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.
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carmen
I’m so impressed that they rebuild the hotel every year! Must be a big job.
Looks like a beautiful journey to get there, too.
Yes, indeed Liz ! Only very passionate and determined people could do such a job in hard weather & environment conditions.
A hotel made of ice? That was pretty cool so amazing!
Can we able to sleep on an ice bed? Isn’t that so very cold? Just curious thou this is really great!
This hotel is pretty amazing indeed. It melts during summer and is rebuilt every winter. Every time with another look and new facilities. Last year for example it had a chappel and weddings were celebrated there.They also provide accomodation in ice rooms where one can sleep on ice beds covered with animal furs. On their site you can find all the information and photos of the hotel (interior and exterior).
That’s a fantastic place. My experience here, it’s so diffiocut as i can compare with anything else. I travelled a lot but all the time in conventional hotels. So, it’s a bit cold, the air is so fresh and the light makes you think you are at the North Pole.
Enjoy it:)
http://www.buildipedia.com/aec-pros/featured-architecture/hotel-of-ice-in-transylvanian-alps