September 3, 2024, 6:43 am | Read time: 2 minutes
Almost everything in the Palacio de Sal in Bolivia is made of salt: the walls, the ceilings, and most of the tables, chairs, and beds. But it’s not just the hotel that is unique. The surroundings in which it stands are even more so: the salt palace is located on the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt lake in the world.
A sea of salt – the Salar de Uyuni in the Andean highlands, the largest salt lake in the world at 12,000 square kilometers. An estimated nearly ten billion tons of salt lie here. Salt miners remove around 25,000 of these every year. The remaining salt forms the spectacular landscape. It seems out of this world, with moon-like depressions, bizarre salt cones, and surreal incrustations.
With so much salt, it seems only logical to use it for building rather than seasoning for a change. This is especially true if you want to build directly on-site and have to cart conventional building materials up to 3600 meters.
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Palacio de Sal: one of the world’s most unusual hotels
And so, in the early 1990s, the first hotel, built exclusively from blocks of salt, was constructed here. After its opening, it was permanently listed as one of the world’s most unusual hotels. However, problems with waste, money, and permits saw the building dismantled as early as 2002.
In 2007, a new hotel was built on the eastern edge of the salt lake, a good 25 kilometers from the city of Uyuni. Called Palacio de Sal, or Salt Palace, the complex lives up to its name. The hotel is a spacious luxury hotel with 16 rooms, each with its own bathroom and solarium. One million salt blocks form the floors, walls, sauna and steam bath, saltwater pool, and Jacuzzis.
Additionally, the furniture is partly made of salt, with cushions and mattresses to make it cozy. And if you don’t have enough salt in your soup, you don’t have to look far for the shaker. You can simply scratch a little off the tabletop.
Indeed, the Palacio de Sal makes all ice hotels seem like yesterday’s news. Because unlike the blocks of ice, which melt at some point, the salt retains its shape. Of course, there is also the minimal loss caused by guests scratching or even licking the furniture.