise sunlit water.

Land on a Glacier - Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers (New Zealand)
The sheer scale of New Zealand's low-lying Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, on the west coast of the South Island, is best observed from the hot seat of a helicopter. The giddy highs achieved by flying the length of these rivers of frozen ice - across glacial icefalls, plateaus and crevasses - are only topped by actually landing on one. Circle the peak of magnifi cent Aoraki (Mt Cook) on the way back to base.

Take a Husky Ride - Finnmark Plateau (Norway)
On the Finnmark Plateau, north of the Artic Circle, husky safaris make the journey along ancient frozen routes, once the highway of the Sami people. Be guided by a local musher in a dog sled led by a crew of energetic Alaskan huskies as you travel through the Arctic silence across frozen lakes and snowwhite tundra. Sleep in cosy wooden huts, tucked up under reindeer pelts as the snow falls outside.

This is an extract from LONELY PLANET'S BEST IN TRAVEL 2009. Lonely Planet Publications, 2008. AUD$34.95.

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