It’s the ultimate guilt-free luxury hotel.

Welcome to Conca Park, a four-star property in picturesque Sorrento – a spot beloved by the Kardashians – that has impeccable eco-credentials.

In fact, with climate change an increasingly hot topic, this zero-waste hotel – the first truly environmentally friendly property in Italy – is blazing a trail for all future hotels.

The hotel is committed to being a zero-waste hotel as well as a plastic-free hotel.

Its motto is: ‘Even if you can’t change the world, you can make a difference.’

Since 2014, Conca Park, close to the Amalfi Coast and situated a two-minute walk away from the main street in Sorrento, Via Degli Aranci, has reduced waste by 40 per cent and achieved a 95 per cent recycling rate, with plans to reach a rate of 100 per cent soon.

Raw leftover food becomes compost for the garden and pool filters are made from ground-down empty glass bottles.

The hotel only offers glass bottles and containers to guests. And on every floor, there is a water fountain so that guests can re-fill their bottles at any time.

Mariella Russo, the owner of Conca Park, said: ‘Firstly, any kind of single-dose item was banned – like sugar, butter, marmalade, soap and shampoo. Then, we adopted recyclable and refillable dispensers.

‘This might not sound like something so impressive, but just try to imagine 80,000 – as that’s normally the number of guests staying at Conca Park over eight months – sugar packets or single-dose shampoo and shower gels. Tons and tons of useless waste.

‘We collect clothes, shoes, sunscreen, shower gel and shampoo left by guests and we give them to local charity associations.’

The hotel has irrigated green areas with collected rainwater. The lights are timed, the air-conditioning pauses when doors and windows are open and food is homegrown in the garden. Tomato plants, sweet peppers, ripe fruit, oil and seasonal vegetables are all grown in the garden. Lemons are picked to make homemade limoncello and all meat is sourced locally.

Mariella Russo said: ‘The real challenge is to reduce waste production, with staff and guests. We firmly believe in this project and we love our territory and this is just a way to respect what we have. Sorrento has given us more than what it has received during the years.

‘Being zero waste is very expensive. We bought several machines like a glass grinder, compost machine, water dispensers, bins for separate collection in any common area and any floor and we have two employees taking care of this project.’

Gill Harland, 63, from Hartlepool, has stayed at Conca Park for the past 23 years. She said: ‘I couldn’t possibly think of staying anywhere else. We have always had first-class service food, entertainment and wonderful stays. We have had so many happy memories and we fell in love with Sorrento the moment we got there.

‘We really admire the fact it’s environmentally friendly. The team work extremely hard to achieve the accolade they have. The hotel has recycle stations and water fountains on each floor, it’s so well-planned. The staff are very clued up.

‘I would now always look for an environmentally friendly hotel wherever we go. We recycle at home, so why not carry it through.’

Rooms at Conca Park cost from around £245/$304. For more information visit www.concapark.com/en.

It’s set to be one of the hottest days of the year, with the mercury expected to hit 33C (91F) in parts of the UK today.

But while many welcome the six-day heatwave, which began yesterday and is set to run until Sunday night, others struggle to cope with the extreme weather.

Drinking plenty of water, staying in the shade and avoiding exercise and direct sunlight at the hottest points of the day are common tips to avoid overheating.

Here, MailOnline shares expert-backed ways to stay cool during the hot weather.  

Avoid drinking coffee

Coffee may provide a much-needed boost of energy, but it’s not the best drink during hot weather. 

The pick me up suppress the hormone ADH, which usually causes the kidneys to retain water when your body is low on stores.

This causes you to urinate more frequently than normal, resulting in dehydration.

So experts say it’s best to stick to water in hot weather.

Dehydration — when the body loses more fluids than it takes in — can trigger splitting headaches, dizziness and tiredness.

It can even result in hospitalisation if it becomes severe — causing a weak or rapid pulse, fits or low levels of consciousness.

Feeling thirsty, dark yellow pee, feeling dizzy and having sunken eyes are all signs of dehydration in children and adults, according to the NHS.

The NHS advises people to drink caffeine in moderation during a heatwave. It suggests checking the label for drinks that are high in caffeine.

However, some experts have questioned coffee’s dehydrating effect, suggesting the loss of fluids it causes is replaced by the drink itself.

