Hotel Zielo Las Beatas

Sleeping inside a transparent dome

Zielo Las Beatas is the bubble part of the Finca Las Beatas, a rural hotel in the countryside, 8 km from Villahermosa on the road to Villanueva de la Fuente. Each bubble is a transparent, fireproof plastic capsule of about 20 m², with a 1.80 m bed with a canopy and curtains, set on a plot of about 200 m² fenced with heather and with its own gate. From the bed you see the sky; in rain or storm, too.

There are two types:

• Bubble with indoor shower: a second small bubble, of about 7 m², acts as the bathroom, with shower, basin and toilet. You never leave the dome.
• Bubble with outdoor bath (they call it Newton): it is completely transparent, and the bathroom, with a bath, basin and toilet, is a metre away, outside the bubble but within your plot.

The website lists both from €160 a night. All are for two people, so it is not accommodation for going with children.

Cold, heat and privacy

The bubbles are air-conditioned, but their walls are a sheet. The hotel itself warns that on very cold or very hot nights the temperature may shift a little. In midwinter, the bubble with the indoor shower saves you leaving the dome at night.

Privacy comes from the fence and the distance between plots, not the walls. The bed has curtains. No smoking inside the bubble and you can't bring in outside food; if you dine at the estate, the restaurant is a few steps away.

What you pay extra and when to go

The hotel is open all year. Check-in is from 16:00 to 22:00 and check-out before 11:00. Parking is inside the estate. No public transport arrives: there are buses to Villahermosa and Villanueva de la Fuente and from there, a taxi.

Extras are chosen when booking: dinner at the restaurant (€74 for two), dinner in a converted wine jar (€92), a private 45-minute jacuzzi session in a separate building (€64) and a decoration pack with cava (€75). The estate's pool opens from 1 July to 30 August. The hotel adapts the menu and breakfast for coeliacs and vegans if you give notice.

The website doesn't say whether dogs are admitted: ask before booking.

The lagoons are about 50 minutes by car, towards Ossa de Montiel or Ruidera. It is a base for spending the night looking at the sky and heading down in the morning for kayaking on the Laguna Colgada or the Miradores trail.