Travel
- Ottawa Marriott Hotel
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel has a distinctive design that stands out in the skyline of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. Built in 1972, the rooftop has a huge revolving room that spins at a rate of one revolution every two hours. It is the 8th tallest...
- Top 5 Hotels To Stay In London On A Budget
There is so much to do in London it is unreal. Whether you are going shopping, seeing family, seeing friends, going out for dinner, going to the theatre, there is so much to do. Being in London doing all of these things and more is such a fantastic experience....
- The Igloo Village: Enjoying The Northern Lights From... An Igloo
Have you ever fancied to live in an igloo? I know I found igloos very intriguing as a child. However, permanently living in a show and ice home was never my dream. But spending a night with a difference, well above the Arctic Circle, in the Igloo Village...
- Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Hotel For Rent For $671,000
Got some $671,000 to spare? Because if you do, the entire 5 luxurious stars of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Hotel could be yours for a night. Well, to be more precise, 21 hours. You can invite 500 of your closest friends and throw a wild cocktail party...
- Good-bye Snow. Hello Aruba.
Divi & Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusives NO SNOW! UP TO 35% OFF Travel March 1 - May 31, 2015 Use Code: NOSNOW Book by March 31, 2015 WINTER SALE UP TO 22% OFF Travel February 1 - 28, 2015 & June 1 - December 18, 2015 Book by February 28, 2015 Discounts reflected...
Travel
Hotel de Glace, Canada's Only Ice Hotel Is Epic
If Frosty the Snowman would visit Canada, I'm sure Hotel de Glace would be his first choice. But if I am to visit Quebec in winter, I think I would go for a more conventional (and cheaper) accommodation. Of course, I would visit the ice hotel, I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world, but neither the spa and sauna facilities nor the intriguing fireplaces would convince me to spend a night in an ice bed.
 |
| Hotel de Glace, ice hotel in Canada |
I can't stop wondering: isn't it counterproductive building a hotel every December just to melt away at the end of every March? As they've been doing it for more then a decade now, probably not. And for $235 (Canadian Dollars) per person per night I trust they even turn a profit at the end of the season. I mean, ice cannot be that expensive!
For me, this is proof of the huge amount of creative juices that are flowing around us and of the human need for conquering new territories, more than anything else. Building an ice hotel is crazy, but the right kind of it, as it is crafting ice sculptures for the Harbin Snow Festival or building huge and expensive papier mache figurines for Las Fallas Festival in Valencia, just to burn them later.
For me, this is proof of the huge amount of creative juices that are flowing around us and of the human need for conquering new territories, more than anything else. Building an ice hotel is crazy, but the right kind of it, as it is crafting ice sculptures for the Harbin Snow Festival or building huge and expensive papier mache figurines for Las Fallas Festival in Valencia, just to burn them later.
This year's 32 rooms Hotel de Glace was built closer to the city centre than ever before, on the site of the old Quebec zoo and it’s bigger and warmer than ever before. It has improved feature, a larger living space, heated pavilions and a theme I simply love: Biodiversity. Of course it has a restaurant where guests can enjoy a hot soup and a hot chocolate, an ice bar where cocktails are served in ice glasses, and as any self respecting weird hotel, a wedding chapel for those who prefer love below 0ºC.
The overnight rates include a welcome cocktail, tour of the hotel, access to the hot tubs and sauna, equipment & instructions for the night (thanks God!), a hot morning beverage and breakfast. The temperatures in the rooms are kept between -3°C and -5°C (we wouldn't want it to start dripping, would we?) and the beds have a solid ice base topped with a wooden boxspring and mattress.
Hotel de Glace is definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and for Star Wars fans it might be a reminiscence of Hoth, the snow and ice world, but without the moons. Otherwise, the Canadian ice hotel could be just a hell of a freezing experience, bitter sweetened by the five meters high snow arches, the dazzling decor and the crystalline ice sculptures.
The North America's only ice hotel opens every year at the begining of January (January 7th in 2011) and closes at the end of March (March 27th in 2011), when it starts melting away and eventually disappear off the face of the Earth.
Hotel de Glace is not the only ice hotel there is though, and if you live in other parts of the world and want to experience a magical night in a wet bed, you can book a room in the original ice hotel from Sweden (the biggest of its kind), the one in Norway, the one in Finland or the one in Romania, according to Wikipedia.
- Ottawa Marriott Hotel
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel has a distinctive design that stands out in the skyline of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. Built in 1972, the rooftop has a huge revolving room that spins at a rate of one revolution every two hours. It is the 8th tallest...
- Top 5 Hotels To Stay In London On A Budget
There is so much to do in London it is unreal. Whether you are going shopping, seeing family, seeing friends, going out for dinner, going to the theatre, there is so much to do. Being in London doing all of these things and more is such a fantastic experience....
- The Igloo Village: Enjoying The Northern Lights From... An Igloo
Have you ever fancied to live in an igloo? I know I found igloos very intriguing as a child. However, permanently living in a show and ice home was never my dream. But spending a night with a difference, well above the Arctic Circle, in the Igloo Village...
- Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Hotel For Rent For $671,000
Got some $671,000 to spare? Because if you do, the entire 5 luxurious stars of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Hotel could be yours for a night. Well, to be more precise, 21 hours. You can invite 500 of your closest friends and throw a wild cocktail party...
- Good-bye Snow. Hello Aruba.
Divi & Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusives NO SNOW! UP TO 35% OFF Travel March 1 - May 31, 2015 Use Code: NOSNOW Book by March 31, 2015 WINTER SALE UP TO 22% OFF Travel February 1 - 28, 2015 & June 1 - December 18, 2015 Book by February 28, 2015 Discounts reflected...