Eat spicy food

While a cooling ice cream may be most appetising in hot weather, tucking into a spicy curry may actually be the best way to cool down. 

That’s because spicy food raises the body’s internal temperature, mirroring the weather, and causes it to sweat. 

The active chemical in chili peppers, called capsaicin, can trigger the body to sweat and induce thermogenesis — the process by which cells convert energy into heat.

US researchers say this chemical stimulates a receptor found in sensory neurons, creating the sensation of heat and subsequent reactions like redness and sweating.

The body’s heat causes sweat to evaporate, which has a long-lasting cooling effect. 

For comparison, downing a cold drink or having an ice cream raises the body’s temperature in response to being cold, leaving people feeling warmer. 

Take a warm bath before bed

Staying cool when trying to sleep can be one of the biggest struggles during spells of hot weather.

And while it may seem, counterintuitive, running a hot bath could do the trick. 

Sleep and core body temperature are both controlled by the brain’s circadian clock, which drives 24-hour patterns of sleep and wakefulness. 

At night, body temperature drops by about 2C. This helps with conserving energy and directing energy to organs that need it.  

But this cycle can be disrupted during periods of hot weather, potentially causing a miserable night’s sleep.

However, the science says hot baths can help you cool down rapidly.

Researchers at the University of Texas found that taking a warm bath before going to bed will help your body cool down. 

That’s because the warm water causes the blood vessels in the surface of the skin to dilate, encouraging blood to flow from the internal core of the body to the hands and feet.

So, once you get out the bath, this causes the body to cool down rapidly.

This method works best when taking a 10-minute warm bath or shower an hour or two before going to bed, according to the report published in Sleep Medical Reviews Journal in 2019.

Put your bedding in the freezer 

Fresh, cool sheets are the perfect way to get a good night’s sleep after spending the day in the sun. 

And, though it may sound strange, putting bedding in the freezer can work wonders for lowering body temperature before bed. 

As with the hot bath trick before bed, relaxing into cool sheets helps allow the body’s temperature to drop by the required 2C needed for good sleep.

But rather than causing your body to radiate heat away, this directly cools you from the outside in, preventing your internal temperature jumping back up as it readjusts to the outside.

Dr Mike Farquhar, a consultant in sleep medicine at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, said putting bedding in the freezer for a couple of minutes at night will help you stay cool throughout your sleep. 

However, remember to put your bedding in a plastic bag to prevent dirty bedding contaminating your food or vice versa.

Jill Biden tested positive for Covid for a second time Monday, prompting multiple rounds of tests on President Joe Biden, who continues to result negative.

As a precaution, the president, 80, wore a face mask for the first time in months as he went about his duties at the White House today. 

However, he took it off during a Medal of Honor ceremony and did not put it back on – an act that encapsulated Americans’ fatigue with Covid masks.

The 72-year-old First Lady’s positive result is a reminder the virus that has been a backdrop issue for months is still disrupting people’s lives as cases are on the rise again and positivity rates have climbed as high as 20 percent in some parts of the US.

But Covid is no longer the deadly threat it once was. While hospital admissions involving the virus have been rising for weeks, they are still about 10 times lower than levels seen at the peak in January 2022 and deaths are about 40 times below the peak in late 2020.

Many doctors now compare the virus to the common cold or the flu, which while disruptive and deadly among vulnerable groups, will not cause serious illness in the vast majority of people.

The transition from deadly virus to manageable seasonal illness can be attributed to the high levels of immunity among Americans from infection or vaccination, plus an arsenal of highly-effective therapies and drugs. 

For these reasons the federal government declared the pandemic over in May this year and ended the public health emergency, scrapping legal requirements to mask, isolate, test and get vaccinated.  

But with Covid making a comeback, here’s everything you need to know about the situation in the US: 

Will mask mandates be reinstated? 

While some individual companies and universities have put mask requirements in place, there is no indication state or federal mask mandates will return. 

When asked last week, the CDC said it had no intentions to bring back compulsory masks in any setting.

Instead, a spokesperson said: ‘Anyone may choose to wear a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor areas, including on public transportation and in transportation hubs at any time.’

