Visiting Valcatier Hotel de Glace Ice Hotel – Quebec City, Canada

February 2022

Visiting Valcatier Hotel de Glace Ice Hotel – Quebec City, Canada

While I was very interested in the only ice hotel in North America, I also wondered what was worth the $30 entry ticket. It felt so steep for a walk through attraction but it was so unique and well rated, I was intrigued. And we came all this way after all for the only ice hotel in North America.

While we had a rented car for our day of sightseeing, there are also shuttles you can book from the city of Quebec if you do not have a car. For those interested, you can stay overnight at the Hotel de Glace and have the experience of a lifetime sleeping among the snow and ice.

We purchased our tickets ahead of time so we were able to pick up our pass and proceed inside. The Valcatier complex is quite large offering a full hotel, dining, shopping. During the summer time, the outdoor activities focus on a water park which transforms in the winter time to a snow tubing park. We were very close to partaking in the snow tubing but this jam packed day could not fit it all. We were here for the ice hotel.

We exited the lobby and followed the signs for Hotel de Glace. The snow structure practically blended in with the gray sky. There was a one direction flow of people that took visitors on a self guided tour of the hotel.

The first stop was the chapel. The area was set up with pews and enormous ice sculptures. Want to get married in an ice wonderland? You can have that here in the chapel.

The next area to explore was the common areas of the hotel featuring massive snow sculptures, ice luge, and fire pit. It was pretty amazing seeing what artist are able to do with snow – the attention to detail was incredible.

And now onto the main attraction – the hotel itself. The tour allowed us to visit almost every room available at the hotel but I do not think we were quite prepared to see what was in each of these rooms. Each room is themed to concept and brought to life through snow and ice on an unbelievable scale. From Mardi Gras to viking voyage, to under the sea and the African savanna, to Las Vegas casinos and New York City streets – each room was a piece of art.

If you plan on staying in the ice domes, here are a few tips to make it a successful stay:

• The sleeping bags they provide are extremely warm so once we are tucked in, you will definitely be ok from a temperature perspective.
• While you may not need as many layers while in the sleeping bag, you will definitely want them when you leave the sleeping bag – which is the hardest prat from a temperature perspective. PRO TIP: Stuff at least the next layer of clothing inside the sleeping bag with you while you sleep – this will keep them warm and then you can layer up before emerging from the sleeping bag. I know some even put their shoes inside the sleeping bag. Another approach is to get the hand / foot warmers and place those into items like shoes, gloves, hats, and pockets before going to sleep so they were still warm when you woke up.
• Make sure you use the bathroom right before you are ready to crawl into the sleeping bag – bathrooms are outside and require a short walk so do not un-bundle your layers until you know you are ready to get into the sleeping bag.
• There are no outlets so bring a power bank to plug your phone into at night to avoid draining your battery, especially in the cold.
• The biggest thing that freaks people out is not the cold but actually the silence – the snow is insanely insulating and it is eerily quiet. If this may bother you, bring a white noise machine or play something on your phone – again, why the power bank is an essential packing item for this over night stay.

The final area of the tour was the ice bar. Normally, you can order a beverage – even on that comes in an ice glass – but due to COVID, this was unavailable. The detail at the ice bar was amazing.

On our way out of the ice hotel we got a great view of the snow tubing. It looked so fun and I can understand why the Valcatier complex is such a draw. If we had more time on this trip, we definitely would have grabbed a snow tube.

What a surprising visit to the Hotel de Glace! I am glad I did not allow for the ticket price to dissuade us from going as it was equivalent to visiting a museum – each room was a piece of art and a marvel to wonder at how it was actually created. If you have time while visiting Quebec City, I would highly recommend visiting Hotel de Glace!

Continue reading about Quebec City – here!

See the full itinerary for this Quebec City trip – here!