Top Five Underwater Hotels
Jules Undersea Lodge
Jules’ Undersea Lodge, named after the author of the famed maritime tale 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is the world’s first underwater hotel. Originally built in the early 1970s as a groundbreaking research lab off the coast of Puerto Rico, the Lodge has been in business in Key Largo, Florida since relocating there and opening its hatch to the public in 1986.
Truly an innovative concept, Jules’ Undersea Lodge claimed status as the world’s only underwater lodging available to the public until recent years when ecotourism has become all the rage. Many celebrities have enjoyed a stay including Steve Tyler of Aerosmith, John Fishman of Phish (of course) and former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.
Visitors to Jules who are not certified divers will go through a 3-hour crash course in scuba diving before shacking up in their room for the night. After all, the entrance to the hotel is 21 feet underwater on the sea floor. If you are a diving enthusiast, the Undersea Park is your Mecca. In addition to the scuba crash course, the staff of Jules’ Undersea Lodge offers extensive scuba certification courses and diving excursions.
After diving down and resurfacing through the wet room entrance, residents can doff their scuba garb and enjoy all the conveniences of modern life 21 feet below the surface. Patrons marvel at unobstructed views sea life in their natural settings through 42 inch windows. Completely stocked with modern conveniences like air-conditioning, hot showers, a stereo and a DVD player this hotel is perfect for the romantic getaway or the adventurer who truly desires a unique experience (and, yes, the Lodge is fully stocked with compressed air). Once underwater, visitors do not have to resurface until they desire. Dinner and breakfast are provided by the world’s only “mer-chef” and delivered promptly at 6:00PM (dinner) and 8:00AM (breakfast). I would recommend a stay at the Undersea Lodge to anyone with an adventurous spirit. For those seeking a truly unique wedding experience, why not take advantage of the wedding package?
Utter Inn
Underwater hotels are still largely a product of a vivid imagination. Several are in the planning stage or are currently under construction. A man named Mikael Genberg definitely had a vivid imagination when he constructed his Utter (Otter) Inn in Vasteras, Sweden in 2000. An artist and sculptor, Mr. Genberg chose to focus on “making art for the public” when he built the Utter Inn.
This one-room inn offers guests the chance to sleep 3m below the surface of Lake Mälaren about 1km from shore. The Inn resembles a large buoy with the appearance of a Swedish red house with white gables. For an extra charge Mr. Genberg will deliver dinner to tenants, otherwise, guests are on their own.
The room offers panoramic views of the lake and an old switcheroo with the fishes. Instead of looking at fish in an aquarium, guest of the Utter are in the aquarium with the fish looking in. The Utter is truly a singular experience that few have known. However, it is a wildly popular destination during the summer months. Reservations well in advance are recommended.
Hydropolis
One of the underwater hotels currently under construction is the Crescent Hydropolis of Dubai. Dubai has become notorious in recent years for its fabulously modern architecture. It seems the wildest architectural dreams become reality here. The Hydropolis furthers this notion. At a cost of some $550 million, the luxury resort is being built on the Persian Gulf floor – 66 feet below the surface. When completed, the project will cover 27 acres and compose of an above ground “land station” connected by a 1700 foot transparent train tunnel to the undersea hotel which resembles the shape of a jellyfish. The 220 suites will be bubble-shaped, with clear glass comprising both the sleeping area walls and the bathtubs. I suppose modesty must be checked at the front desk also. Anxious sea-dwellers will have to wait until 2009 before making a reservation. You may even want to have a look at some existing Dubai hotels before diving into the ocean for Hydropolis.
Poseidon Undersea Resort
Another underwater hotel set to open in 2009 is the Poseidon of Fiji. This resort is being built 40 feet underwater. Another 5-star resort, the Poseidon is the brainchild of American submarine engineer Bruce Jones. Mr. Jones was heavily influenced by the novels of Jules Verne and movies like “The Amphibia Man” (obviously).
