Disclosure: We were provided with 3 tickets to Ice Castles Edmonton. As always, all opinions are my own.
Living life at the lake has been a game changer for us. Our happy weekend happy place became our everyday home. Planning getaways has become much more important because I can’t stay home 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Our first big outing was an overnight staycation to visit Ice Castles Edmonton.
Ice Castles Edmonton: What is it?
From the Ice Castles website: Ice Castles is an award-winning frozen attraction is located in six cities across North America. The experience is built using hundreds of thousands of icicles hand-placed by professional ice artists. The castles include breathtaking LED-lit sculptures, frozen thrones, ice-carved tunnels, slides, fountains and much more.
So basically, it is every child’s winter dream. It’s a life-size castle, made of ice, that you can walk inside. Plus it has beautiful lights that make it an even more spectacular sight at night.
Ice Castles Edmonton: Where is it?
Ice Castles Edmonton is in Hawrelak Park. There is free parking on a first come first serve basis next to the castle. Note, we missed the turn for Hawrelak Park TWICE. It is not that clear where you should go so definitely use your phone for directions.
Ice Castles Edmonton: How much is it and what are the hours?
Tickets are sold on a timed basis. Your ticket will give you the start time of your 30-minute window to enter. You can stay as long as you like but you have to go in during your window. I thought this was a bit hokey until we got there. While it is a large castle, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy it if it was wall to wall people. Timing the tickets means that you can enjoy it without having to fight a mass of humanity.
Ice Castles Edmonton is open through February 28th.
Ice Castles Edmonton Hours – Monday-Thursday (4pm-9pm) | Friday: (4pm-10pm)
Saturday: (11am-10pm) | Sunday: (12pm-8pm) (Closed Tuesdays)
Pricing (weekday/weekend): General Admission (12+): $20/$25 | Child (4-11): $15/$20
I highly recommend booking online. Standby tickets at the gate are not guaranteed and you may be turned away.
If you visit on the weekend, they have an ice princess that visits during the day and a fire show at night. We got to catch the fire show and it was super cool. Definitely a must see.
Ice Castles Edmonton: What to Wear
It was COLD the night we visited. I would recommend winter boots, snow pants, heavy jacket, toque and gloves. You can always unzip your jacket if you get too warm. We were frozen by the time we left and we had all our winter gear on. Hand warmers are a good thing to bring as well…wish I had thought of that before we went.
You will also want your snow pants because they have 3 ice slides in the castle. You don’t want to miss those!
Ice Castles Edmonton Review: What We Thought
We had an absolute blast at the Ice Castles Edmonton. We loved the castle, the fountain and especially the slides. Evan went down all of them multiple times. We visited with another couple and they had a great time as well. It is a great place to visit for any age. If you bring small children, though, it will be easier to pull them in a sled than to try to bring a stroller. You will be walking on ice so it is not really stroller friendly.
Take your time and make sure to see all the different parts of the castle. When you are going through the archways or tunnels, make sure to look up. You’ll see tons of icicles pointing down towards you like the picture above.
Not in Edmonton? There are 5 additional Ice Castles in the United States. Edmonton is the only one currently in Canada.
What are your favourite winter activities? If you are travelling to Calgary, check out my Winter Tips for Families in Calgary post for VisitCalgary.ca. And don’t forget your Winter Bucket List Printable because I’m sure seeing an ice castle is bucket list worthy, don’t you?
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