One exciting type of open air accommodation: a night in the Hallika Mullikas!
An accommodation in North-Estonia combining a bubble hotel, an open-air kitchen together with a sauna house and a hot tub right in the middle of the forest and meadows – could this be your next getaway destination?
If you skipped the first paragraph, Hallika Mullikas is not just a big bubble room but rather a one stop vacation that combines an open-air kitchen, a sauna house, a hot tub and even kitchen classes for the whole family – during our stay we in fact made our own pizzas, and as expected they tasted way better than the ones you order at a restaurant. Why? Because eating the food that you just prepared is just... a worthy experience!
Hallika Mullikas is located in Harjumaa, 46km away from Tallinn, in the middle of the nature and without any neighbours in sight. But the closest neighbours can be found after a 15 minute walk: the guests of Jõeääre vacation center, that we previously visited a few months ago. This somewhat proximity makes for the perfect vacation in a bigger group: spend the evening together in Hallika and when it's time to sleep, some can stay in Hallika and the others can get back to their accomodation in Jõeääre, for example in the Jõeääre Vesihobu vacation home. And Jõeääre is expanding as we're writing these lines, with the addition of a new house so that even the bigger groups will have enough beds to sleep in ;)
Hallika Mullikas is meant for two people – just perfect for a romantic night, watching the stars in clear weather or listening to the rain drops falling onto the bubble, while you're staying nicely dry inside: pure ASMR.
During our stay the temperature during the night was just shy of 9 degrees but we slept really well thanks to the nice touch of our hosts: an eletric blanket that kept us warm the whole night. If just like us you plan on visiting the bubble with the same weather condition, a small recommendation: pack a hat so that your head stays warm during the night :)
Surprisingly for both of us, our night in the bubble was very comfortable and soothing. Because of the fact that we were literally surrounded by nature, and nature alone, we never felt that the place lacked privacy. Another perk of sleeping in the middle of nature was that every hour of the night had something different to offer, but one thing stayed consistent: absolute silence. It reminded me of the saying that my estonian teacher once taught me: "even the grass doesn't grow" ("Isegi muru ei kasva").
We remember our initial impressions when we saw pictures of the bubble: it looked like a tent, and we therefore presumed that it would get stuffy and uncomfortable and more importantly cramped. In reality in was quite the opposite: the tent was very roomy and we woke up the next morning in a nicely ventilated room thanks to the air pump, working 24/7, working hard to keep the bubble up. – and in case you're wondering, the temperature inside is roughly the same as outside: the bubble walls are made of one layer of plastic whose only role is to protect you from the element
Quite literally a paradise for people who love to sleep with the window open :) The constant and quiet buzzing of the air pump is akin to the Spotify White Noise playlist which we immediately began to appreciate as it covered the small sounds of nature: we love birds, but we'd rather not hear them when trying to sleep :D
The sauna house and the hot tub
The guests of Hallika Mullika have access to both an open-air kitchen as well as sauna house. In case you'd prefer to sleep inside (and not outside in the bubble) you can always use the first floor (or second floor if you're estonian :D) of the sauna house where there is a matress as well.
The Sauna house is really well furnished; you'll find a shower room next to the sauna, a small table with chairs, a fridge and some dishes. On the first floor you'll find beds as mentioned earlier as well as a window that leads to the roof terrace (with a view!)
Truth to be told, it was one of our favorite spots, the fact that we managed to spot a deer while peeking from the terrace window probably played a (huge) role in it... Liis saw it again the next day while making coffee in the open-air kitchen but as soon as we saw it, it ran off.
We're feeling lucky, it's now the second time (in a row) that we've spotted deers while staying in an accommodation. Thank you, Estonian summer!
We haven't mentioned it, but only dry toilets are available, which is pretty standard for camping-type of accommodations in Estonia:)
On the second day we used the sauna (roughly 2 hours to heat up) in the morning and the hot tub in the afternoon. Heating up the hot tub takes more time, it took a bit more than 4 hours and we (unexperienced) newbies did not realised that we should have stirred (in fact Liis did, but I wouldn't believe her, alas...). So something to keep in mind if you want to enjoy a nice _hot_ hot tub in the evening :)
The Pizza.
We briefly mentioned it earlier, but it's possible to order a pizza training. Anneli and Martti, the owners, built the open-air kitchen as well as pizza hoven themselves (!) and will be happy to show you how to make the right pizza. You can check out their cooking workshops on foodies.ee ;)
What you should bring with you to Hallika?
1. If you don't already know it, the Estonian summer is moody: in one day (even sometimes an hour or two) you can get sun, rain, wind, and all of them combined: bringing a hat to wear during the day, and possibly the night, will make the overall experience much more enjoyable (and it doesn't take much room, so no excuses!).2. Flipflops, so that you don't have to tie / untie your shoes every time you go from one place to the other, because if you're not Estonian, it's time to tell you that here in Estonia, we take off shoes when entering a closed place! (Yes, you should take off your shoes when inside the bubble)
3. When you order an Estonian summer, the mosquitoes are included. We managed to fend them off and kept them away from the bubble or sauna house. However it wasn't quite possible for the... open-air kitchen.
A mosquito repellent is our best friend this summer.
4. Because there's so much to do here, from the morning until the evening, it's worth packing various type of clothing to layer on top of one another: from swimwear (for the sauna), wind protector jacket to woolen socks. Yes, it's summer, but we're still in Estonia ;)
A very nice place to rest for two people, or even a group of four: two in the bubble and two in the sauna house (and vice versa). Sunbathing during the day, bathing in the evening (in the hot tub), some sauna as well as cooking. The open-air kitchen even has a sound system to put some music. All in all one of the most special places we've been to in Estonia: highly recommended!!
You can book over HERE
And see more pictures and stories from our holidays in Instagram!
Happy travelling!
Liis and Ben