Exploration
10 Ridiculously Amazing Places To Spend The Night
“You stayed where?!” Earn serious bragging rights with our pick of unusual places to rest your head.
Glamping is so last year. If you’re not staying in an old aeroplane, a glass igloo or giant bird’s nest, frankly, we’re not that impressed. But worry not, our roundup of random places to stay will point you in the right direction.
727 Fuselage, Costa Rica
Hotel Costa Verde
© Costa Verde
This hotel is plane crazy. More specifically, it is the fuselage of a 1965 Boeing 727. In a previous life it flew for South Africa Air and Colombia's Avianca Airlines. Nowadays it is part of the Hotel Costa Verde and features two air-conditioned bedrooms with en-suites, and a terrace with an ocean view. Childhood dreams for many, but the stuff of nightmares for those with aviophobia.
Price: Rooms from £225 per night.
Hotel Kakslauttanen, Finland
Hotel Kakslauttanen
© Inhabitat
Why freeze your arse off outside when you can watch the northern lights from the comfort of your own glass igloo? Hotel Kakslauttanen is based in Finland and the igloos are open over the aurora borealis season from around the third week of August to the end of April. Just remember though: If you can see out others can see in...
Price: Rooms start from £141 per night.
Airbnb floating house, London
Where do you park the car?
© Mikael Buck/Airbnb via Time Out London
It may be a stunt by AirBnb but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to stay in a house that is floating down the Thames. The company is offering the chance for four people to kip in this rather unusual pad from 18th-23rd May 2015. The house features two beds, one bathroom, a living room and a garden complete with wisteria. If you do want to enter, get your skates on - the competition ends at midnight on 20th May.
Price: You’ll have to enter the competition.
The Bird’s Nest, Sweden
The Bird’s Nest
© Tree Hotel
The Bird’s Nest is the fledgling idea of architect Bertil Harström. Harstrom is the architect of the Tree Hotel, a network of luxury treehouses situated in northern Sweden, which also includes this mad-looking UFO room. The Bird’s Nest itself includes a luxury guestroom that sleeps four, a retractable ladder, and views over the Lule River valley, it’s no wonder the Bird’s Nest at The Tree Hotel is a hit with grown ups too.
Price: Rooms from £362 per night for two people (inc. breakfast).
Concrete sewage pipe, Germany
Das Park Hotel
© Das Park Hotel/Dietmar Tollerian
Feeling flush? Fancy a dirty weekend? These refurbished concrete drain pipes are known as “sleep pipes”. They’re part of Das Park Hotel, near Essen in northern Germany. The hotel operates a “pay as you wish” system and customers are encouraged to pay what they think is fair. On making a reservation, guests are given a booking code that gains access to their own personal pipe.
Price: Pay what you like (May-October only).
No Man’s Fort, Solent, UK
Sleep tight on the Solent
© Amazing Venues
Amazing Venues sells their No Man’s Fort in the solent as: “75,000 sq ft of fun.” This 19th Century sea fort is situated 1.4km from the Isle of Wight, positioned perfectly to see off incoming French troops. Now, you can do battle with the sea instead as you can try your hand at kite boarding, jet-skiing, or sea kayaking. A “No Man’s Experience” costs £350 per person for a two night stay, with capacity limited to just 200 people. For that price, you get transport, food, welcome drinks, an historical tour and use of all the facilities including rooftop hot pool, sauna and fire pit. Not bad!
Price: £350 pp (all inclusive) for two nights.
Cliff camping, Wales
Just don't get out of the wrong side of bed
© Gaia Adventures
It’s not for the faint hearted, but adrenalin junkies may want to spend a night “cliff camping”. Gaia Adventures offer the chance to hang above the sea on a vertical cliff face on the Welsh coastline. You will sleep on a portaledge, up to 200ft up in the air. Thankfully you are attached to your bed, so fidgety sleepers can relax - or at least try to.
Price: From £190 per person.
Tree tents, Germany
Canopy camping
© Gizmag
These tree tents in Bavaria take hanging around to a whole new level. Hochseilgarten Hoellschlucht, the company that runs the experience, also offers guests the chance to stay in a hand-built igloo or a night suspended off a cliff face.
Price: From £179 p.p., per night.
Aqua Dome, Austria
Feel better just looking at it
© Architecture and Design
Aqua Dome is a wellness hotel in the Alps complete with spa, sauna, hot thermal springs and ski slopes on your doorsteps. Sign us up!
“Sweet Willy” Idaho, USA
A tired man's best friend
© Dog Bark Park Inn
Willingly put yourself in the dog house at Idaho’s Dog Bark Park Inn, the brainchild of chainsaw artists Dennis Sullivan and Frances Conklin. “Sweet Willy”, as the 30ft beagle is affectionately known, was built in 1997 and is the world’s biggest beagle. Barking mad or a work of art? You decide.
Price: (April-October only) £63 per night for a double, with breakfast included.
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