An ice hotel in Quebec, which "lives" only three months and disappears without a trace every spring

Passing the gallery

Materials: Philippe Sanaroff

Text: Nikita Gorchakov

Magazine: N1 (90) 2005

"If they were able to build such in Sweden, then why are we worse?" - Canadian thinker Jacques Desbois (Jacques Desbois), when he heard about the world's first ice hotel in the town of Jukkasaarvi in ​​Lapland. The words were followed by a deed, and not without success - its Ice Hotel Quebec will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. The Canadian city of Quebec is not for nothing called the world capital of snow, so that Debois with his project hit the spot. Quebec, located in the French-speaking part of Canada, is called more French than France itself, and to complete the picture you can compare it with the winter Rio de Janeiro: every year in early February the world's largest winter carnival takes place here. And if you think about the igloo (ice huts of the Canadian Eskimos), then the last doubts will disappear: to be the second ice hotel in the world, and to be here in Canada. The hotel, which "lives" only three months and for natural reasons disappears without a trace each spring, has already become one of the main tourist attractions in the region, and Debois and his team received more than ten different awards from the Canadian government for the development of local tourism. To build an ice palace, each time at least twelve thousand tons of ice and five weeks of almost around-the-clock work go away. It is no wonder that so many guests come to see this wonder of the world. Every year Ice Hotel Quebec is visited by more and more tourists (their total has exceeded two hundred thousand), and the hotel is growing and transforming every time. In the current, jubilee season, Debois promises to surprise everyone with completely unexpected decorative elements of the interior (again, from ice), and last year, copies of famous sculptures, such as Michelangelo David or Botticellian Venus, were built from ice here. Inside the ice hotel there are 19 spacious rooms with ceilings more than five meters high and 13 themed suites. In addition, the famous Absolut Ice Bar is open every evening. Here is the cinema, also entirely made of ice. And a real wedding chapel was erected nearby. The wedding at the Snow Queen's castle is popular, and for 2005 the chapel is almost entirely booked. So that the hotel does not melt from the inside, the rooms are kept at a constant temperature from -3 to -5 ° C, so do not forget to study the equipment instructions in detail if you are going to visit this magical place. So you can spend the night comfortably, you will be laid on the skins and will be given sleeping bags, and for the newlyweds, by the way, there will be special bags in the hotel - paired.Отель Ice Hotel Quebec-CanadaFlight: to Quebec from $ 650 (Lufthansa).Weather: in January-April from -20 to + 8 ° С.Accommodation: from 450 to 1400 US dollars per day.Entertainment: in such a hotel it makes no sense to spend more than three nights, so it is best to enjoy the moment. And 25 minutes away is Quebec, "more French than France itself."