Travel accommodations have evolved far beyond traditional hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, with creative entrepreneurs transforming everything from retired aircraft to ancient towers into memorable places to spend the night. These unconventional lodging options offer guests the chance to sleep in environments they never imagined possible, from underwater rooms to treetop sanctuaries.
Each unusual accommodation tells its own story while providing modern amenities that ensure comfort alongside novelty. Here is a list of 15 extraordinary places where travelers can rest their heads in truly unforgettable settings.
Treehotel
Sweden’s Treehotel suspends guests 13 to 20 feet above the forest floor in architecturally stunning rooms that seem to float among the pine trees. Each treehouse features a unique design, from the mirrored cube that reflects the surrounding forest to the bird’s nest structure built with 350 individual branches.
The accommodations include modern amenities like electricity, heating, and bathrooms, though guests must climb ladders or stairs to reach their elevated rooms. Winter visits offer the added possibility of viewing the Northern Lights from your treetop perch, while summer provides endless daylight for forest exploration.
Giraffe Manor
Kenya’s Giraffe Manor allows guests to share breakfast with Rothschild giraffes that poke their heads through the manor’s windows, seeking treats and attention. The 1930s country house sits on 12 acres of private land where rescued giraffes roam freely, often wandering onto the property’s wraparound veranda.
Guests staying in the manor’s elegant rooms wake up to giraffes peering through their windows, creating photo opportunities that most wildlife enthusiasts only dream about. The experience combines luxury safari accommodation with intimate animal encounters that happen right at your breakfast table.
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Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort
Finland’s Arctic Circle resort offers guests the choice between glass igloos and traditional log cabins, with the igloos providing unobstructed views of the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of a heated bed. The glass structures maintain comfortable interior temperatures while their transparent roofs offer 360-degree views of the Arctic sky throughout the night.
Each igloo accommodates two guests and includes a private bathroom, though the main attraction remains the opportunity to watch the Northern Lights dance overhead without leaving your room. The resort operates from August through April, with the best Aurora viewing occurring during the darker winter months.
Hotel de Sal
Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt flats feature this hotel constructed entirely from salt blocks, including the walls, floors, furniture, and decorative elements throughout the property. The building sits in the middle of the world’s largest salt flat, surrounded by a blindingly white landscape that stretches to the horizon in every direction.
Guests sleep on salt beds and dine at salt tables while enjoying panoramic views of the surreal environment outside their windows. The hotel’s remote location, 350 miles from the nearest city, ensures some of the clearest night skies on Earth for stargazing from your salt-block room.
Dog Bark Park Inn
Idaho’s Cottonwood features a bed-and-breakfast built in the shape of a massive beagle, complete with a second-story bedroom located inside the dog’s head. The 30-foot-tall wooden structure includes a cozy interior with dog-themed decorations, though the building’s exterior attracts the most attention from passing travelers.
Guests climb stairs through the dog’s body to reach the loft bedroom, while the main floor serves as a gift shop featuring wooden dog carvings created by the property’s owners. The quirky accommodation sits along US Highway 95, making it a popular overnight stop for roadtrippers exploring the American West.
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The Manta Resort
Tanzania’s Pemba Island offers an underwater room that floats in the Indian Ocean, providing guests with floor-to-ceiling windows into the surrounding coral reef ecosystem. The three-story structure features a bedroom level submerged 13 feet underwater, while the main deck and rooftop terrace remain above sea level for dining and relaxation.
Guests can watch tropical fish, rays, and occasionally dolphins swim past their bedroom windows throughout the day and night. The accommodation includes meals and transportation from the mainland, creating a complete underwater hotel experience in one of the world’s most pristine marine environments.
Capsule Hotels
Japan’s major cities feature these space-efficient accommodations where guests sleep in individual pods barely larger than a single bed, stacked like bunk beds in rows throughout compact buildings. Each capsule includes basic amenities like electrical outlets, reading lights, and small televisions, while bathrooms and common areas are shared among all guests.
The concept maximizes urban space utilization while providing affordable lodging in expensive cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Modern capsule hotels have evolved to include luxury versions with larger pods, private bathrooms, and upscale common areas that appeal to tourists seeking the experience without sacrificing comfort.
Free Spirit Spheres
British Columbia’s Vancouver Island suspends guests in spherical tree houses that hang from cables attached to surrounding Douglas fir trees, creating the sensation of sleeping inside a giant Christmas ornament. The fiberglass and cedar spheres measure 10 to 11 feet in diameter and sway gently with wind and tree movement, providing a unique floating sensation throughout the night.
