The 2013 Hotel de Glace in Quebec has opened for the winter season following months of chilly construction. Built using 500 tonnes of ice and 15,000 tonnes of snow, the hotel is open only three months of the year, this year closing on 24 March. Its 44 rooms and themed suites will welcome guests from $219 per night.

Alongside the hotel rooms, Hotel de Glace also offers a number of icy activities including the Grand Ice Slide, Ice Bar and for the first time, a tour behind the façade of the hotel’s intriguing design/construction process. This guided tour takes visitors to the ice workshop and shows them how to craft a unique glass out of ice from the hotel.

Since opening in 2001, Hotel de Glace has welcomed nearly 800,000 visitors and regularly hosts weddings in its Ice Chapel; this year’s theme will be ‘A Journey to the Centre of Winter’. More information on this annual venture and images of last year’s design can be found here.