More than 55,000 people have slept in an ice bed in Quebec’s Hôtel de Glace. Since opening in 2001, the ice hotel has charmed locals and visitors.
An architectural wonder built out of ice and snow – precisely 500 tons of ice and 30,000 tons of snow last season – Hôtel de Glace is worth making a trip to Quebec City for between January and March.
Each year students from Quebec’s universities compete to create a theme suite out of ice and snow.
Last winter there were 44 rooms and themed suites. There’s a Nordic area with hot tubs and sauna, an ice bar, ice slide and ice chapel (it’s a unique venue to tie the knot or renew your vows) vows.
The hotel is redesigned each winter and you can book a room or suite for the night or just pop in for lunch or a cocktail.
Each year’s design is different. Construction begins in December, when the temperature is under – 5 °C. Snow is made onsite by snow blowers and the deck (or floor) is built first. Metal moulds are used to create the shapes of the buildings and ice blocks weighing 500 tons are used to create the furniture (bar, night tables and chairs), columns, sculptures and ice glasses.
If you decide to sleep there, you’ll be snoozing in a bed of ice on a comfortable mattress and tucked up in a cosy sleeping bag. If might be a freezing dash to the heated bathroom in the nearby Celsius Pavilion but the experience is so unique it’ll one you’ll talk about for years!
Here’s a gallery of Hôtel de Glace from 2011 to 2016.
