Do you want to sleep at the Ice hotel in Quebec?

By questioning my friends and readers, it seems that people are distributed in two distinct camps. Those who think a stay at the Ice hotel in Quebec, or Ice hotelwould be a unique opportunity, and those who think that sleeping on the ice are crazy. Before deciding where you fall, let me tell you more.

Ice Hotel: Ice Hotel in Quebec

Note: Our visit to the Ice Hotel was organized by Tourism City, Quebec City Tourism and the Ice Hotel. All opinions are ours.

The Ice Hotel, located just 10 minutes outside Quebec, is the only hotel in North America entirely made of ice and snow. It is one of the Village Village Valcartier, a seaside resort all year round which also has an incredible park of snow tumors. Each year, the ICE hotel is freshly built with 500 tonnes of ice and 30,000 tonnes of produced snow, blown in molds to form the hotel structures.

Construction begins in early December, when temperatures are less than zero for at least a week. Over the next six weeks, a crew works 24 hours a day, until the hotel can open its doors in January. It will then remain open for as long as the temperatures cooperate.

It is an ideal place to stay if you attend the Quebec winter carnival.

The hotel is built with a different theme each year. The hotel has grown over time and includes 42 rooms and themed suites. The Ice Hotel also offers a chapel of ice, for those who want to get married at the hotel, as well as many municipal public spaces.

Rooms and suites of the Ice Hotel

When you stay at the Ice hotel, you can choose between a base room or a suite that has ice sculptures and more decorated decorations that correspond to the theme of the year. You can also select a suite with a fireplace, but keep in mind that it is just for the atmosphere, not the heat (because it would melt the room!) There are rooms available with one with three beds, which makes it suitable for families or friends.

Each room reservation includes a room at the Valcartier hotel the same evening as your stay at the Ice Hotel so that you have a place to store luggage, a shower (or sleeping if you become too cold.) Although resorts are applicable. Reservations also include:

• A welcome cocktail served in an ice glass
• Access to the Nordic area with hot tubs and saunas under the stars
• 10% reduction on SPA Aroma services
• 20% discount on your Hotel Valcartier booking the previous nights and / or the nights after your night at the Ice Hotel

A few things to keep in mind when you decide if a night stay suits you:

• There are no doors locked on parts or suites, just velvet curtains and valuables are stored in a locker
• Customers are only allowed in rooms from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
• There are no adjoining bathrooms but there are trailers outside the hotel or the toilets heated to the Celcius pavilion nearby
• While the bed is made of ice, there is a wooden platform and a standard mattress to protect you from the cold
• Customers receive a Nordic sleeping bag to stay warm because the temperature inside the hotel remains between -3 and -5 degrees Celsius (23-27 degrees fahrenheit.)

When we visited, we saw rooms with snow knights, platform beds with ice stairs, ice capsules and space ships such as neighborhoods.

Before gathering for the night, guests are invited to warm up in the Nordic area with a courtyard of spas and saunas under the stars. Available from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., customers can increase their body temperature with hot soaking, then dry quickly and dress before climbing in a Nordic sleeping bag, evaluated for temperatures from -15 to -30 degrees Celsius.

So, would you stay? I guess we fall into the camp of people who would not sleep during the night at the Ice hotel. I was intrigued and very tempted, until I read the whole bathroom. That and the fact that even at home, my daughter sleeps in fleece pajamas with a sweatshirt, fleece sheets, 2 fleece covers, 2 short -points and a duvet and always says that it is cold.

Something tells me that she wouldn’t do too well at the Ice hotel, no matter how hot this sleeping bag is. But that does not mean that the Ice hotel would not be good for your family. We have friends who stayed there with their two daughters of elementary age and they loved it! In fact, the Ice Hotel had children as young as six months of night stay.

But even if you don’t stay, that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the ice hotel.

Visits to the Ice Hotel

The Ice Hotel is open daily for visits, from $ 24.99 to $ 29.99 (babies are free.) A visit to the ice bar is a highlight of any visit, so you can bring out the package that includes a cocktail.

The cocktails are served in square glasses cut from blocks of ice. A little difficult to drink but very cool, especially if you get one of the bright colors cocktails. I selected a maple flavor martini, because after all, we were in Quebec – the best producer of maple syrup in the world! Even children can join a glass of juice, they just need to drink it quickly before it freezes.

Children and adults will also benefit from a stroll on the slide, which landed just outside the icebar.

So tell me … you slept on the ice?

The function photo is graceful of Philippe Renaud.