Who stayed at the Bâlea Hotel of Ice on the coldest night of 2018?

Four tourists were accommodated in the hotel ice hotel in Romania, at Bâlea Lac on the coldest night of this year. On Wednesday, two Romanian and two American tourists slept over in the Hotel of Ice, located at over 2,000m altitude in the Făgăraș Mountains in Sibiu county. Wednesday was the coldest night so far this year, with temperatures climbing down to minus 21C. The cables of the cable car froze due to the extreme cold, so the cable car was halted on Wednesday afternoon.

However, the temperature inside the hotel was warmer by 16-Celsius degrees.

According to Daniel Corbu, from the Bâlea Hotel of Ice, four tourists were accommodated in the hotel on Wednesday, two Romanians and two Americans. The temperature inside de hotel was around minus 5C. The temperature is usually oscillating depending on how many people are in the hotel at that moment.

Today there are minus 18C at Bâlea Lac. The snow pack measures 194cm.

Tourists must pay 100 euro per one night at the Hotel of Ice. Beds, bed tables are made of ice. However, mattresses and animal coats are on the bed and tourists also receive sleeping bags. The hotel has only one entrance, rooms have no doors or windows. There are no bathrooms in the ice hotel. Tourists must walk tens of metres through cold and snow to use the bathroom or the toilet in the neighbouring chalet.

Tourists who accommodate here sign a statutory declaration that they are able to resist the cold.

The hotel is also open just for visitors, who must pay RON 15 (RON 10 for children) for a tour.

The hotel of ice is accompanied by an ice church and igloos. Tourists can practice winter sports near the Hotel of Ice under the mountain rescuers’ surveillance, as the area is known for its high risk of avalanches. Bâlea Lac is available by car on Transfagarasan alpine road up to the Bâlea Waterfall and from there only by cable car (a return ticket is RON 60).

Bâlea Lac Hotel of Ice is open by early April.