That time of year again — starting next week, chilly chic is back once more, thanks to those clever Swedes and crafty Quebecois. First up, from December 10 to mid-April, the Swedish Lappland town of Jukkasjärvi, up north of the Arctic Circle, will be the site of the 59,200-square foot (5,500-square-meter) 21st edition of the original ICEHOTEL (you fly into Stockholm, then connect onward to Kiruna; British Airways can also whisk you direct to Kiruna from Heathrow, believe it or not). For rates from 3,200 krona (US$466/£290/€341) a night per person, you can sleep in one of the 80 artist-designed rooms and suites carved from snow and ice (with thermal underwear and sleeping bags, of course), or in a more conventional, heated hotel annex. While you’re up here, activities include sauna, snowshoe, snowmobile/dogsled tours, ice sculpture lessons, and visits with the local Sami people. If you can’t make it this time around, they’re planning to open it a month earlier next winter.
Meanwhile, for those on the other side of the Atlantic, in Canada’s Duchesnay winter resort area a half hour from picturesque Quebec City, the Hôtel de Glace (pictured here) marks its 11th winter this January 11 to mid-March. It’s quite a bit plus petit (32,000 square feet/3,000 square meters), but just as, er, cool as its Swedish inspiration, with similar amenities and activities (but no Sami, of course). It's also less pricey, with an overnight in one of its 36 rooms and suites starting at CAD400 (US$395/£245/€288) per person, or you can just stop in for a tour and a bracing gulp at the ice bar (for more details, see Snowpocalyse Never: In Quebec, Winter's Just an Excuse to...). A votre santé glâcée!
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