Health officials in New York went one step further in saying that it was a ‘good idea’ to wear face coverings in indoor spaces over Labor Day weekend.

Meanwhile, Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, from reinstating a mask requirement for 14 days for students and staff just days after classes began late last month. 

The college also banned parties and large student events on campus and implemented temperature checks. 

Additionally, a recent editorial by the American College of Physicians called for mask mandates to return to healthcare facilities.

A Kaiser Permanente hospital in California and several in New York state reinstated mandates for at least several weeks.

Hollywood movie studio Lionsgate also reinstated its mask requirement briefly last month, before quickly reversing its decision. 

Do I need to isolate if I test positive for Covid?

People are encouraged to but there is no legal requirement. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest guidelines, as of May 2023, people who test positive for Covid should isolate and keep separate from others for at least five days, regardless of vaccination status. 

If someone with Covid is showing no symptoms, the isolation period begins the day after they receive a test.

However, if the person develops symptoms any time within 10 days of when they tested, the isolation period restarts on the day of symptom onset. 

If a person is showing symptoms, day one of the isolation period is the first full day following the day symptoms began. 

Isolation can end after day five if symptoms are improving and a person is fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medications.

If symptoms do not approve after day five, people should continue to isolate until they are fever-free. 

However these are all recommendations, rather than rules. 

While isolation can end after five days, people who test positive should continue to wear a high-quality mask around others and in public for 10 days or until they receive two negative tests 48 hours apart. 

People with Covid should also inform anyone they recently had close contact with that they have the virus, though no one is legally obligated to report if they’ve tested positive.

Do I have to stay home from work? 

There is no legal requirement but people are encouraged to take sick days if they become sick with Covid.

Before May, some states forced employers to provide an additional amount of paid leave for reasons that applied to Covid – to help employees follow mandatory quarantine periods without using all of their sick and vacation leave.

But those rules have lapsed in several jurisdictions. 

For example, California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave expired on December 31, 2022. 

However, some jurisdictions, such as New York State, still have COVID-19 sick leave laws in effect that require employers to provide separate paid leave beyond what an employee may otherwise be entitled to under a state or local paid sick leave law or an employer’s policy for certain employee needs related to COVID-19.

Do I need to test if I am exposed to Covid? 

Current CDC guidelines recommend people who are exposed to Covid wear a mask as soon as they find out about their exposure. 

They should continue wearing a mask for 10 days and get tested for the virus five days after exposure. 

Even if the result is negative, the CDC says people should continue wearing a mask in public and around others for 10 days as symptoms can still develop.

If a person tests positive, they should isolate immediately. 

Tests for Covid-19 had long been freely available and covered by government and private health insurances. 

However, with the Biden administration ending the Covid public health emergency in May, health insurance plans no longer need to cover tests and free test kits from the government are no longer being sent out, meaning Americans may need to pay for their own Covid testing.

However, some insurers may still choose to cover testing.

What are the new variants?

Two variants driving the surge in cases, EG.5, or Eris, and BA.2.86, or Pirola, were thought to be highly mutated and transmissible and doctors believed they could be better at avoiding current vaccine immunity. 

While concerns over Pirola prompted concern from public health officials and new mask mandates, early lab results carried out in the US, Sweden and China suggest these warnings may have been overblown.

Results indicated Pirola may be another ‘scariant‘ and not the second coming of Omicron, Dr Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in New York who was behind one of the lab tests, told CNN.

The tests found antibodies from people vaccinated against Covid and people who had recovered from an infection in the previous six months were just as effective at protecting against a Pirola infection as they were with other variants. 

Dr Barouch said after reviewing test results, he was confident Pirola did not pose the public health risk originally thought.  

What are my chances of becoming severely ill or dying from Covid? 

While Covid cases are on the rise in the US, public health officials say the majority of people are experiencing mild symptoms comparable to a cold or flu. 

Additionally, the CDC considers the hospitalization rate of Covid patients to be low and the weekly death rate is near a historic low. 

There were more deaths during the week ending Aug. 19 from Alzheimer’s disease, which killed more than 1,649 people, diabetes, responsible for more than 1,107 deaths and cancerous tumors, which more than 8,796 people died from, according to the CDC’s Weekly Provisional Counts of Deaths by State and Select Causes.

Are cases, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise? 

