Looking for a cool and unusual place to stay? Along with tree houses, hobbit homes, yurts, and ice hotels, the list of unique lodging options now includes life-size sand castles where you can stay overnight.
Sandcastle Hotels in the Netherlands
In the summer of 2015, sand sculptors first created two sand castle hotels in the Netherlands, one in Oss and the other in Sneek, and have repeated the effort in subsequent summers. Both cities host annual sand sculpture festivals each summer, but interestingly, neither is found in the ocean.
From the outside, the hotels look exactly like giant sand castles, with turrets and intricate carvings.
These emerging Zandhotels are the world’s first sand castle hotels. They offer surprisingly comfortable overnight accommodation during the summer, along with intricate designs that feature drawbridges, turrets, and impressive sand statues. For safety, the interiors are made of sand treated with hardener to prevent crumbling and reinforced with wooden frames, which, in turn, are covered with a layer of sand.
The term ‘all sand’ applies to walls, floors, and other design features, such as artwork, but not to furniture or bedding, so you don’t have to worry about following the sand wherever you go. . Many features, such as the shower, bath accessories, rug and box-spring bed are made from traditional materials.
The Zandhotels, which the developers rebuild each summer, were inspired by the ice hotels that appear every winter in Scandinavia and Canada. While staying in an ice hotel means enduring cold temperatures well below freezing, these sand castle hotels offer more comfortable conditions, including a real bed, electricity, and a working bathroom with clean white towels. A carpet covers the sandy floor of the room where the cost for an overnight stay is approximately $ 170 per night for two, including free wireless Internet.
For now, this experience is reserved for a family with adult children. Guests must be 18 years or older to register.
Arriving at the Zandhotels
Trying to decide which sand castle hotel to visit? The most picturesque destination is Sneek, a bustling town of about 33,000 residents in Friesland and is well known for its inland waterways, made up of lakes, canals and rivers. The journey north from Amsterdam to Sneek takes less than an hour and a half. You can also travel by train from Amsterdam; the trip takes about three hours, including connections at Amersfoort and Leeuwarden.
Sneek is a notable boating center, with a marina and boating schools. Sneek is also home to the National Model Train Museum, which will delight train lovers and children. There are incredibly detailed dioramas and interactive features that allow children to operate the model trains with the simple push of a button.
Oss is a working-class city of about 58,000 residents in the south of the Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. The drive south from Amsterdam to Oss takes less than an hour and a half. You can also travel by train from Amsterdam Central Station; the trip lasts approximately 90 minutes without any connection.
Oss is famous for the important archaeological discoveries at the Vorstengraf burial sites, which are some of the largest burial mounds in the Netherlands and Belgium. The Vorstengraf Hill (“King’s Tombs”) is about nine feet high with a diameter of 177 feet. These tombs were built in the period from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, between 2000 BC. C. and 700 a. C.
