Come to the Hotel Glace in Quebec…and just chill.
SANGFROID SAVOIR FAIRE
There are several ice hotels in the frozen climes of Scandinavia, but Hotel de Glace is the only one in North America. Not only is Hotel de Glace constructed entirely out of ice, but it is also erected annually from scratch. Every year, a new design is chosen, so the hotel is never quite the same.
Just 10 minutes outside of Quebec City, the frozen fortress consists of about 15,000 tons of snow and 500,000 tons of ice. About 60 workers take a month to ready the hotel for its January opening. Metal frames are used to mold and shape the ice and snow, and when the elements are securely frozen in place the supports are removed. Architects adhere to traditional building safety standards.
WARM ON THE INSIDE
The hotel has about 85 bedrooms. (The bathrooms are heated and in a separate structure called the Celsius Pavillion.) The four-foot-thick ice walls offer some insulation, and the bed frames are entirely made of ice. Visitors sleep warmly in deer pelts and Arctic sleeping bags on top of a real mattress that protects from the chilly, ice-block bed frame. Still, the rooms are a bit brisk with temperatures below freezing—they average between −5 and −2.7°C, or 23 and 27°F.
While a few rooms have fireplaces, outdoor spas and saunas help warm guests in time for bed. The hotel’s décor goes above and beyond your average igloo’s—archways, columns, sculpture, and a dazzling ice chandelier all decorate the hotel. Colored lights reflect off the snow and produce an otherworldly atmosphere.
There’s a bar as well—made all of ice, of course, including the seats, which are covered in caribou skins so you don’t freeze your tush. The cocktail glasses themselves are also made of ice, and cold cuts are served on ice plates. All the cold may give you an irresistible urge to be close to another human. If you want to get married, an ice chapel for Nordic-style weddings is available. There’s also a nightclub and movie theater in the hotel. For a different type of fun, guests zip down the grand 18-meter (60-foot) ice slide. But by the end of May, the entire hotel has usually melted into the St. Lawrence River.