You won't believe this hotel on top of the Rhone Glacier

The Swiss Alps offer visitors some of the most lush landscapes in the world, whether it's for the adventurous or just looking out the window of the car or the hotel.

In the Furka Pass region, one of the most visited glaciers is Rhône, which is also one of the snowiest places in all of Switzerland, yet has shrunk in size.

This is where a building is now part of the landscape, but has unfortunately closed its doors recently - perhaps forever. Built in 1882 by businessman Josef Seiler, the Belvédère is one of the few places in the world where you can drive very close to the edge of a glacier and enjoy the look.

At an elevation of 2, 429 meters above sea level, the hotel can house up to 900 guests, but it was unable to pay the bills, as there is a possibility for tourists to go up to enjoy the view and return the same day.

A great pity considering the attractions of the place. Among them is a blue ice cave that is the perfect place to make a great photo. Dug from the ice mountain in 1894, it was created to replace a natural cave that once stood on top of the glacier but literally melted.

It's almost 100 meters through the ice. When sunlight reflects off frozen water, the bluish, semi-transparent filter creates incredible illumination. It's even more magical if you imagine that the water that makes up the place has been there for over 300 years, in different layers that can be seen when you look closely.

In the summer months, the cave almost disappears because its size - both wide and long - changes due to the melting of some of the ice. But it never completely disappears, being dug again every year.

Tourism in the Swiss Alps

Anyone who knows the fame of this frozen region of the world knows that today this part of Europe is one of the most important tourist destinations, both for sporadic visitors and families from the continent who seek sports and have their frequent destination there.

But this culture of visiting glaciers is not so old. It was just before World War II that the tourist potential of this region was seen when, in the 1880s, the number of hotels on the site grew fourfold from the previous three decades, increasing from 79 to 320, with the number of bed offerings rising from 4, 000 to 15, 000, according to Amusing Planet. In this sense, Belvédère was one of the pioneers.

Although relatively recent, the habit of visiting the glaciers may be days off - not for lack of public interest. They are shrinking so much in recent years, thanks to global warming, that many may soon disappear.

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