If your idea of a great vacation is being smack dab in the middle of the wilderness, but with some luxury accommodations, you’ll want to book a flight to New Zealand stat. Based in three locations outside of Christchurch, New Zealand, PurePods aims to give visitors a place not only to go off the grid, but to be totally, luxuriously immersed by your natural surroundings.
These tiny vacation homes are made entirely from heavy-duty glass—including the floors, walls, and ceiling. To get to your glassy oasis, you’ll drive an hour or two outside of Christchurch and take a short hike to your "own isolated slice of Kiwi paradise," as PurePods puts it. Once there, it’s just you and your glass accommodations, designed specifically so you never lose sight of the surrounding wilderness.
Homes include a single bedroom, small kitchen and dining area. They have been designed with sustainability in mind: rainwater that falls on the roof goes under the floor to water native plants. And the homes work in every season, too. On a hot day you pull back the sliding doors on all three glassed sides and turn up the shade on the ceiling blinds. If it’s cold, you’re totally insulated and can heat up a "bio-fuel fire."
Whatever’s happening in nature is fully viewable from the bedroom to the toilet—360-degree views of the landscape surround the pods. Come nighttime, the glass ceiling and lack of light pollution mean you’re experiencing the night sky in all its glory, right from bed. You’ll take a shower with views of the valley. It's like glamping, but with better views. This is a vacation concept we can totally get behind.