LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge review

Journey to the mountains from the comfort of your home in 2023’s Winter Village set, LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge, which serves up another cosy slice of festive fun for the holiday season.

Whether you’re a long-term collector looking to complete the full Winter Village subtheme or a festive builder looking for the perfect set for the holiday period, 10325 Alpine Lodge is a worthy entry to the long line of holiday builds. Instead of sticking with a similar style building as those that came before, 10325 Alpine Lodge travels to the Alps (as the name would suggest), with log cabin-style architecture and the cosy interior of a mountain retreat.

How do the festive details hold up under closer inspection? Read on to find out what we thought about 10325 Alpine Lodge.

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge set details —

Theme: Icons Set name: 10325 Alpine Lodge Release: October 1, 2023

Price: £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 Pieces: 1,517 Minifigures: 5

LEGO: Order now

— Where to buy LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge —

LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge is available to buy from October 1 via LEGO.com and from LEGO Stores for £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99. As a LEGO exclusive, don’t expect it to show up at third-party retailers for a while yet – possibly after Xmas…

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge build —

If you want a set to make even the Grinchiest of people enjoy the festive season, it’s 10325 Alpine Lodge. We’ve got ice skating, we’ve got cutting your own pine tree, we’ve got light-up fireplaces, we’ve got mugs of cocoa. Even outside of the world of LEGO, the build process itself has plenty of doubled sections, ideal for sharing with someone else in the festive period (or you can be Scrooge and keep it for yourself, we don’t judge).

The lodge itself departs from the most recent Winter Village sets that came before it, built out of dark and medium browns, as opposed to the less natural blue and olive tones of 10308 Holiday Main Street and 10293 Santa’s Visit. However, the bright colour of the log-style rounded elements on the front keeps it colourful and light, made even better by the wealth of red and green decorations and, of course, plenty of LEGO snow topping every roof and surface.

Every detail has been well captured, from the particularly pretty wrought iron sign to the handy spot to hang up your skis after a long day on the mountains. The classic Alpine architecture has been perfectly captured, offering some real authenticity. Indeed, if you wanted an example of Alpine buildings but weren’t keen on the Christmassy aspects, the red and green decorations and snow on the roof would be relatively easy to remove and you’ve got yourself a mountain escape all year round.

The interior of the lodge is compact but cosy. No room has been left without garlands or wreaths and one light brick goes a long way, illuminating not one but two fireplaces. Even without the light brick, transparent orange elements in both give a sense of warmth and light, even when you’re not pressing the cleverly-hidden lever in the chimney.

The bottom level is taken up with a reception desk, kitchen, and cosy sitting area before the fire. Seeing as it’s the holiday season, there’s naturally only sweet food to be had in the kitchen: cookies and a bountiful smores station. It’s a particularly clever use of pink and white elements to represent marshmallows.

Although much of the house is decorated during the build process, you can make more of an event of decorating the Christmas tree. It fits perfectly on the trailer (more on that later), so if you build it without its decorations, your minifigures can be pulling it into the lodge on the snowmobile before Christmas, ready to decorate on Christmas Eve.

Moving to the second floor, we have the first guest rooms, complete with the secondary fire and a stack of presents, waiting for the big day itself. The cosiest room, however, is reserved for the attic. It’s the largest of the three (presumably for the solo traveller) and the sloping ceilings offer a real rustic atmosphere. To match the biggest room, he’s also got the biggest present, so even though he’s travelling alone over the festive period, he’s clearly got someone who likes him a lot to gift him such an enormous box (for a minifigure). You can also easily interact with this low-ceiling attic, as the roof elements hinge away for clear access.

Moving outside of 10325 Alpine Lodge, there are three main elements to the side builds. The most captivating is the ice rink, with some incredibly effective pearlescent elements creating a realistic icy effect on the rink itself. It’s surrounded by a snowman, a snow-capped tree, and a tiny bridge, ideal for the minifigures to stumble across to pick up their skates. The child’s accessories pair particularly nicely here, equipped with a hockey puck and stick (although they don’t have anyone to play with, which might put a dampener on their Christmas).

