3 Reasons to Stay in a Yurt: An Unconventional Alternative to Staying in a Hotel

Last Oct. I stayed for the first time in a Yurt. It was at a place called the Joyful Journey Hot Springs in the San Luis Valley. (Southern Colorado) For those of you who have never heard of a yurt, it's basically a round tent with a high ceiling made out of canvas. Although I had never stayed in one before, I remembered reading an article several years ago about a woman in New Mexico who wanted to live an unconventional life in a yurt. Her needs were simple, she wanted something economical for her and her dogs. It was memorable.

Fast forward to the present. While gathering information about my (last) trip I stumbled upon www.mytravelblog.org, where the author mentioned staying in a yurt at a spa resort. It immediately aroused my curiosity and I decided to look into it. The cost was reasonable, approx. $100 a night, and they offered FREE all day soaks to people on their birthday! Great. My birthday was on a Thursday. So I booked my accommodation on Friday, Thursday was already sold-out. They only have 6.

On my arrival I was awestruck. In person yurts are much bigger in size, not only on the outside, but the inside too. They're solidly constructed, made of heavy-duty canvas. The dimensions are approx. 16' diameter and 200 sq. ft. (although it's really rounded feet ?) But what really makes a yurt impressive is how tall the ceiling is. Mine was at least 10 ft. tall and included a skylight. Nice if you're out West, like Colorado, and want to gaze up at the stars at night. The floor was covered with a thick plywood, easy on your bare feet. Also worth mentioning, is it's well-insulated. None of the heat escaped. I never had to use any of the extra blankets. Another nicety, my yurt came with a front porch, door and window. It's not flush with the ground like a tent. It's elevated.

About the only drawback with mine was the proximity to my neighbors. The yurts, were only spaced about 2 ft. apart. Which is fine if you're living next to Trappist monks, but not if you're next to people that like to yuk it up all night, or play guitar... I got stuck with both!

To sum it up, here are 3 of the BEST reasons to stay in a yurt. 1. Spacious. The ceiling is high, 10' tall and it's rounded, 16' diameter. You don't feel closed in or claustrophobic. However, it would've been even better with more windows. 2. It's the closest thing to living outdoors. Similar to a tent, but much more comfortable and safer. It's elevated. You can walk around in it, you don't have to worry about flooding and are less likely to be visited/attacked by an animal. 3. They're natural. As we're becoming more and more focused on energy efficiency and going Green, I can see yurts growing in popularity.

Yurts are not built with any natural resources like wood or stone, don't pollute and best of all don't take up a lot of space.

Isn't that reason enough?