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Most people select a hotel based on comfort and convenience, not to mention price. However, you can make your stay an adventure in itself! Here are hotels that are a study in contrasts
The Cold and the Hot
Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, is rebuilt every year, out of ice. The rooms stay at temperatures below freezing, but the bathrooms are heated. You sleep on an ice bed covered with reindeer skins, in a thermal sleeping bag.
Cabañas Copal Hotel Tulum in the Caribbean is warm, rustic, and eco-friendly. There is no electricity, gas, telephones, or water piped in. These are provided by generators at the site; water is brought in by trucks. The palm-roofed cabanas are lit by candles, and there is no air conditioning. From the pictures, I believe I could handle it.
More extreme hotels, after the jump.
The High and the Low
The Wild Canopy Reserve in southern India will put you up in a treehouse 41 feet above the ground! They all have hot and cold running water and toilets. All the better to watch the wild animals that gather at the watering hole below.
Jules’ Undersea Lodge is a former research laboratory in a mangrove lagoon off Key Largo, Florida. You have to scuba dive to reach your room! At 21 feet under water, it’s the perfect place to launch a diving adventure.
The Ritzy and the Poor
Dromoland Castle near Shannon in Ireland was once the home of Gaelic royalty. This is the place to pretend you are a princess. Or prince, as the case may be.
On the other end of the spectrum, Das Park Hotel is where you can sleep in a drainpipe! It was conceived as a “hospitality project”, and guests are encouraged to pay what they wish.
The Inner and the Outre
Gamirasu Cave Hotel in Ayvali Village, Turkey has eighteen rooms in a restored thousand-year-old Byzantine monastery. Two of those rooms are underground cave suites.
Every room at the Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin is decorated in a completely different style. You can see each room at the website. In this room, you may choose to sleep in a coffin. Or not.
Yes, there really is a hotel for every taste!
Comments (13)
Comment
in refrence to Das Park Hotel,
talk about a pipedream! haha
posted by phillip on 4-26-2007 at 6:37 am
I like the pipes… looks nicer than some hostels I’ve stay in.
I read about a guy who dug out some caves and was renting them out. Nightly, weekly, and monthly rates. Each came equipped with its own wood burning stove. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where it was, or find any reference to it. Too bad, too. Sounds like a great place to retire!
posted by Tru on 4-26-2007 at 7:33 am
I have stayed at Cabanas Copal, and it is definitely an enjoyable experience. There’s also a bar there, which makes it even better. The cabanas are only a few feet away from the ocean, which is suprisingly loud when you’re trying to fall asleep.
posted by Lebetho on 4-26-2007 at 8:27 am
Arkansas has a cave hotel that I saw on HGTV. The website is www.ozarkcave.com. It’s a little closer than Turkey for most readers, I would think.
posted by elizabutt on 4-26-2007 at 11:05 am
I would love to check out that Ice Hotel!
posted by Sarah W on 4-26-2007 at 6:23 pm
And then there’s the Tundra Lodge, operated by Great White Bear Tours, moveable hotels that take tourists to sleep among the polar bears near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (my hometown)
posted by Jennifer on 4-26-2007 at 7:58 pm
THE ICE MOTEL AND THE UNDER WATER MOTEL IN FLORIDA WOULD BE MY DREAM ESCAPE. I REALLY ENJOY RELAXATION MUSIC AND AFTER I TAKE MY MEDS FOR BACK PAIN, THESE 2 PLACES WOULD BE VERY COOL.
posted by JOHN BROWN on 4-30-2007 at 9:30 am
I had a chance to stay at Dromoland Castle for a few nights in November of last year with my then girlfriend. It was off-season so we managed a free upgrade to the “Bridal Suite”. It was pretty much exactly as grossly opulent as you would expect; the bathroom of the suite was about the size of my apartment…
posted by dan on 4-30-2007 at 1:18 pm
Out’n'About treesort in southern oregon has several great tree houses, ranging from a suite with a claw foot tub, to the Treezeebo, 37 feet off the ground. Great place for the family or a couple looking to get away. My wife and I have been here several times, and can’t wait to go again.
posted by Jason on 5-2-2007 at 9:24 am
There’s also an awesome ex-prison turned Youth Hostel, in the capital of Slovenia (let’s face it, it’s not even worth trying to spell it), that is decorated completely in full-color graffiti.
posted by JT on 5-2-2007 at 6:36 pm
I believe that must be the Celica, in Ljubljana. Part of the historic Metelkova Mesto art district.
posted by Miss Cellania on 5-2-2007 at 7:00 pm
About the Ice Hotel: “Not tonight, dear. I have frostbite.”
posted by Seth Lefkow on 5-5-2007 at 11:45 am
I heard of an ice hotel being rebuilt every year in Montreal, but I forgot where I heard about it
posted by Christine on 8-6-2007 at 10:24 pm