Chill Out With a Look Inside North America's Only Ice Hotel

If the idea of spending the winter months all cozied up indoors seems a bit boring to you, consider the Hotel de Glace in Quebec—the only ice hotel in North America.

The hotel was first built in 2001 and has been reconstructed every winter since then. The lodgings last only a few months a year when the weather turns cold enough. This winter, the hotel will accept guests from January 4 to March 28.

Construction on the Hotel de Glace begins in December, and takes about 50 people roughly six weeks to complete. The primary building material—snow—is man-made and churned to be particularly dense and humid (snowman and snowball enthusiasts know that this makes for the best packing snow).

It takes a whopping 500 tons of ice and 30,000 tons of snow to complete the structure, which contains 44 rooms and themed suites, a restaurant, hot tubs, a sauna, an ice bar, and an ice shelf.

The unique experience doesn’t come cheap, with rooms starting at $199 per person. It’s also not exactly the lap of luxury: The rooms are kept at around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, so you have to bundle up and seal your sleeping bag tight if you expect to get any quality slumber. (For those who might be wondering, the bathrooms are heated.) For a less intimate experience, guided tours are available, or you can just gaze at the stunning photos below.

[h/t The Real Deal]