A few years back, I stayed at a hotel in Prague, and had the best sleep of my life.
The mattress was on a type of platform bed (with a hard surface underneath the mattress). The mattress itself was about 4 inches think and very firm. My current bed is about 7 years old, and is starting to give me muscle pain every day.
I want one of these wonderful super-firm mattresses. What the hell are they called, and where can I buy one in the US (preferably online, so I don’t have to drive somewhere to buy it)?
I don’t know where to buy one, but it sounds exactly like the bunks aboard Navy ships in the 70’s and 80’s. 4" thick high density polyurethane (I think) atop a slab of aluminum (the top of your locker, btw). They were remarkably comfortable despite the thinness and lack of springs or other supports.
I’ve never understood the obsession people have with springs in matresses. I sleep on a 4" rubber mattress over plywood, and my back is great; back when I lived in NYC, I just put one on the floor - beds are overrated. One of the reasons I dread sleeping in hotels is the awful springy mattresses, which trigger my insomnia in the evening and my back pains in the morning. Once or twice I’ve even slept on the carpet instead.
It could have been a Tempurpedic or one of their copycats. Though the full mattress is thicker than 4 inches, I think they sell thinner ones. Alos, though they soften a bit with warm weather or body heat, they are extremely firm when cold.
Per the other responses: It definitely was not any sort of foam, at least not to a casual observer who didn’t really feel like cutting it apart, just poking and prodding a bit.