Tropical Islands

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Aerium, outside view.

Inside view of the roof.

Tropical Islands Resort is an artificial tropical resort in Brandenburg, Germany. It is said to be the world's largest tropical indoor pool which can accommodate up to 7,000 visitors a day. It is also the world's largest Indoor Waterpark at 710,000 sq feet.

The resort is located in Briesen/Brand, part of Halbe in Dahme-Spreewald, Brandenburg, Germany, about 60 km (36 miles) southeast of Berlin, off the "Staakow" exit of the A13 Autobahn.

It resides inside a disused hangar 360 meters long, 210 meters wide and 107 meters high. At 5.5 million m³ (194 million ft³), it stands as one of the largest buildings on Earth by volume, and is the world's largest single hall without supporting pillars inside. The hangar cost €78 million and was originally commissioned by Cargolifter AG as an airship hangar named Aerium, but the airship it was intended to house – the CL160 – was never built.

The Malaysian Tanjong company bought the hangar and the surrounding real estate for 17.5 million € and turned it into a resort with a man-made tropical habitat. It opened on December 19, 2004.

Visitors find an exotic environment with rain forest, beach, artificial sun, palm trees, orchids, and bird soundtrack. The air is warm (25 °C). Tropical Islands is open all around the clock, every day of the year.

[edit] Themes

Different ranges of theme parks were furnished:

Tropical Flower World
Tropical Food Village
Tropical Rainforest Hill (rain forest with a mangrove swamp and a 1 km long path)
Tropical Sea (c. 4.400 m² tropical pool, water depth 1.40 m, an 8 m wide beach and 850 canvas chair)
Bali lagoon (with 1.200 m² pool, water depth less than 1 m; water attraction – fountains, flow channel, neck showers, whirlpool and two chutes)

Some visitors criticize the water depth in the Tropical Sea and the Bali lagoon as insufficient.