The Milky Way arching over an empty high-desert plateau at night

Dark-sky retreat · High plateau, 2,100 m

We switch off the lights

Twelve rooms. Twelve roofs that open.

Altitude · metres

Above the
weather

A high plateau, ninety minutes from the nearest town. The air up here is thin and dry, and it holds still long enough to read the bands on Jupiter.

Sky quality · mag/arcsec²

Darker than
the maps

No streetlight for sixty kilometres. Give your eyes forty minutes and you will see your own shadow, cast by starlight alone.

Tonight on the plateau · —

Waxing

Calculated for 31° north as this page loads. We plan every night around two numbers: how much moon, and when the last of the sun leaves the sky.

Moon lit
—
Moon age
—
Darkness begins
—
Darkness ends
—
Next new moon
—

Moon highest at

Tonight, 23:40 — first quarter

  • Tycho

    A young crater, bright enough that its rays run halfway across the face.

  • Copernicus

    Terraced walls ninety-three kilometres wide. Best when the terminator is near.

  • Plato

    A flooded floor so dark and level it looks like a hole in the moon.

  • Sea of Tranquillity

    Old basalt plains. The first footprints are still out there, too small to see.

  • Clavius

    A walled plain holding a neat arc of smaller craters, shrinking in size.

  • Aristarchus

    The brightest spot on the moon. Visible even in earthshine.

Night two · after the session

First
exposure

Your first exposure, 40 minutes, printed before breakfast.

The instrument

One mirror,
all night

  1. 600 mm · f/80.6 m aperture

    Gathers seven thousand times more light than your eye.

  2. Sidereal driveTracks for 6 hours

    Holds a galaxy still while the planet turns beneath it.

  3. −20 °C sensorCooled camera

    Cold silicon, quiet signal, faint dust lanes.

  4. Booked by nameYour own session

    Two hours with the astronomer. You choose the targets.

A bedroom with its roof rolled back, the bed facing an open rectangle of stars

Twelve rooms · three ways to sleep under it

The roof
is the view

A low bed with grey linen under a fully opened roof, stars overhead
Close view of the steel rail and wheels of a roll-off roof at dusk

For two · 28 m²

The Roll-Off

A queen bed set on a turntable,A queen bed set on a turntable, so you can follow a constellationso you can follow a constellation across the sky without sitting up.across the sky without sitting up. Wool blankets, a red reading lamp.Wool blankets, a red reading lamp.

From 640 / night

Two single beds side by side under an opened ceiling hatch, faint aurora-green sky
A star chart pinned above a bedside table with a small amber lamp

For friends · 34 m²

The Twin Sky

Two beds, one long window to theTwo beds, one long window to the south, and a roof split down thesouth, and a roof split down the middle. A pair of binoculars waitsmiddle. A pair of binoculars waits on each pillow, already focused.on each pillow, already focused.

From 780 / night

A private terrace with a small white observatory dome and two lounge chairs at night
A carved stone bath outdoors with steam rising under a dense field of stars

For the long night · 52 m²

The Long Night

A terrace with its own small domeA terrace with its own small dome and a 200 mm refractor. A stoneand a 200 mm refractor. A stone bath kept warm until three, whenbath kept warm until three, when the galactic core clears the ridge.the galactic core clears the ridge.

From 1,120 / night

What a night holds

Hour by hour

  1. The plateau at blue hour, a thin line of light on the horizon and the first stars

    The last blue

    The ridge goes black. Lamps switch to red. Nobody needs to be told to whisper.

  2. A long dinner table lit only by dim red lamps, plates and glasses glowing

    Dinner in red

    Four courses from the valley, served under lamps that keep your eyes adapted.

  3. Hands adjusting the focuser of a large telescope eyepiece in faint red light

    The session

    Our astronomer, Ilse Marrow, opens the big dome. You call the targets.

  4. A brass amber lamp beside a cup of tea and a paper sky atlas

    Tea and the atlas

    Back in your room, roof open. Pencil, paper, a list of what you saw.

  5. Two guests seen from behind, wrapped in blankets, looking up at the Milky Way

    Before the sun

    The core sinks, the east turns green, then gold. Breakfast is your print.

Reservations · twelve rooms

Pick a
new moon

The darkest nights go first. These are the next three, calculated as this page loaded. Stays are two nights or more, and every one includes a session at the 0.6 m.

New moon

A high plateau · 2,100 m · 31° N
Ninety minutes from the nearest town

Lights out from dusk
Arrivals before 17:00

Write to the front desk
Back to the sky

© 2026 Noctara
Dark-sky reserve since 2019