A night at the ice hotel at Montreal's new Snow Village seemed so romantic. It conjured images of pure-white snow and woolly blankets, mulled wine and snuggles.

So we pulled on our long johns and thermal socks and spent the night in a hotel made of nothing but snow and ice, in a room where the temperature hovered around -5 C.

No one ever stays more than one night, the Snow Village promoter had explained. "Just have a nice bottle of wine and eat a good, hot dinner before heading to bed," he advised.

Oh, and "put the clothes that you plan to wear the next day at the bottom of your sleeping bag, so it will keep its warmth," management's guidelines suggested.

It all began well enough. Drinks at the ice bar were fun and dinner at the Pommery Ice Restaurant was divine: a bowl of creamy butternut squash soup, followed by braised venison with root vegetables and mashed potatoes.

But it was more than a little surreal. We all ate in our parkas and toques, sitting at tables carved from ice on ice chairs padded with lamb's wool. One of our fellow diners rose to dance a jig between courses, just to keep warm. The guy next to me never took off his gloves. By the end of the meal, the bottom of the table had begun to melt from the heat of our laps, and the waiter brought a sheet of plastic.

Come bedtime, our noses were red and our toes were frozen. We swigged a little grappa from a flask and headed for our room, a domed suite with a bed carved out of ice and topped with a fur-covered mattress. There's a warm dormitory to escape to in the middle of the night, but it is ignobly nicknamed "the chokers' room."

We wiggled into our extra thermal sleeping bags, zipped up and hunkered down for a long winter's night. Pulling down our hats and adjusting our neck warmers we hoped to dream, at least, of cuddling up before a roaring fire.

For more information, call 514-788-2181 or go to www.villagedesneiges.com.