If you love ice and are a bit of an adrenalin junkie, a hiking tour inside the Langjokull Glacier in Iceland might be just the thing to quell your cold obsession. After suiting up with all the appropriate gear—gloves, helmets, and snowsuits—ice-enthusiasts can take a tour inside the turquoise ice wave that is the Langjokull glacier. Not a huge fan of walking around on your own two feet? Try exploring the glacier on a snowmobile.
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For those looking for a more intimate and tranquil ice experience, the Pommery Ice Restaurant in Montreal may be a better choice. Under Chef Matthieu Saunier, Pommery offers a prix fixe menu in its dining room, where everything—chairs, tables and walls—is made of ice. Remember to layer up and bring a pair of gloves; you wouldn't want to get frostbite from cutlery.
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For those dreaming of a white-ice wedding, the Ice Chapel at Hotel de Glace in Quebec City is the only spot in North America that can make your dreams come true. The all-ice chapel features a cathedral design carved into the ice walls complete with an ice alter and ice pews that can seat up to 40 guests. The interior also features colored mood lighting, giving the space an otherworldly feel. Wedding packages available upon request.
Xavier Dachez
Located in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, China, Harbin hosts an annual Ice Festival which features ice slides as just one of the many frosty delights during the month-long celebration. Each year, sculptors from around the world turn the city into a winter wonderland using ice blocks from the Songhua River. If your inner child isn’t up to slipping and sliding, there are always larger-than-life ice palaces, dragons, and re-creations of world monuments to explore.
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No around-the-world ice tour would be complete without a visit to the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. While guests can choose from different types of accommodations, with options ranging from a deluxe suite with an in-room sauna to a room with a light installation recreating the Aurora Borealis, all suites are made entirely of ice, with beds built on blocks of ice surrounded by ice furniture and ice carvings on the walls. To keep guests warm, the hotel supplies thermal sleeping bags, reindeer skins, and hot lingoberry juice every morning. May we suggest bringing along someone to help keep you warm?
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For those willing to go to the ends of the earth for an icy experience, diving in Antarctica will not disappoint. After donning a dry suit and taking the plunge, divers can get a close-up look at the billowing icebergs and ice formations that skirt Antarctica. But before booking the next flight with packed flippers, make sure you have all the required Open Water dive certifications. This icy adventure is not for beginners.
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An ice sauna may seem counterintuitive, but that’s exactly what one of the wellness saunas at the Rukan Salonki Chalets offers. The unorthodox spa treatment is filled with steam, but made entirely of ice—including the roof. Guests are encouraged to take a dip in the ake Salonkijärvi after they’ve had enough time in the steamy igloo.
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Fairly new to the ice scene, Minus5 in Midtown Manhattan provides New Yorkers with a chilly place to down cocktails served by parker-clad bartenders in a perpetual 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Using 350 pounds of Canadian ice, the walls, the chairs, even the shot glasses are made of ice. Minus5 can provide faux fur coats to those who arrive underdressed. Cover is $20, but in the heat of a Manhattan summer, it’s worth it.
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You can never visit the Snow Village in Lainiotie, Finland two years in a row, because every summer the entire complex melts. The following November, around one-thousand truckloads of snow are brought back in to create an entirely new village. Located nearly 124 miles above the Arctic Circle the resort is primarily made of snow, but has plenty of ice, including ice beds at the SnowHotel, an IceBar and an ice dance floor at the igloo disco. The Snow Village is open from December to April.
