Enjoy your stay … in a giant intestine!
From caves, churches and cabins to planes, palaces and prisons, if there’s an unusual hotel, you can guarantee Steve Dobson will know about it!
The 44-year-old from Surrey loves nothing more than finding those quirky lodgings and coming home to spread the word of his incredible discoveries.
Father-of-two Steve and friends Simon Penn and Sid Lalwani have stayed in some of the most unique accommodation in the world.
The trio’s quest to find the most unusual hotels started with a handful of properties and a website back in 2004.
Now, eight years on, their search includes almost 300 properties, from train carriages to tipis, lighthouses and even space centres and underwater hotels!
“The idea of sleeping with a story has become something of a rallying cry to a wide audience of travellers dissatisfied with bland hotels,” Steve said.
Steve, Simon and Sid have turned their award-winning website unusualhotelsoftheworld.com into a book to further spread the word about some of their finds.
The Unusual and Unique Overnight Directory 3rd edition a sixth book for Steve looks beyond the boring bedrooms of most chains to find hotels, bed and breakfasts and holiday lets that will provide memories long after check out.
External ladders have been replaced with lifts to make this working dockside crane in the Netherlands fit for purpose as a hotel. The old machine room has been transformed into a luxurious bedroom with a panoramic window. The crane still spins round when controlled from the cabin and boasts a luxury double shower and designer loo.
UTTER INN, SWEDENA floating, underwater hotel where you sleep in an aquarium . . . you can’t get much quirkier than that!
The hotel is situated in a lake near Stockholm and is the brainchild of local artist and sculptor Mikael Genberg. Above the water’s surface is a small red house on its own little island. But three metres below is a unique single room with panoramic views of the fish swimming around in the water outside.
BEACH SUN RETREATBased in Kent, this stunning accommodation offers the perfect beach and summer holidays with guaranteed sun 365 days a year!
The retreat is one of the first in the country to install innovative sun simulators, so guests have sunlight and can top up their tan at the flick of a switch.
The ground floor has two themed bedrooms to provide stylish and spacious holiday accommodation, with direct access to the beach.
It’s the perfect venue for small parties, family holidays and romantic getaways!
SPITBANK FORTAn unusual and historic sea fortress in the Solent, off Portsmouth, has been transformed into an exclusive venue and hotel. The fort was formerly home to hundreds of soldiers guarding the approaches to the town. The arms and ammunition have long since been removed, making way for nine luxuriously furnished bedroom suites, three bars, a hot pool, sauna and three restaurant areas.
CASANUS, BELGIUMImagine the look on people’s faces when you tell them you spent the night inside a model of a giant human intestine? Casanus is one of those indescribable properties. It’s an art sculpture created by Joep Van Lieshout with a double bed, shower and toilet inside.
PROPELLER ISLAND CITY LODGE,BERLIN
Complete with flying beds and upside down rooms, this is an extraordinary location created by German artist Lars Stroschen. It’s much more than a hotel, more of a “living work of art” or a museum. Everything has been custom-made so you can guarantee what you see and sleep in is unique. The 30 surreal rooms include an upside down room where furnishings hang from the ceiling and guests sleep in boxes under the floorboards.
PALACIO DE SAL, BOLIVIAA hotel where everything is made from salt, from floors and ceilings to most of the furniture.
The property offers 16 rooms complete with private bath and solarium.
SALA SILVERMINE, SWEDENGuests can sleep 155 metres underground in this hotel, which boasts the world’s deepest bedroom.
A preserved mine, it’s cold, dark and damp but incredibly beautiful. The bed comes with extra-cosy blankets to beat the 2C all year round temperature.
As mobile phones don’t work so far underground, guests are given
an intercom radio to communicate with mine workers above ground level.
The Unusual and Unique Overnight Directory, published by the Unusual Company Limited, is priced £15.99.
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