Post by Renae/k9do on Jan 27, 2007 18:38:26 GMT
Top 10 Offbeat HotelsTop 10 Offbeat Hotels
travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=376881>1=9016
No need to settle for a boring, featureless hotel room on your next trip—traveling can be as much about where you stay as the places you go!
1. Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Thailand
Set on stilts amid verdant brush and bamboo, and connected by elevated walkways, each individual 581-square-foot canvas-covered shelter is equipped with a large wood deck, plush pillow-top mattress, polished-teak floor, huge copper bath, and outdoor rain shower. The setting overlooks the river, jungle treetops, and the mountains and includes a rock-lined pool, whirlpool, and open-air spa.
2. Ice Hotel, Quebec
Comprised of 500 tons of ice and 15,000 tons of snow, this innovative hotel (open every winter, weather permitting, from January - April) includes 34 artistically designed rooms, the N'Ice Club, Ice Lounge, two art galleries, and even a wedding chapel, all made of solid H2O
3. Malmaison, Oxford
Occupying a converted prison, this up-and-comer blends the penitentiary's finer architectural detail
4. Quinta Real Zacatecas, Mexico
Olé! Head south of the border and spice things up with a stay at the Quinta Real Zacatecas, a beautifully restored and totally authentic bullfighting ring-cum-hotel.
5. Taprobane Island, Sri Lanka
Reachable only by wading through the shallow waters of Weligama Bay, just off the Sri Lankan coast, the octagonal-shaped villa boasts five en-suite bedrooms, shaded terraces and verandahs overlooking the Indian Ocean, tropical gardens, and a dazzling infinity pool
6. The Lighthouse, North Wales
Set on the Welsh cliffs of Great Orme Country Park, with a dramatic 360-foot plummet to the sea below, this castle-like maritime beacon dates from 1862—and served as a lighthouse until 1985
7. Utter Inn, Västerås Sweden
Would-be mermaids and mermen rejoice: The Utter Inn, a one-room hotel lying three meters below the surface of Lake Mälaren, about an hour west of Stockholm, will have you sleeping with the fishes.
8. Wigwam Motel, Arizona
For the ultimate in kitsch on Route 66, bed down in a concrete (no buffalo skin here) teepee at the WigWam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. The 15 cozy wigwams offer clean and basic accommodations—granted in somewhat lumpy beds—that are worth sleeping in for bragging rights alone.
9. Wild Canopy Reserve, India
Want your next holiday to really swing? Branch out at our favorite arboreal dwelling, the gorgeous Wild Canopy Reserve in southern India, and get a bird-eye's view of elephants, leopards, and even tigers roaming the deciduous forest below
10. Woodlyn Park, New Zealand
If you're looking for truly off-the-wall accommodations, look no further than Woodlyn Park, in Waitomo, New Zealand, where three different motels—a 1950s freighter plane (said to be one of the last Allied planes to leave Vietnam); a 1950s rail car that sleeps six; and a hobbit motel (allegedly the world's first)—dot the landscape of a working farm a few minutes from the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. You can choose to sleep in the plane's c*ckpit or tail, the train itself, or the circular-windowed rooms of the hobbit hotel. Woodlyn Park itself is also the beneficiary of some renown, given it hosts the Kiwi Culture Show, a unique New Zealand attraction involving sheep shearing and interaction with native animals.
travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=376881>1=9016
No need to settle for a boring, featureless hotel room on your next trip—traveling can be as much about where you stay as the places you go!
1. Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Thailand
Set on stilts amid verdant brush and bamboo, and connected by elevated walkways, each individual 581-square-foot canvas-covered shelter is equipped with a large wood deck, plush pillow-top mattress, polished-teak floor, huge copper bath, and outdoor rain shower. The setting overlooks the river, jungle treetops, and the mountains and includes a rock-lined pool, whirlpool, and open-air spa.
2. Ice Hotel, Quebec
Comprised of 500 tons of ice and 15,000 tons of snow, this innovative hotel (open every winter, weather permitting, from January - April) includes 34 artistically designed rooms, the N'Ice Club, Ice Lounge, two art galleries, and even a wedding chapel, all made of solid H2O
3. Malmaison, Oxford
Occupying a converted prison, this up-and-comer blends the penitentiary's finer architectural detail
4. Quinta Real Zacatecas, Mexico
Olé! Head south of the border and spice things up with a stay at the Quinta Real Zacatecas, a beautifully restored and totally authentic bullfighting ring-cum-hotel.
5. Taprobane Island, Sri Lanka
Reachable only by wading through the shallow waters of Weligama Bay, just off the Sri Lankan coast, the octagonal-shaped villa boasts five en-suite bedrooms, shaded terraces and verandahs overlooking the Indian Ocean, tropical gardens, and a dazzling infinity pool
6. The Lighthouse, North Wales
Set on the Welsh cliffs of Great Orme Country Park, with a dramatic 360-foot plummet to the sea below, this castle-like maritime beacon dates from 1862—and served as a lighthouse until 1985
7. Utter Inn, Västerås Sweden
Would-be mermaids and mermen rejoice: The Utter Inn, a one-room hotel lying three meters below the surface of Lake Mälaren, about an hour west of Stockholm, will have you sleeping with the fishes.
8. Wigwam Motel, Arizona
For the ultimate in kitsch on Route 66, bed down in a concrete (no buffalo skin here) teepee at the WigWam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. The 15 cozy wigwams offer clean and basic accommodations—granted in somewhat lumpy beds—that are worth sleeping in for bragging rights alone.
9. Wild Canopy Reserve, India
Want your next holiday to really swing? Branch out at our favorite arboreal dwelling, the gorgeous Wild Canopy Reserve in southern India, and get a bird-eye's view of elephants, leopards, and even tigers roaming the deciduous forest below
10. Woodlyn Park, New Zealand
If you're looking for truly off-the-wall accommodations, look no further than Woodlyn Park, in Waitomo, New Zealand, where three different motels—a 1950s freighter plane (said to be one of the last Allied planes to leave Vietnam); a 1950s rail car that sleeps six; and a hobbit motel (allegedly the world's first)—dot the landscape of a working farm a few minutes from the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. You can choose to sleep in the plane's c*ckpit or tail, the train itself, or the circular-windowed rooms of the hobbit hotel. Woodlyn Park itself is also the beneficiary of some renown, given it hosts the Kiwi Culture Show, a unique New Zealand attraction involving sheep shearing and interaction with native animals.
