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Ice Hotels

This category holds one property, deliberately. Genuine ice hotels are rare, seasonal and few enough that a longer list would mean padding it with winter resorts that merely look the part.

The entry below is the real thing: a structure built from snow and ice, open for part of the year, and gone by summer.

Hôtel de Glace

Quebec, Canada

Every winter the Hôtel de Glace is built again from scratch near Quebec City, and every spring it melts. Nothing carries over but the plans and the technique — the walls, the vaulted corridors, the bar and the carved furniture are all new each season.

Interior temperatures hold a few degrees below freezing regardless of the weather outside, so guests sleep in insulated sleeping bags on ice beds layered with a mattress and hide. Bathrooms and changing facilities sit in a heated building alongside; the ice structure is for sleeping and for looking at.

Themed suites, some with their own fireplace or spa access, are carved by sculptors whose work changes year to year. Day visitors can tour the building during set hours, which is how most people see it. The season typically runs from early January into late March.

  • Valcartier, near Quebec City
  • Rebuilt each winter
  • Snow and ice construction
  • Seasonal: roughly January to March