On an Island, In a Bus or Up a Tree: Interesting Tourist Accommodations in Latvia

In Viļaka county, Susāji parish, you will find an unusual place to stay called the Million Star Hotel. What's so unusual? You'll be able to sleep in a special bubble tent with a view of the night sky.

The owner of the bubble tent is Santa Komane, who told Tūrisma Gids that she fixed on this idea in the spring, when a competition for young business owners was held in Viļaka county.

The accommodation is run by the Paškovskis family: Svetlana, Jānis, big brother Raivis and his younger brother, six year old Jančuks. It all started in 2013, when the family purchased Atomi, a country home. As nobody had lived in the house for many years, they had to renovate it straight away, and two years later the holiday home welcomed its first guests. But the family didn't stop there.

"Last autumn, my husband was offered a bus for scrapping, and Jānis had the idea to turn it into a house on wheels," explains Svetlana, adding that her husband constantly has new ideas which family friend Gunārs often helps to implement. "In the winter and spring, when the weather and their schedules allowed, they both started renovating: transforming the interior, welding the body, removing the motor, etc., and so the bus stopped at its final stop—Atomi—to start its new life as a hotel. From July this year, we are offering guests the chance to stay the night in the bus," she adds.

In Tērvete, by the Indrāni Reservoir, five minutes from the Tērvete Nature Park, is an interesting place to stay—a treehouse which was first built for the owners and their friends, but which they then realised during the construction process could interest others too.

"The idea of a treehouse came after a relative in Vidzeme built one at his country home. My husband and I decided that we could build one similar where my husband is from—Tērvete—to spend weekends with friends. At first, we only planned on using the house for ourselves, but, during the construction process, we had the idea of offering it to others. We came up with and sketched the visual design of the house ourselves," explains Paula Cēsniece, owner of Glamping Tērvete.

The name, which translates as "on an island," hints at what can be expected here. This complex is on a small island in the middle of Lake Dagda, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Jurģis Dudko, who is behind the concept, explains that glamping is a glamorous camp site, and the term comes from putting together the words "glamorous" and "camping". Glamping takes the camping concept of becoming closer to nature, and adds the comfort usually associated with a hotel: comfy beds, warm blankets and hot showers.

The 25m2 house, set out over two stories, could seem completely ordinary if it weren't for the surprising and slightly disorienting fact that it is located among the treetops, five metres above the ground. How can you build something so big among the trees, what went into the building process, and how did he come up with it?