Each sphere accommodates two guests with a comfortable bed, a small kitchenette, and panoramic windows offering forest views in every direction. Access requires crossing suspension bridges and climbing rope ladders, adding an element of adventure to the accommodation experience.
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Palacio de Sal
Bolivia’s Uyuni region features another salt hotel, this one built like a traditional palace with ornate salt furniture and decorative elements throughout multiple rooms and common areas. The hotel sits on the edge of the famous salt flats, providing easy access for sunrise and sunset photography sessions across the mirror-like landscape.
Guests enjoy salt-themed spa treatments and meals featuring local quinoa and llama meat while surrounded by furniture carved entirely from salt blocks. The property’s location offers prime access to the salt flats’ most photogenic areas, including the famous perspective-bending photography spots that make people appear giant or miniature.
McMenamins Kennedy School
Oregon’s Portland features this former elementary school converted into a hotel where guests sleep in renovated classrooms complete with original chalkboards and school-themed decorations. The 1915 building retains much of its educational character, with hallways lined with student artwork and trophy cases filled with school memorabilia.
Guest rooms occupy former classrooms, each uniquely decorated but maintaining elements like original hardwood floors and high ceilings typical of early 20th-century school architecture. The property includes multiple restaurants, bars, and a movie theater, all housed within the converted school building.
Sala Silvermine
Sweden’s Sala offers guests the opportunity to sleep 500 feet underground in a former silver mine that operated for over 450 years before becoming an unusual hotel. The mine’s chambers have been converted into comfortable suites with modern amenities, though the surrounding rock walls and mining equipment remind guests of the location’s industrial heritage.
Temperature remains constant at 64 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, requiring warm clothing even during summer visits to the underground accommodations. Guests access their rooms via elevators that descend through the mine shaft, creating an arrival experience unlike any traditional hotel check-in.
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Crazy House
Vietnam’s Dalat features this architectural marvel designed to resemble a massive tree, with rooms built into organic-shaped branches and caverns throughout the structure’s flowing design. The building contains no straight lines or right angles, instead featuring curved walls, irregular windows, and staircases that wind through the tree-like interior like natural pathways.
Each room offers a completely different experience, with some featuring cave-like atmospheres while others open onto balconies shaped like giant leaves or flowers. The accommodation doubles as a tourist attraction, with day visitors exploring the public areas while overnight guests enjoy exclusive access to the upper floors.
Woodlyn Park
New Zealand’s North Island offers guests the choice between sleeping in a converted Boeing 727 aircraft, a hobbit hole, or a train caboose, all located on the same property outside Waitomo. The aircraft’s accommodation features seats converted into beds, with the cockpit serving as a unique honeymoon suite for adventurous couples.
The hobbit holes burrow into hillsides with round doors and curved interiors that recreate the feeling of living in Middle-earth. Each accommodation type provides modern amenities while maintaining the novelty of its unusual setting, creating memorable experiences for guests seeking alternatives to traditional hotels.
Poseidon Undersea Resort
Fiji’s planned underwater resort promises guests the opportunity to sleep 40 feet beneath the Pacific Ocean in luxury suites with panoramic views of the surrounding coral reef ecosystem. The accommodations feature floor-to-ceiling transparent walls that provide 270-degree views of marine life, with tropical fish, sharks, and rays swimming past guest rooms throughout the day and night.
Each underwater suite includes modern amenities and private bathrooms, while above-water facilities provide restaurants, spas, and recreational activities. The resort represents the next evolution in underwater hospitality, though construction timelines continue to evolve as engineering challenges are addressed.
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The Wigwam Motel
Arizona’s Route 66 features this classic American roadside accommodation where guests sleep inside concrete tipis arranged in a semicircle around the motel’s central office. Each wigwam-shaped room stands 32 feet tall and provides modern hotel amenities within the iconic pointed structure that has welcomed travelers since 1950.
The motel represents classic American road trip culture, with vintage neon signs and period automobiles creating an authentic mid-century atmosphere. Guests can park their cars directly in front of their wigwams, maintaining the convenience and nostalgia of the golden age of American highway travel.
Beyond Traditional Hospitality
These extraordinary accommodations prove that where you sleep can be just as memorable as the destinations you visit. Each location offers guests the chance to experience environments and perspectives impossible in conventional hotels, creating stories and memories that last long after checkout time.
Whether suspended in trees, submerged underwater, or carved from salt, these unusual lodging options transform the simple act of spending the night into an adventure that becomes an integral part of the travel experience itself.
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