We’ve all at some point or the other seen and stayed at a ‘Holiday Inn’ or ‘Marriott’ kind of hotel. We have mostly always liked the experience, the sense of relaxation and rejuvenation.
These are great for the typical business or casual traveler but adventure travel buffs have their own favorites when it comes to hotels that offer a different kind of “personality”.
So here’s a list of 10 ten extremely unusual Hotels that pretty much are stuff adventure’s made of!
The Giraffe Manor – Nairobi Kenya
Built in 1932 by Sir David Duncan, The Giraffe Manor was modelled after a Scottish Hunting Lodge. Located upon a sprawling 115 acres in Nairobi, this hotel has an exclusive view of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was opened in 1984 as a hotel.
After the loss of their natural habitat, the Rothschild Giraffes were moved onto this property and they now thrive in the setting. Imagine staying in a hotel which is pretty much a Giraffe sanctuary and you can have a Giraffe pop into your window where you can hand feed it and take pictures? Sounds like an adventure? It does to us!
The Library Hotel – Manhattan, New York
Home of the Bibliophiles! This one’s just the hotel for you! The floors in this hotel are set according to the 10 main categories of the “Dewey Decimal Classification System”. The hotel has a wide collection of books in varied genres; ranging from Arts, Religion, Philosophy, Math, and more. Guess what? Included in the rooms of this hotel are books from the theme of the floor!
A book lover’s adventure hotel by any means.
Karostas Cietums Hotel – Liepaja, Latvia
This strange hotel started off as a Russian prison and remains pretty much remains the same. Except your stay includes being handcuffed and led into your jail cell; being stripped off your belongings, fed bread and water and being allotted a bed of wood or iron! Not exactly the Ritz Carlton in terms of service but an experience nevertheless.
This hotel is open only from May 1 until October 1 each year. On a side note – there have been reports about this hotel being haunted so be prepared for eerie noises and an occasional nocturnal visit from former prisoners! No kidding!
Utter Inn – Lake Malaren, Sweden
This ‘inn’ really is an art project by Mikael Genberg. It looks like a red colored garden shed just sitting there in the middle of an expanse of a lake.
The bedroom, though, is located three metres below the lake and is accessible only by a ladder. There are windows all around to allow a thrilling view of the fish.
Above the water, there is a tiny little deck to lounge on and a row boat to explore the lake and an island nearby.
Propeller Island City Lodge – Berlin Germany
This really unusual hotel is the brain child of Lars Stroschen. In this hotel, each room is designed on a different theme; there is a flying bedroom with slanted floors and a levitated bed. Then there is an upside room where all the furniture is sported upon the ceiling and there is a trapdoor on the floor that you climb down to in search of your sleeping accommodation. Oh, and add to that a padded room which is covered in green leather padding from top to bottom! Need a unique place to stay? Try Propeller Island City Lodge.
Hotel de Glase – Quebec, Canada
So every December, artists start constructing this awesome hotel. Open from January 7 through March 27, this hotel is requires 400 tonnes of ice and 12000 tonnes of snow, and is redesigned and rebuilt every year.
Every single item this hotel that you see or use is made of ice, including the fire place and the glass that you drink from! They do however provide heated washrooms and outdoor hot tubs. A far cry from a typical beach resort in Cabo, Bora Bora or the Maldives, this is an experience served cold.
Das Park Hotel – Osterreich, Austria
What if you were given the chance to stay in one of those huge concrete sewer tubes we’ve all seen but never paid much attention to? Welcome to the Das Park.
Each of these tubes weight 9.5 tonnes and need just a little keep up; just a coat of varnish to keep the cement from cracking!
Das Park is open from May to October and the hotel rates are based on a rather unusual ‘Pay what you think the stay was worth’ sort of system.
V8 Hotel – Baden-Württemberg, Germany
This hotel is the perfect spot for car enthusiasts! Located in the city’s first airport, this hotel offers rooms based on car themes – a Mercedes Benz Carwash, Morris Minor Garage…and a Route 66 theme!
The entire hotel is a car memorabilia extravaganza where the beds follow the room theme by looking either like the continuation of a car or the road!
Capsule Hotel – Den Haag, Netherlands
You can find these orange rig survival pods in The Hague. Though they cannot claim they’re big enough, they can provide sleeping bags for three people. An interesting feature of this — well, unusual hotel is that offers a James Bond basic survival package, and an upgraded version that features a library with all of the 007 movies, a disco ball, silk sheets and champagne.
We, say, not bad at all!
Hang Nga Hotel – Da Lat, Vietnam
‘Crazy house’ as it has been dubbed by the locals, this unique hotel is hidden away in the mountain town of Da Lat.
This house has been famously known as the most unusual piece of architecture in entire Vietnam. It is a random assortment of cubbyholes and rooms that twist and turn and are pieced together with bridges to give a maze like feel.
The house is also known to ‘house’ caged birds, spider web creations, enormous animals etc giving this place a wonderland like feel!
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