In recent weeks, public health agencies have observed an increase in the number of positive Covid tests and hospitalizations. Over the past month, however, deaths from Covid have declined. 

The CDC reports there were approximately 4.5 new hospital admissions for every 100,000 people in the US in the week ending Aug. 19, the most recent data available.

The CDC considers this a low rate and it is nearly 10 times lower than at the peak of hospital admissions in January 2022. 

The Covid death rate per 100,000 people in the week ending Aug. 26, was 0.1, compared to the high of 7.8 per 100,000, which was recorded in January 2021. 

Covid is now responsible for approximately two percent of all deaths in the US, compared to the peak of 30 percent in January 2021.

While these numbers are promising, the elderly, those with comorbidities or those who are immunocompromised are still at a high risk of contracting the virus and suffering potentially dangerous complications and should take precautions amid the uptick.

Do I need another Covid vaccine? 

Doctors are advising people to hold off on getting another Covid booster until an updated one is available, which should be in mid- to late-September.

Medical experts say people who are not immunocompromised or extremely vulnerable should postpone an immediate booster until the fall to maximize the protection gained from the updated vaccine. 

Vaccine manufacturers, such as Moderna, are updating their shots in order to better protect against new strains.

Health officials say the new boosters, formulated based on subvariants of the Omicron strain, have been shown to provide significant antibodies against some of the circulating variants. 

Vaccines are currently free to most Americans with private or federal health coverage and to the uninsured. 

The US government has been paying about $26 per dose of the vaccine, but some manufacturers, such as Pfizer and Moderna, are planning to increase the price up to $130 when the shots are sold on the private market this fall. 

This price hike will be especially concerning in the fall, when the federal government plans on shifting Covid vaccine distribution to the commercial market, meaning manufacturers can sell their updated vaccines directly to healthcare providers instead of the government. 

Federal and corporate programs are planning to assist uninsured Americans in paying for the vaccine should they want to receive one and Pfizer and Moderna intend to establish patient assistance programs. 

Man is arrested for ‘raping his three-year-old daughter when she came to stay with him for Father’s Day’

• The unnamed man, 46, was detained by police in Montes Claros, Brazil
• His daughter complained she was suffering pain after visiting him  

By David Averre and Rachael Bunyan

Published: 10:19 EDT, 15 August 2023 | Updated: 10:29 EDT, 15 August 2023

USA women spark controversy AGAIN as six players stay SILENT during national anthem before their last 16 World Cup exit against Sweden

• Members of USWNT chose not to sing the national anthem before Sweden loss
• But several members of the team did sing along prior to their round of 16 fixture
• Players’ decisions to remain silent in previous games had attracted controversy 

By Adrian Bishop For Mailonline

Updated: 08:22 EDT, 6 August 2023

You’ll never look at a hotel mini fridge the same.  

A super buff airline pilot has revealed how you can stay fit in your hotel room, by using various pieces of furniture as makeshift gym equipment – including the cooling unit. 

Joey Miuccio, 28, from Florida, regularly posts about keeping fit on the go, but for those who don’t have gym access or time to get outdoors, he demonstrates some simple yet effective moves using everything from a chair to a mini fridge and even a mattress.

In a TikTok video titled ‘best hotel room full body workout,’ Joey starts off by bench pressing a bench. He says if the bench in your room is ‘too light and you can toss it around… then grab a bigger bench.’

After performing literal bench presses, the pilot turns his attention to ‘chair squats.’ 

He performs these by putting the desk chair over his head while enthusiastically squatting up and down. 

To work another part of his body, he goes on to perform shoulder presses with the chair by raising it up and down while kneeling down on the floor. 

The rolling chair then has another function as an ab rolling tool. 

To do a run of ab rolls, Joey leans on the chair with his hands and rolls it back and forth while kneeling. 

Moving to another part of his hotel room, Joey unplugs the mini fridge. 

Instead of using it to keep food and drinks cool, he says you can use it as a functional weight to ‘do curls and get jacked.’ 

In the clip he can be seen straining as he lifts the bulky unit up and down. 

To finish off his hotel room workout in style, Joey instructs viewers to ‘just do a handstand… cos you’re feelin’ good, you’re feelin’ jacked. And that’s how we do it.’