Each guest will have a personal Triton submarine at their disposal for exploring within the lagoon. For excursions to the area’s depths, tours on a 16-passenger luxury submarine will be provided. Activities are also available on Poseidon Mystery Island which has been artificially constructed for the resort’s purposes. Though still under construction, room rates have been set. A standard 550 sq. foot suite can be had for about $1500 a night. But why stop there when you can reserve the whole of Poseidon Mystery Island for a mere $3,000,000?
Visitors will be able to see everything from their rooms through transparent acrylic walls and even feed fish swimming by. The luxery hotel is set to open by the end of 2008.
Underwater Hotel in Istanbul
More competition has arrived as Istanbul announces their intentions of opening their own underwater hotel in 2010. It will be 7 floors under sea level and according to experts, it may not be deep enough to really appreciate the underwater view.
Future plans for underwater hotels
The best news for those of us who don’t live near any of these places is that the company behind the Hydropolis and the Qingdao project has plans to build these underwater hotels all over the world. Plans are in place already for London, Monaco, Munich, New York, and the Isle of Man. Exactly how underwater hotels will be built in landlocked cities London and Munich is beyond me, but I’ll leave that up to the experts.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I really like your underewater hotel…but honestly what i think you should do is make it the same price as a regular oll’ hotel so everyone can expierience the fun of actually sleeping UNDERWATER!
October 16th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
what program did they use to design poiseden
October 30th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Why so shallow? At these prices go all of the way. Like 200 feet saturation dive. You are going spend long time down under so why not go deep? Have freedives. Go under with only the most basic of equipment Only a few have done a breathold from the surface to 200 feet. Now anybody can go down deep.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:48 am
I agree about the hotel prices…if they are more affordable, then everyone can experience something so great!! I love the idea, and I would love to stay there for a vacation! But honestly these hotels are so cool, and will definitely be a hit!
February 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
i think there is no cooler place to relax like under water lets work hard to get 25%of the world’s population down there under water well this will reduce population in our big cities.
March 4th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I wonder how long it will be before not only the super rich can enjoy this experience.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
This is the first time that l read about hotels being under the water . maybe one day l will visit one but i am still suprise
March 10th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
if rather it be in shallow waters. i just see it now. something that deep sounds like an underwater grave. Then they make a movie about it.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
i love hotels
April 4th, 2008 at 3:15 am
i don t think that this is a very good idea. your going to be destroying natural marine habitat in so many ways and disrupting marine in a huge way.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
OMG!!!! L O V E - IT!!
Hydropolis * WOW!!
May 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
I agree with the prices. not alot of families will go bc its just to much money. on the website for posiedon it says $15,000 per person! i would love love love to stay in one of these if i could ever afford it. I used to think of this stuff all the time about how i could sleep underwater i mean how awesome would that be? I cant believe its actually happening and i cant afford it
May 4th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
If you ever decide to open an underwater hotel in US off southern coast of Florida or Georgia, I would love to run the hotel. I have my thesis left to get my Masters from NOVA University. I am a certified diver and so is my wife who was the top seller in Middle Tennessee at Limited Too and is also a certified diver. We would make excellent Managers and we would have knowledge of the Marine life and ecosystem under the ocean to educate our guest on the importance of the reefs and the marine life and what roles they play in our ecosystem in the ocean world. Underwater hotels are the future to escape the tear in the ozone layer in our atmosphere above the surface of the ocean. There are quite a few investors in the US that would love to see this investment prove financially stable and return on their investment realized within a few years.
I hope you think about this and give me and my wife a chance to run this underwater hotel for you and investors.
Charles Wade Crick, Jr.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Would you mind letting me know if and when any of these Hotels are actually completed? Who knows? Maybe I’ll get rich or know someone who is rich.
Rich
May 6th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
These hotels all look amazing. Hopefully they turn out as planned. I noticed some have above water portions. I wonder if they have a plan to deal with rising sea levels.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:45 am
we loved the hotel’s look faboulse and i would love to go in one
May 14th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
how abt the shark and stingray, they might attack and kill visitor, wouldn’t they? As this is actually invading their habitat, and we cant kill them as this should be an eco-friendly trip!