Artistic Installation: Propeller Island City Lodge
There’s quirky and eclectic, and then there’s just downright strange. Propeller Island City Lodge balances on that line like a tightrope walker.
This boutique hotel offers guests utterly unique thematic rooms all designed by the avant-garde German artist, Lars Stroschen. Here, you have the opportunity to try sleeping in lion cages, or in coffins, or an upside-down rooms where the furnishings hang from the ceiling. Whether a room made entire of green leather or a prison cell with a hole in the wall, this habitable work of art in Berlin can cater to any quirky style.
Prison Prize: Jailhotel Löwengraben
Where prisoners once dreamed of escape, now you can come spend the night. At Jailhotel Löwengraben, Switzerland’s first jail hotel, you get to stay in one of the entirely refurbished jail cells—ball and chain not included.
Surprisingly well-proportioned and significantly more luxurious than they were in their previous incarnations, you don’t have to commit a crime to stay in these cells. But watch out: at Jailhotel Löwengraben, they’re so sure that you won’t want to leave they might offer to lock you up.
Rooftop Boat: A Room for London
As if left there by the retreating waters of some biblically proportioned flood, the boat that makes up A Room for London is balanced atop the roof of Queen Elizabeth hall. Part of the Southwark Centre in London, the building is now adorned with this single-bedroom hotel which offers a one-of-a-kind view of the city and London’s famous sites.
Available only by ballot, this bizarrely located boat offers all the amenities of a modern hotel, but is one holiday experience that you’re sure to be telling people about for years to come as the boat continues to roost around London and the country.
Circus City: Les Roulottes
Nothing inspires nostalgia and a sense of freedom quite like the gypsy circus. At Les Roulottes, you can experience it first hand.
Comprising three gypsy caravans and two old-fashioned rooms, eclectically decorated in the romance and glamour of the early 1900s and stationed in a verdant forest outside of the village of Ouroux, Les Roulottes is a perfect escape. See the vineyard hills roll away dotted with age-old farmhouses from your artistically decorated cabin and feel yourself transported to a different time.
Igloo Village: Hotel Kakslauttanen
Get face-to-face with nature at Hotel Kakslauttanen in northern Finland. 40 log cabins make up the hotel year-round, but it is the igloo village, available from December-April, that makes this one truly unique.
A chilly stay, the snow igloos are surprisingly cosy compared to the outside temperatures and are rebuilt every winter, along with the igloo bar and the igloo chapel. The log cabins available throughout the year are rustic and luxurious, and a perfect getaway from city living to experience the National Parks and wilderness of Lapland.
