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Sleep under the stars at this open-air hotel room in the Swiss Alps

Even if you consider yourself a well-traveled adventurer, chances are extremely high you’ve never the kind of open-air hotel room now available at Switzerland’s Null Stern Hotel. Sure, some exotic locales may have a large portion of a living room exposed to the elements or feature a somewhat open-air bungalow, but it’s Null Stern’s version which deftly toes the line between luxury and whimsy. Featuring nothing but a bed, two end tables, and two lamps — seriously, that’s it — the room is minimalism in its truest form. Fingers crossed you wouldn’t have to use the restroom in the middle of the night.

If sleeping under the stars in a hotel-quality bed sounds like your type of crazy — let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to stay here? — it’s worth pointing out that in addition to the lack of typical hotel room accessories, the suite does come with butler service and complimentary breakfast. Perhaps most impressive is that the price of the room isn’t entirely absurd, costing roughly $253 per night. As touched on above, it features no bathroom with the closest such restroom being an estimated 10-minute walk away.

No stranger to odd hotel rooms, Null Stern Hotel employed Swiss artists Frank and Patrick Riklin after seeing their innovative open-air room design as part of the Art Safiental land art festival. However strange the room might seem, this isn’t inherently groundbreaking for Null Stern — a term which translates into “Zero Stars.” Several years ago, the “hotel” first opened as an eco-luxury hotel whose first room was a converted nuclear bunker.

“Even though this version is radically different from the first one in the nuclear bunker, the essence and the spirit of the concept remains the same — to put the guest at the center of the experience and to focus on the intangible by reducing everything else to the minimum,” hospitality professional Daniel Charbonnier told Inhabitat.

Luckily, guests are able to cancel their stay right up until they are scheduled to stay in the room should whether prove to be unfit for an open-air residence. As of now, Null Stern allows reservation of the room throughout spring, summer, and fall.

Rick Stella
Former Associate Editor, Outdoor
Rick became enamored with technology the moment his parents got him an original NES for Christmas in 1991. And as they say…
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