Have you ever thought you could spend your holiday in an Ice Hotel, sleep on an ice bed, drink your cocktail in an ice bar, have a party in an ice restaurant and even marry in an ice church?

If not, this is the time! I invite you to try Ice Hotel in the nearby of Balea Lake.

Balea Lake (a glacier lake) is situated in Fagaras mountains (Sibiu county), the highest in Romania, at 2034 m altitude. The landscape is spectacular, especially in the winter, when there’s a lot of snow there and the ice on the lake is near 1 m high.

The first Ice Hotel Balea Lake was built in 2006, being at that time the first one in the South-Eastern Europe. A group of enthusiastic people leaded by Arnold Klingeis, the author of the project, who want to increase the touristic potential of the region, re-build every winter a new and more complex version of the Ice Hotel.

See the hotel in construction! (commentary in Romanian)

A great idea turned into a touristic marketing project; it includes also events on the most important holidays as Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Women Day and others (as long as ice doesn’t melt!). For 2009 the theme of the project is Ice Hotel Cold Classic.

On Ice Hotel Website you can find a lot of information about the hotel, a photo gallery and you can even make your reservation.

Balea is also the name of a well-known ski resort and a beautiful and warm chalet, where you can reach by car (on the Transfagarasan road, only during summer) or by cable car.

Read more:
The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta
Bucharest’s Romanian peasant museum
Summer rituals in New Zealand

About the author

Carmen was born and raised in Bucharest, the city where she currently lives. She worked in the Sales Department of a radio station for 15 years. Along with some friends, Carmen recently founded a small company that deals with website development and online promotion. She loves English, listening to music, establishing connections and meeting new people and has a real passion for Ireland. Carmen is attracted by foreign cultures and she likes very much to travel (whenever it is possible!)