My staunch attitude towards camping will never wane; the old “never go anywhere you can’t plug in your hairdryer” adage tolling in my head like a rabid pigeon in the belfry of the church of common decency and polite civilisation. With Glastonbury Festival just around the corner and despite its impressive line-up of the world’s most talented musicians, never has my stance been truer: I vote with my alligator-swathed feet—I won’t go. In short, while getting back to basics has its appeal to some, electricity and running water were invented for a reason, so why shirk them? But now you can have both.
Located in Berlin’s Hermannplast district is Hüttenpalast, a hotel that brings the great outdoors in while leaving the great unwashed out where they belong. An alternative to the shoddy B&Bs and hostels that plague Berlin, its novel caravan “rooms” can accommodate the single traveller to the family.
Rooms are considered “barrier-free zones”, thus, there are separate shared shower and bathroom facilities for men and women so you recreate that camping nightmare from your repressed childhood. While the whole communal amenities thing isn’t for most discerning folk (myself included), it’s a far cry from Barcelona’s proposed Rock Hotel.
Caravans and cabins are priced from 40 – 60 € per night, and Hüttenpalast’s version of hotel rooms are 60 – 130 € per night, depending on the size of the group staying. Therapy for flashbacks not included in the rack rate.
(via Fubiz)
Published on 6 June 2011 by Agony Uncle