Montreal Snow Village package combines nights in bed and sleeping bag

MONTREAL - Here's an accommodation package with a twist: spend one night in a king-size bed in a luxury hotel, and the next night in a sleeping bag trying not to freeze.

That's what Montreal's Snow Village is offering with its new partnership with the InterContinental Hotel.

The 0.7-hectare complex made of ice and snow is scheduled to open Jan. 4 in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Ile Ste-Helene and will include a restaurant, bar, chapel and ice hotel. This year there will also be a heated igloo for business meetings and private functions, and in Laval an ice restaurant will be set up.

A package being promoted by the InterContinental in old Montreal includes one night there and another night in a sleeping bag "designed for the coldest weather" at the ice hotel, a 10-minute cab ride away. The price starts at $498 for two people.

Another package for two adults and two children starts at $538.

The village, which promoters say is being designed this season as a replica of New York City, is scheduled to remain open until March 21, 2013, weather permitting. More than 95,000 people visited the site last year.

For package details, go to http://montreal.intercontinental.com/en/packages.