Many viewers thanked Joey for his simple workout tips. 

One commenter wrote: ‘That’s hilarious but practical at the same time.’

And another said: ‘Saving this because I’m going on tour next month and will be away from my home gym.’

One viewer asked Joey to ‘bench the mattress next,’ and he bowed to the request.

In a follow up video, the fitness enthusiast filmed himself lifting his hotel room mattress up and down by extending his arms and legs. 

He explains in the caption that lifting the mattress serves as a ‘bench press and leg press all in one,’ and it provides ‘great full body movement.’ 

In another video, Joey shows how you can do a simple ten minute workout minus furniture in your hotel room. 

Some of the moves he performs atop a bathroom towel include pushups, squats, in and outs and crunches.

After a minute’s rest, he then goes into close grip pushups, jump lunges and then long sit ups ‘all the way to touch your toes.’

Thanks to his sweat-inducing workout antics, Joey has built a loyal following online, with more than 175,000 followers on TikTok and 183,000 on Instagram. 

It’s fair to say it’s been a somewhat topsy-turvy British summer.

Last month’s heatwave brought with it temperatures in excess of 86F (30C) and made it the UK’s warmest June on record. But as July arrived, so did the rain.

Worse still, forecasters now expect this dreary weather to continue for much of August, dashing hopes of a warm end to the summer holidays.

That is in stark contrast to the extreme heat experienced by most of Europe, as back-to-back heatwaves ushered in record-breaking temperatures and wildfires across the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu.

So why has Britain had rain while the continent has sweltered in unbearable heat? The answer, Met Office experts and scientists have told MailOnline, lies in the arrival of a series of low pressure systems above the UK which have been held in place by a ‘blocked weather pattern’.

Essentially, this low pressure is what is ‘in charge of weather right now in the UK’, according to the Met Office.

It has been pushed in from the Atlantic because of the position of the jet stream – a fast moving strip of air high up in the atmosphere that’s responsible for steering weather systems towards Britain.

Normally it is to the north of the country during the summer and to the south in winter, but for July it has staunchly remained to the south, bringing with it miserable weather.

‘In recent weeks, the jet stream has been locked in quite a rigid pattern, to the south of the UK,’ said Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon.

‘For us, on the northern side of the jet stream, what it has meant is for low pressure systems to move off the Atlantic towards the UK, bringing us periods of wet and windy weather that you wouldn’t typically associated with summer.’

He added that this was also responsible for allowing high pressure to dominate in Europe, causing the extreme heat which has been commonplace this month. 

The bad news, however, is that we likely won’t be seeing such high pressure any time soon. 

Forecasters don’t anticipate the hot weather returning to the UK until towards the end of August at the earliest.

‘When the jet stream is to the north of the UK – as it often is in the summer – this is when there’s a higher likelihood of warmer, more settled weather, though that isn’t in the forecast for this week,’ Mr Dixon said.

‘There are some signals for more settled interludes of weather later in August, with more dry weather, though this is uncertain at present. 

‘There are no signals for prolonged or excessive heat at the moment, though more settled weather is likely later in the month.’

According to scientists, another reason we have endured such wet weather while Europe has been blanketed by heat is because of what is known as a ‘blocked weather pattern’. 

Professor Richard Allan, an expert in climate science at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that atmospheric Rossby waves – or planetary waves – created by the Earth’s rotation were partly responsible for the two extremes.

‘When giant, planetary waves in the atmosphere become blocked they can cause relentless heat to build in some regions, like we’ve seen in parts of North America, southern Europe and areas of Asia,’ he said.

‘But also intense rainfall and flooding in others, or just persistent cool and showery conditions like the UK is currently experiencing.’

Professor Nigel Arnell, of the University of Reading’s Meteorology Department, agreed.

‘It’s the blocking which has made the European heatwave so extreme, so there is a connection between the hot conditions in Europe and the windy/cool conditions in the UK.’

But it’s not just planetary waves that get blocked – the jet stream can also stall weather patterns. 

If this flow of winds is rushing quickly in a straight line from west to east then the weather often changes day to day.

When it weakens and becomes bendy or wavy, however, that’s when we get stuck with certain conditions for longer.

