Chilean observatory hotel lets you stargaze from your private cabin
Seeking a celestial hotel?
This Chilean hotel has an observatory -- and private, open-ceiling domes -- for you to galaxy-gaze at the night sky.
Established in 2005 in the wine country of Pisco Elqui, Chile, the Hotel
Elqui Domos features seven geodesic dome rooms that can fit up to four
people. Each dome has a detachable roof over a double bed, a living
room, private deck, and bathroom so you won't need to pee in the bushes
by the light of a full moon, solar flare, or meteor shower.
You can also stay in one of four observatory cabins. These wood cabins feature three levels, double bed, skylight, and a private deck. How astronomically cool is that? It's like you're camping under the stars in the countryside, except instead of bumpy cowboy dirt, you're laying on a soft, warm bed with mega-thread count sheets.
Hotel amenities & attractions include a swimming pool, heat, wi-fi, and nearby vineyards in the Elqui Valley. So it offers a tantalizingly dangerous combination of drinking while gazing upwards and stumbling into a swimming pool at night.
But the Hotel Elqui Domo's crowning achievement is its observatory. It has two motorized domes that feature powerful 'Celestron' Schmidt–Cassegrain telescopes, plus a digital camera to capture the planets and galaxies you see. And if other guests are hogging the 'scopes, the hotel will lend you your own telescope for the night.
On their website, the hotel owners say they created the hotel for guests to "observe and enjoy the grandeur of the skies of the Elqui Valley." The hotel also offers astronomic tours, massages, Reiki, Tarot readings, meditation, and horseback rides by day or night.
The hotel is 3.5 kilometers from the town of Pisco Elqui, 580 km from Santiago, and just 110 km from the nearest airport in the region's capital city, La Serena. Five times a day, public buses travel from La Serena to the hotel. And each hour, a public bus arrives from Pisco Elqui. Or you can walk 45 minutes (Warning: there are no taxis in Pisco Elqui).
High
season rates (December 1st to April 30th + holidays and long weekends)
are $150 US/night, while low season rates (May 1st to November 3rd) are
$125 US/night.
For more information, visit elquidomos.cl -- and check out this incredible time-lapse video of the hotel. Created by photographer James Florio, it was assembled from 23,000 photographs over a 6-month span.
-- Ken Hegan
Bing: Best places to stargaze?
Read more of Ken’s travel stories here
Twitter: @KenHegan
Photos by James Florio via Hotel Elqui Domos
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