Skip to content
basketballoutside
Hall of stacked ice blocks beside a mountain lake with carved seating

Hotel of Ice at Bâlea Lac

Făgăraș Mountains, Romania

The Hotel of Ice is raised each winter on the shore of Bâlea Lake, in the Făgăraș range of the southern Carpathians. Blocks are cut from the frozen lake in front of the site and stacked into walls, so the building is made from the water it stands beside. It is put up from the beginning every cold season.

Published material describes a hall with a vaulted roof, sleeping rooms set along the sides and furniture cut from the same blocks. The design is set fresh each winter. Beds are dressed with thermal bedding over the ice, and heated buildings on the same shore hold washing, changing and a dining room.

The lake sits high in the range and winter access depends on the cable car from the valley, since the road over the mountains is shut by snow. Weather closes the approach without notice, so both the season and the way up should be confirmed with the operator.

Back to Ice Hotels

More in Ice Hotels

This guide is independent and made for reference. Everything here comes from published material and can change without warning. Frozen buildings stand only through the cold months and are cut again from new material each year. We hold no link with any of the operators listed, sell nothing and hold no reservations. Confirm the current arrangement with the operator.