Extreme Hotels

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.

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!