At the moment that’s cooler and wetter weather, but in June it was hot. In fact, most of this year has seen conditions persist for many weeks.

For instance, January began unsettled but February was the driest in the UK since 1993, before March was Britain’s wettest March on record.

April and May were largely cooler than normal before the heat stepped up a notch in June.

Why are weather patterns persisting for longer then? Climate change is a distinct possibility, according to some experts.

There are studies which suggest that global warming might be making blocked weathers patterns more common.

The problem in relation to the jet stream however is that it naturally has waves, so just how much impact, if any, climate change is having is unclear.

But Professor Allan added that ‘it would be surprising if the unprecedented ocean warming patterns due to human-caused climate change were not disrupting the planetary waves and jet streams of air many kilometres above our head that affect our weather patterns’.

With the Arctic region warming more quickly than areas further south there is certainly an argument to be made that climate change is interfering with the jet stream.

That is because the flow of atmospheric winds is driven by the contrast in temperatures north-to-south, meaning that if this lessens the jet stream could weaken longer term and become wavy more frequently, sparking a prolonged type of weather.

What is more certain, Professor Allan said, is that global warming is ‘intensifying the heatwaves, droughts and deluges where and when they occur’.

‘Without rapid cuts in the climate warming greenhouse gases we’re emitting, these extremes of weather across the world will continue to worsen,’ he added.

Professor Arnell said climate change ‘has two big effects’.

‘The first is to raise temperatures in general, so when blocking conditions arise then the resulting heatwave is more intense. 

‘The second effect is on what we call the dynamics of weather – the features such as cyclones, anticyclones, jet streams and blocking patterns. 

‘This is effect is much more complicated to unravel, but it’s fair to say that climate change has disrupted these dynamic systems because it alters the temperature gradients between equator and pole and it has led to warmer sea surface temperatures. 

‘So whilst we can’t say yet that what is happening now is totally due to climate change, we can say that it is consistent with what we expect the effects of climate change to be.’

He added: ‘We’re poking the climate system by adding greenhouse gases, and we therefore can no longer expect to get “normal” weather.’

Whether climate change is making blocked weather patterns more likely or not, it is certainly intensifying the extremes when they do get locked in for longer in a certain region.

At the moment that’s a cold spell for the UK. Last month it was a heatwave. The question is what will follow next month and beyond.

Revealed: The simple travel hack that gets you a FREE stay in a five-star hotel in Dubai (with all your meals included)

By Ailbhe Macmahon For Mailonline

Updated: 09:33 EDT, 26 June 2023

Kepa Arrizabalaga ‘wants to STAY at Chelsea and convince fans he can be their long-term No 1’ as the Spaniard hopes to make the most of his close relationship with Mauricio Pochettino’s goalkeeping coach

• Kepa Arrizabalaga will apparently fight for his number one spot at Chelsea
• The Spaniard was tipped to leave the club this summer after recent difficulties
• But Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival has made him believe he can save his career 

By Ryan Walker For Mailonline

Published: 09:26 EDT, 25 June 2023 | Updated: 09:40 EDT, 25 June 2023

Whether it’s seeing the Northern Lights or a thundering waterfall, witnessing wonders of nature on your travels can make for the trip of a lifetime.

To make the experience all the more magical, spend the night somewhere that offers a spectacular front-row view of these spectacles of nature.

Here we present seven retreats for nature lovers that guarantee breathtaking vistas, from a Hawaiian cabin to a contemporary hotel in Iceland.

They’re all listed by the property rental site Coolstays. Scroll down to pick your favourite…  

NORTHERN LIGHTS – THE ARCTIC HIDEAWAY, NORWAY

If the idea of seeing the Northern Lights is a dream, then The Arctic Hideaway in Norway is the place to lay your head, an experience ‘like no other’, according to Coolstays.

The retreat, comprised of a series of eco-friendly cabins, lies on Sorvaeret island in the Fleinvaer archipelago and is ‘surrounded by rugged mountains’. 

The best time to see the Northern Lights, Coolstays reveals, is if you stay during the winter months, a time of year when guests can also enjoy ‘incredible views of the moon and stars’. 

One of the cabins at the retreat – which was created by the jazz musician and composer Havard Lund – houses a music studio, while another features a sauna, Coolstays says. Prices start at £173 ($222) per night for up to 10 guests.

