December 7, 2007

A night less ordinary

Take a peek at these weird and wonderful places to stay — from a hotel with a waterfall cascading from its roof to an oil rig survival pod — and you may never settle for a Travel Tavern again

Unusual hotels of the world — Hôtel Palafitte is a hi-tech series of apartments on stilts adrift in the middle of Neuchâtel Lake in Switzerland Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Lie back and watch the fantastic Northern Lights from your bed in the futuristic glass igloos of Hotel Kakslauttanen in Finnish Lapland Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Magic Mountain Hotel in the Huilo Huilo reserve, Chile, has a waterfall cascading down its sides — and the interior is just as strange Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Künstlerheim Luise, co-operative art gallery hotel, Berlin. German artists, eh? Let them loose on your former palace and you end up with bordello chic bananas flying around your head Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Lose yourself in your own love bubble — The Capsule Hotel is a former oil rig survival pod moored in the Hague that comes with disco mirror ball, fairy-light decorations and silk-lined sleeping bags. Yeah baby! Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Kolarbyn woodland “camouflage” huts in Sweden may have no electricity but they do come with an en suite stream. Your first job is to chop wood for the heating, not raid the mini-bar! Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Le Carré Rouge is the perfect romantic retreat — for nature lovers, as there's no running water or electricity. Designed by artist Gloria Friedmann, it is literally a red cube lobbed into the French countryside, except with one glazed face. There's cooking facilities on the ground floor and three double beds upstairs Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — Death in the afternoon has been replaced by leisurely siestas with rooms built into the walls of Quinta Real Zacatecas bullring in Mexico Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — It literally is a case of you've been framed in Atelier sul Mare in Sicily, as every room has been designed by a different modern artist Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual hotels of the world — An art community in the funky side of Ljubljana has turned this former slammer into a hip hostel called Hostel Celica. And we're not talking basket-woven beds Photograph: Steve Dobson/Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual Hotels of the World — Extracted from the book Unusual Hotels of the World by Sean Dodson, available to buy at gounusual.com for £14.99 (rrp £16.99) Photograph: Unusual Hotels of the World

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