Igloos replace Romania’s ice hotel as warm weather hinders construction
The Ice Hotel built yearly at Bâlea Lake, in central Romania’s Făgăraș Mountains, will be replaced this year by an igloo village because of the unfavorable weather conditions.
Because of the warm weather, the builders are unable to extract ice from the Bâlea Lake; instead, they will build igloos made out of snow.
It is the first time in 15 years that the ice hotel cannot be built. The hotel, which is usually fully booked during the winter season, was supposed to open before Christmas. The construction works were postponed because of the high temperatures for the first time.
The tourists who already made reservations to stay at the hotel will now be accommodated at the Igloo Village.
The Igloo Village will have three sections, each with two rooms with a double bed, a central compartment linking to every accommodation unit and housing the restaurant and the bar, as well as a smaller compartment to serve as a lobby.
“We will base the construction on the snow gathered from the area. The technology used will be a bit different, meaning the layer of material and the walls of the complex will be thicker and many of the decorations and facilities will be made from sculpted and modeled snow,” Arnold Gunter Klingeis, the manager of the project, explained, quoted by Mediafax.
“It can come as a bit of a surprise for the fans of this project but the situation imposed by Mother Nature did not allow us to build the Ice Hotel this season. The global warming changed very fast the winter conditions at Bâlea Lake over the last ten years,” he went on.
The theme of this year’s project is the Underwater World, and those who check in will be able to enter the world of seas and oceans. The decor is set to feature shells, seahorses, mermaids, jellyfish, corals, aquatic plants but also the Yellow Submarine.
The Ice Church that is usually built on site could be erected in February if the weather conditions allow it, the representatives of the project explained.
The first tourists are expected to check in at the Igloo Village at the end of January.
Over the last 15 years, the Ice Hotel was built at an altitude of 2,034 meters. The temperature inside the hotel could reach a minimum of -2 degrees Celsius, while the outside temperature an average of -15 degrees Celsius.
Most of the tourists who stayed at the hotel were coming from abroad, from countries such as UK, France or Germany.
editor@romania-insider.com
