News that Romania’s Ice Hotel would not be built for the first time in 16 years due to unseasonably warm weather disappointed tourists planning a winter break in the Transylvanian mountains.
But owners have now come up with an alternative offer for holidaymakers looking for chilly charms 2,000 meters up the mountains.
Project manager Arnold Gunter Klingeis has unveiled plans to build an igloo village using snow, rather than ice, from the Balea Lake mountains.
According to comments made to Gonews.ro this week, the village will be built in the form of a spaceship with three igloos, each with two rooms and a double bed, connected to a central area hoising a restaurant and a bar.
Klingeis was quoted as saying that global warming over the last ten years was responsible for the change of plans.
He said the construction would be made from snow dug up in the area, and the walls would be thicker than the ones at the Ice Hotel.
Interior décor and facilities will also be sculpted from snow, rather than ice, to accommodate the conditions on the mountain.
Klingeis, who was mayor of Avrig from 2008 to 2016, said the theme of this year’s project was Underwater World.
The décor will feature shells, seahorses, mermaids, jellyfish and aquatic plants.
One night at an igloo will cost 150 euros and tourists can also enjoy snow rafting and hiking on the mountain.
The igloos will be ready at the end of January in the same place as the hotel which is rebuilt every year. It is next to the Balea Lake in the Fagaras Mountains, at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters.
The hotel usually opens before Christmas and stays open until Easter. It had become a popular place for tourists to spend the winter holiday season. Construction on the ice hotel began at the beginning of November.
But this year, the hotel announced in December that it had canceled its bookings from December 20 to January 20, due to the warm weather. Romanian and foreign tourists had already made reservations.