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that there was no bathroom in the lodge – but never fear! The outhouse is here. Guests will need to make a trek out to the wooden outhouse and, judging from the amount of snow on the roof, do their business in rather chilly conditions. Still, the owner of 10325 Alpine Lodge looks to be coping okay from the smile on her face, and it’s good to see the LEGO Group hasn’t forgotten to consider the needs of its brick-built people.

The third and final separate element of 10325 Alpine Lodge is the snowmobile and trailer. As noted earlier, it’s functional in that you can haul in a tree for your minifigures, or have your guests pulled up to the door in it. For such a snow-laden location, it’s clearly a preferred mode of transport, plus it adds a pop of colour to the otherwise largely brown and white display, bringing out the colourful decorations on the lodge’s exterior.

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge characters —

10325 Alpine Lodge includes five minifigures: two hosts and three guests, as well as three animal friends, a bird, a cat, and a squirrel. While each minifigure is suited well to the set, there’s not a lot to say about their elements or accessories. They do the job, but no more.

Nonetheless, each minifigure has its own purpose. The male host appears to be an avid baker, sporting an apron and cookies, while his wife is kitted out for the outdoors in a jumper that perfectly matches her hair. It’s up to you whether this makes her colour scheme a tad boring or whether she’s just very keen on monochrome – we can’t decide.

As for the guests, we’ve got one nervous skier who travels on his own. Admittedly, 10325 Alpine Lodge is an odd location for someone with that level of fear, but you can always switch up to his more relaxed face if his grouching is getting on your nerves. The mother and child duo seem more up for some wintry activities, with the child bringing their hockey kit with them. All three are kitted out in various winter tops, but their lower halves are nothing to write home about.

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge price —

At just £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99, 10325 Alpine Lodge is a similar price to the Winter Village sets that came before it, deftly avoiding increases that have plagued other themes and subthemes. For such a detailed main building and five generic but appropriate minifigures, it’s a decent build. Plus, it’s unique enough to want to keep up all year, not just for Christmas.

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge pictures —

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge pros and cons —

If you love Christmas, you’ll love 10325 Alpine Lodge. As with almost all Winter Village sets, leaning into the most wonderful time of year produces a cosy, easy-to-love set. The interior is very detailed for the price, with enough decor, details and festive accessories to keep interest throughout and the exterior is perfectly captured, transporting you off to the Alps. For a display set, it’s got enough life and colour to stay up all year round, and the hinged roofs and open back mean it works well as a playset as well, if you’ve got younger builders to entertain over the holidays.

10325 Alpine Lodge pros	10325 Alpine Lodge cons
Bright, natural colours	Fairly standard minifigure line-up
Aesthetic and accurate Alpine architecture
Impressive amounts of detail throughout

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— Alternatives to LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge —

The easiest comparison for 10325 Alpine Lodge is with the two Winter Village models that came before: 10308 Holiday Main Street and 10293 Santa’s Visit. Looking at 10308 Holiday Main Street first, there does at first glance appear to be more to it than 10325 Alpine Lodge, with a streetcar that integrates on LEGO rails and two buildings rather than one. However, there are more smaller parts to 10308 Holiday Main Street, with a separate Christmas tree, lamppost, and streetcar. Plus, there’s less of a unified colour scheme between the different elements, making 10325 Alpine Lodge a more attractive choice.

10293 Santa’s Visit, however, has that same unity throughout as 10325 Alpine Lodge, coming complete with the Jolly Red Man himself. You can actually have him come shooting down the chimney, there are quite a few more decorations throughout, and the triangular shape of the house offers more ability to interact with the interior than either 10325 Alpine Lodge or 10308 Holiday Main Street. It’s certainly a neat festive set and it’s hard to pick a favourite between 10293 and 10325. If you’re really torn, it’s worth noting that 10293 Santa’s Visit is retiring at the end of this year and appears to already be sold out in the US at the time of writing, so it’s time to buy if you like its blue brick vibe.

— LEGO Icons 10325 Alpine Lodge FAQs —