Unique Hotels: Bucket List Travel Dreams

Are you dreaming of traveling? We sure are. To unique hotels in exotic destinations. Or to boutique spa hotels and tree house hotels and underwater hotels. To the jungle, to the beach, to the mountains. Of course, in early ’21 – nobody’s traveling for fun. But we will be traveling again. Seeing new sights, meeting new friends, discovering new places. Have faith. We just need to be patient. And until that time comes, we can all dream a little, can’t we?

Unique Hotels on the Water

Unique Hotels

Or under the water, as the case may be. The Muraka, at the Conrad Madlives hotel is underwater. It’s actually an above ocean residence with an undersea suite. And a hefty nightly hotel room bill, but hey, we are talking bucket list, right? We featured this story in Manta Resort: Amazing Underwater Hotel earlier and you’ll find lots of photos there. It’s still on the list!

 

This one is really on the water …

Unique hotel oil rig

For diving enthusiasts, we have The Seaventures Dive Rig Hotel – a repurposed oil rig where you can have a dive vacation and even take your open water scuba dive exam in Borneo. Sounds good to me.

Diving Hotel

 

Unique Ship Hotel

Ok, this one isn’t really on the water, but shouldn’t it be?  The Sun Cruise Hotel in South Korea and it’s fantastic. There are some incredible shots, click on the link and let the slide show run through. And it’s a great idea for repurposing cruise ships. It really feels like you’re on the water – but it’s actually on land.

 

Unique Hotels Sweden

And then there is the Ooops Hotel in Sweden, which only looks like it is actually in the water. An optical illusion. Or so they say.

Unique Hotels in the trees

Unique plane hotel

This two-bedroom suite is in an old plane fuselage in Costa Rica at the Costa Verde Hotel. And it is gorgeous inside (below).

Inside of unquie hotel

Unique hotels in trees

The Tree Hotel in Sweden (above and below) offers seven different tree hotel rooms to choose from. And from September – March, you’ll get a great view of the Northern Lights. And just imagine the lights reflecting on the mirror treehouse below at night – that would be incredible..


unique bamboo hotel

I want to go here. Now. New bucket list spot: Bird’s Nest Villa in Keemala, Thailand. Possibly the most romantic bedroom in the world. Can you imagine waking up there? And your own infinity pool built on stilts? Heaven on earth!

Unique Hotels with Wildlife

Unique hotels Giraffe Manor

Then, there’s Giraffe Manor, in Kenya. They supply glass jars of Giraffe treats for this exact moment. Wouldn’t it be incredible to have a giraffe join you for breakfast? Click on the link for more information, it’s probably the most fun hotel in the world.

 

Rhinos and Zebra unqiue hotels

The Mara River Safari Lodge in Bali has zebras and rhinos and more – wandering the grounds. If this isn’t exotic, I don’t know what is.

Polar bear hotel

The Tundra Lodge in Manitoba, Canada, gives you easy access to polar bear viewing. Do bring your woolies.

Repurposed but Unique Hotels

Unique hotel in silos

The Silo Stay is one of the more unique hotels we’ve encountered, I mean, who but Joanna Gaines would think of making something incredibly creative out of a silo? They are quite lovely inside – photo below.

unique hotels silo stay

submarine hotel

Who wouldn’t want to live on a Yellow Submarine in Liverpool? Even if just for one night! And the interiors are pretty funky too – talk about unique hotels.


Wine barrel hotel

Or maybe, you’d like to sleep in a wine cask? Then you need hotel De Vrouwe van Stavoren in Amsterdam.

Or sit in a silver chair in a silver mine turned into a unique hotel room – we love the chairs, they look like the aviator furniture that was so popular a couple of years ago. Which I still love. Hmmm…story idea? But I digress.  The Sala Silver Mine underground suite is incredible, isn’t it?

 

Maybe you fancy sleeping in an airstream in South Africa? The iconic Granddaddy Hotel in Capetown, South Africa has an airstream trailer park on its roof. It was a unique hotel to start with! Check it out!

Unique Hotels – made of Ice

Unique Ice Hotel

This suite, at the Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada, offers a fireplace and hot tub. Yes, that’s right. Ice hotel. That’s ice.

Paris Unique Ice Hotel

This Ice Hotel in Paris is simply incredible. And some rooms even feature a sauna. All feature incredible ice art.

 

Back to Nature with Unique Hotels

Unique Hotels in Canada

Have you ever stayed in a yurt? If not, you must try it. This one is on Vancouver Island’s wild west coast. Stay in the Yurt of the Salish Sea at Soule Creek Lodge

Tee Pee Hotel

Clusters of teepees make for unique hotels. And this one saves wild mustangs. Take a trip out to the Mustang Monument Eco-resort and join a wild horse safari. Stay in a luxury tipi (below). Save a mustang.

Mustang Monument Luxury Tipi

Unique Hotels for Viewing Northern Lights

Have the Kakslauttanen experience, in a glass igloo at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Finnish Lapland. Northern Lights abound in the winter.

Northern Lights hotel

 

Fantasy Shaped Hotels

The boot hotel

Silverfern Holidays offers one of the most unique hotels as a B&B stay, The Boot Hotel, in New Zealand. It would be really fun to take some younger kids here, wouldn’t it? Talk about living in a nursery rhyme. They would never forget staying here, that’s for sure.

Hobbit House Hotel

The Shire of Montana is a Hobbit House extraordinaire – and if you’ve ever had an urge to live in a book … seriously, the interior is gorgeous, check it out. We’d stay here in a heartbeat. And there are little fairy doors all over the property. How cute is that?

Fairy house

Shell House Unique hotels

The Sea Shell House is a vacation rental on Isla Mujeres in Mexico.

Dolmen shelter

The Dolmen Shelter, a  mini-hotel in the UK is a most incredible design. Do check out their story.

And keep up your spirits until we can all travel again by visiting these amazing places online. Don’t stop there, as there are many, many more travel experiences you can look forward to. Maybe this can ease your days (or nights) a little, dreaming of the future trips we will all take. Oh, the places we will go!

 

Written by Beverley Wood

Beverley Wood has lived on boats in Toronto and Vancouver and in an old hacienda in Mexico. She knows funky when she sees it. She's been writing since she was old enough to pick up a pen and has never shied away from the unusual or the whimsical. Her love of the unique (and sometimes bizarre) led her to Captivatist.