The Ice Hotel at Bâlea Lake, in Romania's Făgăraș Mountains, is promoted by British journalists at The Standard in a global ranking of winter tourist attractions. The glacier lake is the 'highlight' of a package that includes a tour of Romania's medieval cities, a visit to Dracula's Castle in Bran, participating in husky-drawn sled races in the Harghita Mountains, and a visit to the capital. 

The prestigious British publication The Standard included the Ice Hotel at Bâlea Lake in a global top of winter places and experiences where the most memorable adventures can be lived. 

The ranking includes stays in extremely isolated mountainous areas in central Iceland (the Kerlingarfjöll mountains), perfect for lovers of wild hikes and for admiring the Northern Lights and the starry sky. It also features everything from Finnish adventures with reindeer-drawn sleighs in search of Santa Claus and accommodation in treehouses to Norwegian cruises where travelers will enjoy Nordic wildlife, a sled ride with huskies, and many other polar experiences.

There is also a trip to Argentina, offering a real opportunity to observe penguins, albatrosses, whales, or dolphins in their natural environment and to visit the southernmost city on the planet – Ushuaia. 

"These are winter experiences that represent exceptional choices for a memorable vacation," said representatives of the Ice Hotel at Bâlea Lake in a press release quoted by News.ro.

They added that British journalists considered the Ice Hotel at Bâlea Lake and the experience tourists live here to be the 'highlight' of a package that includes a tour of Romania's most picturesque medieval cities, a visit to Dracula's Castle in Bran, participation in husky-drawn sled races in the Harghita Mountains, and a visit to the capital of Romania. 

"The last night of the stay in Dracula's land will be spent in the rooms of the Ice Hotel at Bâlea Lake, where you can only arrive after a cable car ride. Snowmobile rides, fun on the tubing or sledding track, and a four-course dinner served on an ice table will not be missing," The Standard ranking added.

During the winter seasons, the Ice Hotel, Ice Church, and igloos are built in the glacial cirque of Bâlea Lake, near the cable car station. They are built from 'bricks' of ice cut from the surface of the lake and snow, later reinforced due to the mixture of water and low temperatures. 

Representatives of the Ice Hotel said they have started preparations for the 2023-2024 season of the Ice Hotel Bâlea Lake project.

"We are confident that when the weather conditions are suitable for this endeavor, and the layers of snow and ice at Bâlea Lake are thick enough, we will be able to start building the seventeenth Ice Hotel, a unique construction that has become, in recent decades, a true symbol of winter seasons in the most famous glacial cirque of the Făgăraș Mountains. Although there are still many organizational issues to be solved and there are also some uncertainties independent of our plans and desires, we have managed to create a strategy that we hope to implement so that we can bring as many foreign tourists to Romania as possible, a new joy for those who arrive this winter at Bâlea Lake," they added. 

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Rechitan Sorin | Dreamstime.com)