Weirdest Hotels in the World

Crane Hotel - Harlingen, Netherlands

This is an old dockside crane that has been converted into a remarkable hotel for 2.  The crane now features 2 unique elevators that take you to your luxury accommodations.   The owners, Willem and Carla, have converted the engine room into your bedroom, including every modern technology imaginable.  (By the way, they also have converted an old English lifeboat and a working lighthouse into other hotels in the area.)  Perhaps the best part of this, however, is that the crane actually still works–and you get to operate it anytime!  Don’t like the view?  Just climb into the cockpit and swing it around with the joystick!  Truly awesome!

Das Park Hotel - Linz, Austria

I love this concept.  Designer Andreas Strauss took sections of huge sewage pipes and added a coat of varnish and some creature comforts.  To reserve a pipe, you use a self-service booking website, where you are provided a security code for when you arrive.  Inside your pipe, you can expect to find a double bed, a light, a power outlet and internet connection, and a sleeping bag.  Toilets and other hotel amenities are in the park nearby.  The park, by the way, is located on the beautiful Danube River.  The cost is whatever you choose to pay.  (Some people even leave little presents!)

From their website: Just like Elias Canetti said it in his book.// The Voices of Marrakesh. //To keep your wits about you in a strange city, it is necessary to have a place to be alone, to hide from the new and strange voices when they get to be too much//

Ice Hotel Quebec, Canada – Sainte-Catherine-De-La-Jacques-Cartier, Quebec, Canada

Made entirely of snow and ice, the Ice Hotel in Quebec takes 500 tons of ice, 15,000 tons of snow and over 5 weeks to build.  Open from January through April, the Ice Hotel is truly remarkable.  The Hotel’s 4-foot thick walls of ice act as an insulator, keeping the temperature inside the hotel around 25° F or –4° C.  The hotel features many different rooms and suites, complete with 18-foot high ceilings and furniture made of ice.  It even has original artwork made of, well, ice.  The ICE Bar, which is French for a “bar make of ice,” is one of the hottest bars in the area.  More photos here.

Ice Hotel Exterior

Ice Bar

Utter Inn – Vasteras, Nr Stockholm, Sweden

The Utter (Otter) Inn is a (very) little house with a (very) little porch.  It is in the middle of a (very) big lake.  It floats and you sleep in an aquarium.  Sound unique?  If you would like to stay at the Utter Inn, where I guess noisy neighbors aren’t really that much of a problem, you need to take a trip to the port city of Vasteras.  From there, you will be taken out to the Inn in an inflatable boat.  The hoteliers then tell you what’s what and leave you to your own devices.  There is a small inflatable canoe if you want to head over to the nearest uninhabited island.  Price runs about US$250-250 per night.

Woodpecker Hotel – Vasteras, Nr Stockholm, Sweden

Does it seem like Vasteras, Sweden has cornered the market on odd hotels?  They have.  Created by Mikael Genberg, this wasn’t his first foray into randomly-odd hotels.  He also created the Utter Inn (see above), which is nearby to The Tree.  This hotel is in a tree, 13 meters up.   The Hotel is in a 130 year old oak tree in the central park of Vasteras, which is near Stockholm, for those playing along at home.  Somehow, they even manage to have a toilet up there.

        

EDIT:  Which hotel would you prefer to stay in?  Add to the comments.