The wacky hotel website unusualhotelsoftheworld.com has been made into a book, buy online for £15, or in shops from January for £17.

1 Waterfall, Chile

The Magic Mountain Hotel in the forests of Huilo Huilo has a waterfall cascading down its sides, and the interior's just as strange.

From £53, huilohuilo.cl, montanamagicalodge@gmail.com.

2 Forest huts, Sweden

Kolarbyn's forest huts are lit by oil lamps and heated by fires - with en-suite streams. Your first job is to chop wood, not raid the minibar.

£15pp, 0046 70 631 4546, kolarbyn.se

3 Art gallery, Germany

German artists eh? Let them loose on a hotel like Künstlerheim Luise in Berlin and you end up with bordello chic, bright red horses emerging from walls and vast musical notes.

Doubles from £56, 0049 3028 4480, luise-berlin.com

4 Life raft, Holland

It might be moored in The Hague but visiting diplomats may prefer something more conventional than Capsule Hotel, two cosy orange oil rig survival pods.

From £50, capsulehotel.info

5 Bullring, Mexico

Death in the afternoon has been replaced by leisurely siestas, but you can still get a decent steak in Quinta Real Zacatecas, built into the walls of the former bullring. Doubles from £87, 0052 492 922 9104, quintareal.com