World's Unique Hotels
The Phoenix Earthship
Ever feel as if every hotel room looks like the last one you checked into? Next time, consider spicing up your travel by staying at one of these unique hotels, where style often trumps all else.
We can all strive for environmentally-friendly travel, but at one Arizona hotel you can actually live the green lifestyle. The Phoenix Earthship offers people the chance to stay in self-sufficient housing made from recycled materials. It even comes with its own lush interior jungle. (Phoenix Earthship)
Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
We've all woken up from deep sleep feeling a bit blue. But at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island some guests now have the chance to awake under the deep blue with schools of fish swimming by and rays of sunlight shimmering through the water to the new Ithaa Suite. The room sits 16 feet below the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear glass. (Courtesy Conrad Maldives Rangali Island)
The Jumbo Hostel
At the entrance to Stockholm's Arlanda Airport, sits a giant Boeing 747. It was built in 1976 for Singapore Airlines and later served with legendary Pan Am but today offers a cozy place to sleep. The Jumbo Hostel has private rooms, dormitory-type beds and even a luxury suite in the converted cockpit that offers great views. (Niklas Larsson/AP Photo)
Holiday Inn
To get publicity for its new logo and redesigned rooms, Holiday Inn hired world record-holding cardstacker Bryan Berg to build a 400 square foot Key Card Hotel that is on display at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan. It features a bedroom, bathroom and lobby all made out of key cards. More than 200,000 cards were used and it weighs 4,000 pounds. And yes you can sit on the furniture. (Courtesy Holiday Inn)
The Boot Bed N' Breakfast
The Boot Bed N' Breakfast in New Zealand is the brainchild of Steve Richards, who designed the two-story cottage in the shape of a giant boot. Outside is a grove of hazelnut trees. Inside, an open fire for a romantic evening in. And when you wake from your fairy tale night, breakfast will be waiting at your door. Make all the footwear jokes you might, this hotel uses free-range eggs offers fresh fruit from its orchard in your meal. ( Boot Bed N' Breakfast)
The Dog Park Inn
The Dog Park Inn is a bed and breakfast inside a Beagle in Cottonwood, Idaho. Furnishings include chainsaw dog carvings, and the inn serves what they like to call the Prairie's Best Fruited Granola. Can't spend the night? Don't fret, the inn has a gift shop that sells some of those dog carvings for all you canine fans. (Dog Park Inn )
Lifeboat Hotel
From 1955 to 1979, this lifeboat saved scores of sailors from all but certain death off the British coast. Now the Lilla Marras offers you a place to get some shut eye if you find yourself in Harlingen, the Netherlands. A night on the Lifeboat hotel will cost you about $320. (Lifeboat Hotel)
Lighthouse Hotel
If you are more of a land lover, consider the Lifeboat's sister hotel, the nearby Lighthouse hotel. For 75 years, this lighthouse protected boaters but was decommissioned in 1998 and is now a hotel. But there is room for only two people a night and staying there comes at your own risk. (Lighthouse Hotel)
The Crowne Plaza
The Crowne Plaza at Union Station in Indianapolis is built in the city's former train station, America's 1st Union Station. The Grand Hall is marked with distinctive arches, columns and terrazzo floors and features a stained-glass barrel ceiling along with two identical 20-foot leaded stained glass wheel windows. While most guests stay in traditional rooms, the hotel does offer the opportunity to spend the night in a Pullman train car. (Crowne Plaza at Union Station)
The Out 'n' About Treesort
The Out 'n' About Treesort in Cave Junction, Ore., offers the kid in all of us to spend a night up in the trees. The resort features 18 different treehouses, platforms and forts plus seven swinging bridges, five swings, 20 flights of stairs, four ladders and a ropes course with a 160-foot zip line. (Out 'n' About Treesort)
The Ariau Amazon Towers
The Ariau Amazon Towers is the only hotel complex at tree top level in the Amazon rain forest. It is located 35 miles northwest of Manaus, Brazil, on the right bank of the Negro River. The 260 bedrooms, 11 suites and nine treehouse Tarzan suites are spread out in eight wood towers linked by 30-foot-high catwalks. (Ariau Amazon Towers)
A Cold War-era plane turned into a luxury hotel with the intact cockpit is permanently parked at the end of a runway at Amsterdam's Teuge airport. Dutch entrepreneur Ben Thijssen spent approximately $640,000 to convert the 131-foot long aircraft into a hotel with wings. Staying in this unique suite will run you about $500 per night and includes breakfast for two. (Vincent Jannink/AFP/Getty Images )
