Weird Hotels 'round the World

When it comes to accommodations, there's good weird and there's bad weird. I've stayed in a few of the latter kind -- like an uber-budget flophouse in Paris where the door wouldn't close all the way and stray cats would sneak into our room while we were sleeping. The hotels below, on the other hand, are trying to make a statement, being weird on purpose in a creative way, and generally look like comfortable places to stay. (Except maybe the oil rig escape pod.) Check 'em out.

Jules' Underwater Hotel

If you're really into diving (and you don't work on a submarine), this hotel-slash-research lab may be the only opportunity you'll ever have to stay underwater for days at a time without surfacing. Located 21 feet under the waters off Key Largo, Florida, the only way in is via scuba, and it's got two bedrooms, a common room, bathrooms and a galley -- so it's really more like an underwater time-share apartment than a hotel. Rooms are around $500/night. Here's one of them:

The Poseidon, 5-Star Underwater Hotel

If the Jules seems too downmarket and you want to stay in the Four Seasons of underwater hotels, the soon-to-be-completed Poseidon in the Bahamas will be more your speed. The entrance to this hotel is via tunnel (so you don't have to get wet), and the hotel is equipped with lights and fish-feeders, so there's always a show out your window. If you've got $1500/night to drop on it, make a reservation!

There's another hotel named the Poseidon planned -- this one in Fiji -- and they've created this virtual tour of the facility.

Oil rig escape pod

On the other end of the ocean-themed comfort spectrum, there are the Netherlands' Capsule Hotels, which are actually 1970s-era oil rig escape pods (to be lowered into the water in case of evacuation). More pictures are here -- and actually, it doesn't look that uncomfortable inside.

A section of used drainpipe

It's actually called DAS PARKHOTEL, but I call 'em like they are. Located in a park alongside the banks of the Danube, these old pipes are outfitted with an unexpectedly comfortable interior - full headroom, double bed, storage, light, power, woolly blanket and light cotton sleeping bag. Bathroom facilities are available in the public bathrooms in the park. If this sounds a lot like camping out, it is -- hence the hotels "pay what you wish" policy. Just leave a few Euros behind when you go. [link]

An old wine cask

Pictures by Paul Rekker.

A 747 in the Costa Rican jungle

(Via Budgettravel.)