I know that even thinking about visiting Canada in the wintertime is a big ask, but maybe you’ll change your mind when you hear about the Québec Ice Hotel. Québec City actually has a ton of awesome winter activities going on, but Hôtel de Glace is one of the most unique of them all. This post introduces you to Canada’s coolest hotel experience and clues you in on a few ways to enjoy a visit here.
What is the Québec Ice Hotel
The Québec Ice Hotel is formally known as Hôtel de Glace. And it’s exactly what it sounds like–a hotel made entirely out of ice. To be exact, it’s 30,500 tons of snow and ice that have been expertly molded into one of the most unique lodging experiences this side of Santa’s Workshop. In fact, it’s the only ice hotel in the Western Hemisphere.
The Québec ice hotel is open just three months out of the year. It’s torn down at winter’s end and then rebuilt from scratch the next year. Each year, the design of the hotel changes according to a new theme making your visit a truly once in a lifetime experience.
Building the Québec Ice Hotel
Each December, massive snowblowers churn and blow 30,000+ tons of snow over specially designed molds. The result is a building material that’s as hard as concrete. (I know this because I punched it. I’m weak to temptation.)
Come spring, the hotel must be deliberately destroyed. (I personally thought they would just let the warming sun do all the work, but alas.) One year, the bulldozer they brought it to tear it down actually drove up and over the top of the hotel instead of plowing right through it. That’s how strong this stuff is, and I feel it’s an appropriate time to remind you that this is just water.
The water used to build the hotel is borrowed from the nearby St. Lawrence river.
Where is the Québec Ice Hotel
You can find the Québec Ice Hotel (when it exists) just a 35-minute drive northwest of Québec City. Specifically, in the town of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier. It’s essentially in the “backyard” of the Hotel Valcartier. (Rent a car here if you need one.)
And if you need more reasons to visit Québec City, see my post about it in that link.
What to do at the Québec Ice Hotel
The Québec Ice Hotel is a hotel, yes, but there’s so much more you can see and do here. And you don’t even need to be an overnight guest to enjoy it! Here are 10 ways you can chill out at Hôtel de Glace.
1. Spend the night
Obviously, the first and best thing to do at the Québec Ice Hotel is to actually stay the night here. Hôtel de Glace offers 30 “finely sculpted” rooms and in both “regular” or “themed” options.
Regular Suites
The “regular” suites are your standard, everyday igloos with either 1, 2, or 3 ice beds and ice nightstands. All of them come with an insulating mattress, a winter sleeping bag and pillow, access to the Nordic spas, a welcome drink, and even a backup room at the Hotel Valcartier in case the cold is too much for you.
Regardless of the temperature outside, each room maintains a constant temperature somewhere between 27°F and 23°F.
Themed Suites
Each of the themed suites at the Québec Ice Hotel is its own unique work of art. The walls are carved with intricate designs according to the current year’s theme and are enhanced by artistic lighting. They come in 1-bed or 2-bed options.
You can also book themed rooms with fireplaces and even premium suites with private saunas. Some have additional ice furniture inside. I’m sure sleeping in a room made of ice that’s being heated with fire is totally fine. Totally.
The themed suites also come with the insulating mattress, winter sleeping bag and pillow, welcome drink, access to the Nordic spas, and a backup room at the Hotel Valcartier.
Need to know
Here are a few things you should know about staying at the Québec Ice Hotel that you can’t tell from the photos:
- The rooms and suites have heavy curtains instead of doors.
- At night when the lights are out and the curtains are closed, the silence is palpable. I’m talking dead silence here. It’s magnificent.
- The darkness is as intense as the silence.
- They have a list of must-pack clothing items (and a full overnight survival guide)
- Check-in is at 4pm but you won’t have access to your room until 9pm
2. Take a tour
So the thought of sleeping under a thick pile of solid snow and ice makes you a little uneasy? That’s fine; we all have our things. (Mine is sleeping under a thick pile of spiders.) If this is the case, you should still visit the Québec Ice Hotel and just opt for a guided tour instead of an overnight stay.
Regardless if you plan to stay overnight or not, Hôtel de Glace offers day passes so you can still enjoy what the ice hotel has to offer. While here, you can take a tour of the ice hotel and learn all of its icy little secrets.
On my visit, I took the full behind-the-scenes tour and learned all about the hotel’s construction (and destruction), visited the ice workshop (where I assume all the elves work), and got to see all the cool rooms and suites.
