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Six superb treehouse hotels
Chris Carter looks at six of the best treehouse hotels around the world from which to rekindle those childhood fantasies.
Nihiwatu resort: luxury on stilts, with an ocean view
(Image credit: instagram @taniasmagicaltravels)
Indonesia
Nihiwatu is the best hotel in the world, according to Travel + Leisure. And there's no other place tipped in the magazine's awards that is quite so decadent as this sprawling resort on the beautiful Indonesian island of Sumba, says Jamie Feldman in The Huffington Post. And best of all is what the hotel calls its "three-villa treehouse", which sits on a cliff overlooking the Indian ocean.
Each of the three villas has its own living and bedroom area and the whole structure is connected by a bamboo bridge and adorned in "traditional Sumbanese carvings and decorations". At $6,000 a night it doesn't come cheap, but for that you get all your meals, a minibar and yoga and meditation classes.
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Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
"Your childhood dreams have been answered," says Natalie Babic in the Daily Star. The Playa Viva treehouse hotel, on the beach at Juluchuca on Mexico's Pacific coast, is "awe-inspiring".
It is set amid swaying palms and has the ocean on its doorstep, and its lounge area has an "in-floor hammock" "you'll feel like you'rein heaven as you look out and take in the gorgeous views". The hotel has its own turtle sanctuary, where you can help out, and the surrounding area is known for its nature walks. "So, lace up your shoes and go for a stroll."
From £356 a night three nights minimum see PlayaViva.com
(Image credit: Hasselblad H3D)
West Dorset
Technically, the Woodman's Treehouse isn't a treehouse, because it's built on stilts, but it is "the most luxurious wooden cabin imaginable", says Miranda Larbi in Metro. Tucked away in a forest, the ecofriendly cabin has a sauna and a pizza oven on the balcony. "It's even got an open air shower and hot tub, which look like they should be in the middle of the Amazon, not southern England." Open since August, the Woodman's Treehouse is so popular that owner and woodworker Guy Mallinson is considering building another one.
The Arctic TreeHouse Hotel in Lapland's Finnish capital, Rovaniemi, is new this winter and has 32 treehouse suites housed in cleverly designed wooden units, says Tim Bird in The Daily Telegraph. The rooms rest on short stilts and overlook a shallow valley with a clear view of the Northern Lights through their "panorama windows", which are a "stroke of design genius". The on-site restaurant, Rakas, is "very good". If you fancy a little pampering, the "secluded" lakeside Metskyly Arctic Forest Spa is 20 minutes away.
Germany has a surprisingly large number of baumhaushotels, as treehouse hotels are called here, says The Guardian. The Baumhaus Robins Nest in Witzenhausen, in the central west region, "is one of the more eye-catching", comprising three wooden treetop houses, a stilted cabin and a "geometrically pleasing tree ball' a triangular-panelled sphere suspended from the canopy". You can sleep four in the larger houses, while the cabin takes eight. It may in the grounds of a 15th-century castle, but the hanging rope bridges "give the place a feel of the Ewok forest from Star Wars".
Two "sprawling" villas atop the forest canopy on this small "unadulterated" Caribbean island became available to rent just last month, says Nikki Ekstein in Bloomberg Pursuits. Located at the "sumptuous" Secret Bay, the treehouses come with a "hammock sofa" on the deck and a fully equipped kitchen. You can arange for a chef to "whip up lobster thermidor on demand" or even for a one-man jazz band to perform on your patio.
And the grub's top notch too, prepared by Justine Linday, who during the F1 season is to be found cooking for Lewis Hamilton. A day-trip by plane to the South Pole is included in the "room rate", and you can call in the emperor penguins. That's depending on the weather, of course. Blizzards can last for three days.
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