| − | through Smarter Travel<br>No one goes to a snow hotel for eight hrs of sleep. For some, the draw is simply the novelty. For others, it's a badge of honor to make it through the night. (Usually a couple of people end up bailing, but there's always a warm place provided to retreat to). For nearly everyone, once is more than enough for a lifetime. <br>I've spent the night in three different snow hotels, 2 in Canadand one in Norwegian. After the first time I did it within Quebec City, I had the mindset of, "Okay, checked that off the travel bucket list, " nevertheless a new one popped in Montreal a few years later, just six hrs by car from my home in Boston, I thought, "Well, really want to see what that one's such as. " Then, when a stay on the Kirkenes SnowHotel in Norway had been an optional excursion after a Hurtigruten Northern Lights cruise this winter, I just couldn't resist. <br>My friends think this is a pretty weird exercise for me. I mostly don't like wintertime, and sometimes I don't leave the house for days on end when the temperature scoops below 20. But , for me, staying in a snow hotel is an idealized version of winter: Everything is pristine and beautiful. <br>RELATED: World's Best Ice Hotels and Igloo Villages<br>There are things common to all snow hotels. Ice sculptures decorate the hallways and bedrooms boast walls of snow graced with carvings that only last for a few months at best. There's the essential ice bar where drinks are usually served in ice cups. Furs cover chairs made of snow. Many always, there's the profound silence late at night when everyone is tight in their sleeping bags. <br>And below is the thing no one expects: Once you're tucked into your bag rated intended for arctic expeditions, you're warm because toast. The problem comes when you have to get out of your bag to visit the bathroom, that i invariably becomes a necessity. That's the way i know about the silence at night, in addition. But that's just a minor annoyance. <br>Essentials<br>Yuriko Nakao<br>Everyone wonders about exactly what is needed to stay at a snow hotel and the answer may surprise you. Not much. The hotels give you all you need for a comfortable night's sleep. At Kirkenes, that included clean made of woll socks, a head sock, the sheet sack, and of course a resting bag rated for minus-30 degrees Celsius. <br>The beds at Kirkenes have normal mattresses with an additional thermal insulation layer. Ice blocks placed around the beds make it look like you're sleeping on ice, but you are not. The illusion only needs to proceed so far. The temperature inside the snow hotel is a constant minus-4 degrees Celsius, so you do need your own usual winter gear for running around around. <br>Bathrooms, showers, a sauna, restaurant and lounge are in the heated lodge, open all night plus easily accessed from the snow resort. Word to the wise, if you think you will have to visit the facilities in the night, attempt to book a room as close as it can be. <br>RELATED: Zaniest Winter Festivals within the World<br>Mathieu Belanger/Reuters<br>You usually get a guide on how to get in and out of your handbag and what to wear. The key? Less much more. If you wear too many layers, you will get too hot. When you get too hot, you sweat, and then you unzip the bag, which causes you to definitely get chilled and then it's very difficult to get warm again. <br>In Quebec, canada ,, the tour guide suggested sleeping nude and keeping your clothing tucked into your bag so they would certainly stay warm. In Norway, they will suggested wearing just undergarments plus socks. Regardless of what you wear, you will see a moment when you're wriggling into your clothing and trying to stay in your handbag, when if anyone was watching they will think you might be having some sort of the seizure-but the upside is you won't be cool that long. <br>Extras and Excursions<br>Gary Mirielle. Prior/Getty<br>Since sleeping, in the end, is a fairly short part of the experience of staying at the snow hotel, most offer a variety of fun winter activities, through snowmobiling to dogsledding, and everything else you can think of relating to winter. <br>I went to Norway in March, when the Northern Lights are supposed to be spectacular, but I hadn't really seen all of them on the cruise; Kirkenes gave me one more chance to catch the elusive lighting. Late at night, stalling my bed time, I was finally rewarded with a sighting. It felt almost poetic. <br>RELATED: 8 Places to See the Northern Lights<br>But hands down, my one of my favorite actions at any snow hotel I've been to was the option to go arctic king crab fishing on the frozen fjord of Kirkenes. Those who signed up had been outfitted with full snowsuits, included onto sledges pulled by snowmobiles, and taken over the fjord to saw a hole in the glaciers and pull up the giant creatures. After we got what seemed like an enormous catch, we were taken to the farmhouse where the guide prepared the crabs over an outdoor fire after which served them up inside. I am just pretty sure I've never had a lot more delicious meal, and it made lots of lobsters I've had pale in comparison. <br>The hotel had a few resident reindeer which were fun to visit, as well as kick sledges free to use, which a friend and I enjoyed while race each other. Which brings me to another highlight of sleeping in a snow hotel. There's a camaraderie you build with all the other overnight guests. <br>Come morning, over coffee and breakfast every day in the warm dining room, you exchange stories with your fellow overnighters, collect your standard certificate declaring you made it through the night, and wonder if you needed ever do it again. <br>In my situation, I know the answer is yes. <br>More from SmarterTravel: <br><br>10 Perfect Mountain Towns to See in Winter <br><br>10 National Parks That Are Better in Winter <br><br>10 Relaxing Accommodations Where You Can Escape Winter <br>Read the original story: What It's Really Like to Sleep in a Snow Hotel by Kim Foley MacKinnon, who is a contributor to SmarterTravel. <br>Read the initial article on SmarterTravel. 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