We’re Going Underground: Cool Subterranean Hotels
With the summer heat starting to really notch up, you’re probably wanting to bury your head in the sand. Which is handy, because you can do exactly that at this selection of hotels; they’re all under the ground. Unless you happen to be on the Piccadilly Line at eight thirty in the morning, descending into the bowels of the earth is a sure-fire way to remain temperate and escape the ravages of summer.
Les Hautes Roches, France
Un chambre luxe troglodytique sil vous plais
The chambre luxe troglodytique offers luxury like no caveman ever experienced. Okay, so there’s less woolly mammoth to gorge on, but when everything else is so gorge that you won’t care. Despite being hewn out of the stone cliff face, the rooms are ensuite, and come with all the luxury accoutrements you’d expect from a Relais & Chateaux hotel.
The caves once belonged to the Marmoutier Abbey and were the monks’ dormitories, but lovingly converted into their current luxury form, the hotel has a dozen cave rooms, as well as two un-caved rooms, in the manor house that sits alongside the cliff edge.
Where: Les Hautes Roches 86, quai de la Loire, 37210, Rochecorbon (Indre-et-Loire)
Website: www.leshautesroches.com
Grand Canyon Caverns Suite, USA
22 Stories Deep
Twenty two stories below the earth, deep in the Arizona desert, there’s a single hotel room in what must be the quietest and darkest place on earth. Welcome to the Grand Canyon Caverns Suite. Fully furnished, the motel room sits in the largest dry cavern in the United States of America, and is to deep that nothing lives there, except guests.
Where: 115 Mile Marker AZ-66, Peach Springs, AZ 86434
Website: www.gccaverns.com
Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental, China
Search Your Quarry
Built into a former quarry, the Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental isn’t your normal Intercontinental. The extraordinary design sees a hotel part underwater and for the main part under ground too. Close to the Sheshan Mountain Range and around 20 miles from Hongqiao Airport, the hotel is an engineering marvel, built by British engineering firm Atkins and defying gravity to build a hotel worthy of Bond villain lair status.
Where: Lane 5088 Chenhua Road, Songjiang District, Shanghai, SH ,201619, Mainland China
Website: www.ihg.com
Woodlyn Park, New Zealand
Get Your Hobbit ON
Generally we wouldn’t take travel advice from Hobbits, their journeys do not make for relaxed family hols. But we’re off to The Shire for good reason. New Zealand’s tourist industry experienced a huge helping hand from the release of the Lord of the Rings films, and the Woodlyn Park motel was only too happy to capitalise on its success.
Where: 1177 Waitomo Valley Road, RD7 Otorohanga, NZ 3937, New Zealand
Website: www.woodlynpark.co.nz
Sala Silver Mine, Sweden
Deep Sleep In The Deepest Suite
Sold as the world’s deepest suite, at over 450 feet below the surface the Sala Silver Mine is located in a former silver mine deep under the earth. Enjoy a guided tour of the mine, and then snuggle up and munch through a goodie bag of cheese, biscuits, fruits, sparkling wine and chocolate in the pitch black while you wait for breakfast to be delivered the next day.
Where: Sala Silvergruva, Drottning Christinas, väg 733 36 SALA, Sweden
Website: www.salasilvermine.com
La Claustra, Switzerland
La Claustra Phobic?
A nuclear bunker doesn’t necessarily make for the loveliest of nights’ stays, unless it’s La Claustra in Switzerland. 6,000 feet up in the mountains this unique hotel is memorable for its jacuzzi baths, restaurant and, most importantly, the stunning views.
Where: San Gottardo Airolo, Switzerland
Website: www.claustra.ch
Kelebek Special Cave Hotel, Turkey
Definitely Not A Turkey
Cappadocia’s rock formations are famously magnificent and presumably never more so than when you’re actually inside them. Kelebek Special Cave Hotel looks out across the mountains with 47 rooms hewn from stone or in natural caves and offering luxury, if cave dwelling, accommodation.
Where: Aydinli Mahallesi, Yavuz Sokak No:1 50180 Goreme, Nevsehir, TURKEY
Website: www.kelebekhotel.com
Wadi Rum Desert Hotel, Jordan
Wadi You Reckon?
It’s not yet completed, but there’s something so awesome about the Wadi Rum Desert Hotel that we had to include it. Jordan is known for its caves (think Petra etcetera (I’m a poet…)) but this takes things to another level, about fifteen other levels from the architect’s pictures. Set in the Jordanian desert, this is a grand, 80,000 square foot, project is one to watch.
Where: Wadi Rum, Jordan
Website: www.oppenoffice.com
Desert Cave Hotel, Australia
Miners Strike Lucky
Originally built for Australian opal miners, the Desert Cave Hotel in Coober Pedy provides underground living in totality, with underground shops, a cafe, bar and gaming room, in fact pretty much everything you’d need to survive underground for long periods. So designed to shelter the miners from the searing heat, the outback hotel now does the same thing for tourists.
Where: Coober Pedy, Australia
Website: www.desertcave.com.au
