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ambervistaahotels sorted by how much light they keep

Eighteen hotels, read by what they light

Once the daylight goes, every building here is reduced to a few decisions: what it keeps burning, how far that reaches, and what it refuses to light at all. Two of us write it down, from published material, in our own words.

A circular metal plaque numbered 10 on dark wood

Amber is what most of these places turn into after dark.

4 hotels

Ice Hotels

Four winter places in Finnish Lapland that keep the light inside the building or along one short path.

4 hotels

Capsule Hotels

Four Tokyo hotels with no hearth and no yard, where the light is a lamp, a corridor and the city outside the wall.

6 hotels

Art Hotels

Six hotels and lodges that light a small area with candles, lanterns, path lamps or an open fire, and let the rest go.

4 hotels

Casino Hotels

Four Canadian resorts whose light is read entirely from outside, with the gaming floor left out of the account.

A hotel tells you what it values by what it leaves dark.

There are no clock times here, no lighting schedules and no promise that a fire will be laid on the evening you arrive. What each entry carries instead is the source, its reach, the part kept dark, and one thing worth raising when you write to the hotel. The rules are set out on After Dark.