Fun ice facts
One of the neatest icy fun facts I learned during my tour was that, because there’s no humidity inside the hotel, the ice is completely dry. Our guide told me to take my gloves off and touch the ice columns, which I was certain my hands were going to stick to. BUT THEY DIDN’T. It felt more like touching glass or a granite countertop than it did ice. Because of this, your lips also won’t stick to the ice glasses you drink out of.
3. Hang out at the ice bars
The Québec City Ice Hotel isn’t just a hotel, it’s a whole experience. And part of that experience is drinking in the ice bars, complete with signature themed cocktails and ice glasses.
Hôtel de Glace has three ice bars, all with different themes (and sponsors) of course. The bars themselves? Ice. The drinking vessels? Ice. The seats and tables? Ice. However, the computers are real, as are the liquor bottles and the warming fireplace in the corner.
Ice Hotel Drinks
The signature drinks at the Québec Ice Hotel are both delicious and hilarious. I tried both the Windshield Washer (which is blue like washer fluid) and the Ski-Doo Crash. This one is a bit on the morbid side and features a pine sprig and grenadine to represent blood which is slowly dripped over the pine needles.
4. Make your own ice glass
As part of the guided tour, you might have the opportunity to make your own ice glass! This was entirely too much fun for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed drinking out of a glass I made myself.
Our guide Pierre showed us how to carve our own drinkware from solid blocks of ice without harming our neighbors or ourselves. Most of us listened. One girl didn’t and sent her block of ice flying around the room. Listen to Pierre.
5. Have dinner at the ice restaurant
As of 2024/2025, you can now have dinner at the ice hotel’s ice restaurant. This brand-new restaurant will be, of course, sculpted entirely out of ice. The Nordic-inspired menu comes to you from the chefs at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (the huge castle hotel over in Québec City).
And if you are staying overnight at the Québec ice hotel, you get a $25 discount (per person) at the ice restaurant as a bonus. (And this place is not cheap, so take it.) You can make dinner reservations here.
Want more fancy dining experiences? Check out my post on what it’s like to dine at the world famous Italy cave restaurant.
6. Visit the ice chapel
Also at the Québec ice hotel you’ll find an ice chapel. Feel free to pop in and do whatever it is you do at a chapel, or plan ahead and you can even get married here! They even offer proposal packages that include a jewelry box made of ice for the ring, a bottle of champagne, and two handmade ice champagne flutes.
7. Zoom down the ice slides
Given the ice hotel’s location, you’ll also have the chance to visit the Valcartier Vacation Village, the “largest outdoor winter recreational centre on the continent.” And here, you’ll find 30+ awesome tobogganing runs and ice slides at all levels of difficulty. This includes extreme sledding, snow rafting, and something called the Tornado which sounds pretty metal.
I personally opted for one of the milder slides and it was SO FUN. Definitely plan enough time at the Québec ice hotel so you can fully take advantage of this.
You’ll also find ice slides in the ice hotel itself, carved directly into the building. These are much milder, but still worth trying to say you did it.
8. Hit up the ice skating trails
Valcartier Vacation Village also has a network of ice skating trails if that’s more your speed. You can rent skates when you get here, or bring your own. The paths are even lighted so you can skate all night. See skating info here.
If you want more awesome winter thrills, definitely check out my post on ice canyoning in Québec (where you get to rappel down a frozen waterfall).
9. Warm up in the arctic spas
OK maybe this isn’t so much a way to chill out at the Québec ice hotel as it is a way to finally warm up. Every overnight stay at Hôtel de Glace comes with access to their Nordic spa area which includes hot tubs and saunas under the stars. This is available only for overnight hotel guests though.
However, the nearby Hotel Valcartier also has a fantastic spa that anyone can visit, not just overnight guests. You’ll find more traditional spa treatments here as well as hot tubs, saunas, and a cold plunge if you want to really get after it here.
10. Enjoy some maple taffy at the sugar shack
In these parts of town (being Canada and much of New England), Sugar Shacks are small cabins in the woods where sap is collected from maple trees and converted into syrup. Here at the Québec ice hotel, you can enjoy some delicious maple treats at their own sugar shack.
You can purchase what they’re already selling, or you can enjoy some maple taffy the super Canadian way. Maple syrup is heated up and poured onto fresh snow. Take your stick, roll up the hardening syrup, and now you’ve got maple taffy!
More info for your trip to the Québec Ice Hotel
Like this post? Have questions about the Québec Ice Hotel? Let me know in the comments below. Have fun in Canada!
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