Best Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier Hotels

Stayed one night in the cheapest ice room I could find on the 20th anniversary evening. First, the ice hotel is amazing and we loved the fireworks. The ice hotel sleeping experience is well thought out. As you get a big sized well designed traditional hotel bedroom to rest and prepare before and after. The hotel room is big and some half baked attempt at keeping the experience a bit more green than usual; no plastic water bottles - replaced by those awesome water refill station. But you still get these notoriously wasteful soap, shampoo and conditioner tiny bottles. The sleeping bag is surprisingly warm (they recommend sleeping naked in it) and the training is comprehensive. The worse part, thankfully short, is getting in and out of it before and after going to bed. The restaurants are sufficient, but at best pricey subpar copies of more popular restaurants. Minus one star however for the poorly thought out ”spa” experience. How it worked wasn't made entirely clear during ”training” but we were forced to round trip to our hotel room to change into swimsuit and robe. You have to also walk outside for more than you'd want in -25 celcius, dump the towel, boots and robe in a small shack that was supposed to be the sauna (completely cold) and jump in one of the six jacuzzi that is lukewarm at best. Your face quickly freezes and you now have to make the trip back wet. By the time you get back to the hotel room you'll be lucky not to be sick. Minus one star too for the poor treatment of what really should be VIP guests. At twice the price of a 5 stars hotel, you'd expect first class treatment. But ice hotels guests barely get discounts or special privileges so it's a stiff price to pay for the privilege of sleeping in a room that everybody gets to visit for an entry ticket at a tenth of the price. The front desk wasn't even sure at first if we had access to the 20 years anniversary festivities - even though that party meant cancelling the regular activities in the ice hotel bar. Which they managed to ruin for ice hotels guests by only covering the cheaper set of cocktails in the complimentary drink ticket. Finally, minus one star because transportation to and from the hotel is given no thought at all. Even if quite a distance from Quebec city, no shuttle is organized and the taxi or Uber ride is between 60 and a 100$ one way. This is not completely surprising as this region as one of the highest ratio of car per person in the world, but you'd think that with all the tourists flying in Quebec city this would be better organized. Overall, poor value for the money with major missed opportunities to make this experience truly enjoyable by their guests.

Good price for one night. 24h reception is a plus. Microwave in the reception.

There is no tourist attraction around, you have to go to Quebec City for that (a 30 minute drive), but if you like a quiet place in nature, it is a perfect place. There is a mountain outdoor centre (Empire 47) right on the other side of the road of the hotel and there is Stoneham ski mountain nearby. The hotel has heated warm indoor and outdoor pools and spas, and an activity center on the premise with mini-golf, tennis, canoes, etc. There is only one restaurant around, the one in the hotel ( a fine restaurant), otherwise you have to go to Stoneham, and you are better to reserve your table (because when we went, it was full).