Our Stay in a Mountaintop Igloo at Balea Lac

What a unique experience! The Hotel of Ice Romania is located at Balea Lac- atop a mountain a little ways outside of Sibiu. Getting up here is an adventure in itself, and staying up here is a whole other thing. For starters, there is no driving to the top. The transfagarasan highway that normally takes you up there is covered in five feet of snow. You have to take a tiny cable car 2.3 miles up the mountain to an elevation of 6673ft. But when you finally get up there, it is totally worth it!
Once you get to the top, its like you’re in a whole different world. Down in the villages, the temperatures stayed around a mild 50 degrees, but up here, there’s six feet of snow and frigid cold. The whole hotel is made of giant ice blocks and filled with furniture made of ice. They give you sheepskin to sit on and a regular mattress to lay on so you don’t freeze, but otherwise, its all ice and snow. The day we arrived atop the mountain, there was a storm coming (yay us and the lack of weather information for the mountain!). Everytime we would open the door to our igloo, snow blew in, and they had to shovel it out. When it was time to go to bed, we gathered every sheepskin pelt we could find to cover ourselves. I ended up with twelve pelts on me alone, and I was still a bit chilly. We found out the next day that it got down to minus twenty that night. Yikes! Thankfully, there is also a warm little chalet up there where you can get a warm meal, hot shower, and some much needed human interaction.
Walking around in six feet of white snow creates a total whiteout. I couldn’t even see my friend’s footsteps was he walked in front of me. It was unbelievably gorgeous and cozy up there though! Just seeing that snow up to the windowsills and gutters, and all the icicles everywhere made me want to snuggle up inside. Somewhere under all that snow is a glacial lake called Balea Lac. I can’t imagine how beautiful this place must be in the summer. It makes me want to come back and see it again! If you get a chance to go out to Romania, I would highly recommend this place! Just don’t forget your sense of adventure and a lot of warm gear! ~ Shelley Hartman, Balea Lac Romania + Europe Destination Wedding and Travel Photographer
Want to see more of Romania? Check out our posts from Sighisoara and Viscri.