Tropical Islands Resort

The gargantuan Aerium hangar was designed to hold zeppelins. Now it’s a microcosm of rainforest and beaches where summer never ends.

The airship hangar in Krausnick, Germany, is on a site first constructed in 1938 for the Luftwaffe and which later served as a Soviet air base. Then Cargolifter arrived in the 1990s and built a new massive hangar. Standing at nearly 400 feet tall and 1,000 feet long, it was designed to hold the massive balloons for cargo and travel. In 2004, it reopened completely transformed as the ostentatious Tropical Islands Resort.

With artificial sunlight, year-round heating, and a sprawling sandy beach, it can fit 6,000 guests at a time. Sunsets are played on video screens for guests who decide to spend the night in a tent on the fake beach along the lapping, human-controlled waters, or lounge in one of the pristine cottages. Balloon rides soar above the installed tropical forest where birds fly free.