METEOR SHOWERS – ROCK REACH HOUSE, CALIFORNIA

California’s Joshua Tree National Park is ‘considered one of the best stargazing spots in the U.S, being so high above sea level and with little light pollution’, according to Coolstays.

To witness these starry skies for yourself, the rental site recommends checking into Rock Reach House just outside the national park, where you can watch ‘meteor showers dance across the desert’ from the comfort of the property’s outdoor hot tub. 

Billed as the ‘ultimate chill-out pad’, the two-bedroom abode also boasts a yoga platform, an outdoor fireplace and a deck that’s ‘made for drinks beneath the stars and deep discussion long into the night’. 

The house sleeps up to four people and prices range from £189 ($242) to £692 ($887) per night.

BLACK LAVA FIELDS – LAVA HOME, HAWAII 

The appropriately named ‘Lava Home‘ is perched near the base of Kilauea Volcano on the Hawaiian island of Hawai’i. 

‘Anyone fascinated by [volcanic] activity should consider a stay at this cosy, off-grid cabin,’ Coolstays says.

Describing a stay at the property, the rental site continues: ‘Relax on your patio or in your outdoor bathtub, which offers views of the volcano, the [North Pacific Ocean], and black lava fields as far as the eye can see.’

The cabin comprises three bedrooms and prices range from £262 ($336) to £407 ($522) per night.

HOT SPRINGS – THE RETREAT, ICELAND

Coolstays notes that Iceland is famed for its thermal landscape, with visitors bathing in mineral-rich hot springs that have been ‘warmed by centuries-old lava canyons below’.

The Retreat hotel sits ‘right on the edge’ of the country’s most famous geothermal spa, the iconic Blue Lagoon, giving guests the chance ‘to wake up and enjoy an early morning dip in its warming waters’.

The rental company adds: ‘Alternatively, sit out on your private balcony as you gaze down at the steam rising from the spring or visit the sauna or massage therapy room.’ 

Prices begin at £1,200 ($1,538) per night for a two-person room at the contemporary hotel.

WATERFALLS – GRAN MELIA IGUAZU, ARGENTINA

Those keen to see the largest waterfall system in the world, the Iguazu Falls, should consider a stay at the Gran Melia Iguazu, Coolstays reveals.

Set in the Iguazu National Park in Argentina, the ‘beautiful’ hotel offer views of the falls – which lie along the border of Argentina and Brazil – from multiple vantage points.

Listing them out, Coolstays says: ‘Guests can enjoy the amazing views of the waterfall from their luxurious room or suite, the infinity pool or the fantastic on-site restaurants.’

It adds: ‘You can guarantee that staying in this beautiful location will be an experience that you will never forget.’ Prices range from £613 ($785) to £1,500 ($1,923) per night.

STARGAZE IN THE DESERT – WADI RUM BUBBLE LUXOTEL, JORDAN

Jordan’s Wadi Rum valley offers ‘one of the best stargazing experiences you can have’, according to Coolstays.

To experience it for yourself, the rental site suggests spending ‘a night under the stars’ at the Wadi Rum Bubble Luxotel, which lies ‘in the heart’ of the desert wilderness.

Guests stay in ‘bubble’ pods that ‘offer comfy beds, private terraces and huge windows so you can enjoy the spectacular sunsets from the comfort of your own bed’. 

Coolstays adds: ‘As well as some outdoor seating, you’ll also have your own sunken hot tub where you can relax and unwind under the stars in pure luxury.’ Prices start at £280 ($359) per night for a two-person ‘bubble’.

LIGHTNING STORMS – MIRROR HOUSES, ITALY

‘Northern Italy sees some of the most frequent lightning in Europe so anyone looking to catch a glimpse of the giant sparks of electricity should consider a stay in Mirror Houses in Bolzano,’ Coolstays says.

This pair of holiday houses, which look out across the Dolomites mountains, each have a ‘quirky reflective exterior’ that offers ‘quite the spectacle when lightning strikes’.

The properties, designed by the architect Peter Pichler, share a garden that’s filled with apple trees and features a saltwater swimming pool. Prices begin at £1,175 ($1,506) per week.

Other homestay rental sites are available.