It’s time to break out that bucket list, or perhaps, start one. After scouring the Internet for unique properties, I’ve compiled some one-of-a-kind hotels where travel enthusiasts and adventure seekers might want to consider booking a room.
Some of these properties might force you to consider digging into your 401(k), but others are workable if you can get over paying for the plane ticket overseas.
Here are some of the most interesting hotels I came across:
The Harlingen Harbour Crane hotel
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The interior of the Harlingen Harbour Crane hotel in Harlingen, Netherlands.
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The Harlingen Harbour Crane hotel, located in Harlingen, Netherlands, is the first unusual hotel that caught my eye. Opened as a hotel in 2003, this dockside crane was at one time fully functioning and was used to unload timber from carrier ships from Russia and Scandinavia until 1996. Guests can still spin the crane 360 degrees for a panoramic view of the Wadden Sea.
Carla Comello, who manages the one-room hotel with her husband, said in an email they see a lot of couples staying at the hotel.
“They often come to celebrate a birthday, wedding or something like that,” she added. “Sometimes people come to ask their partner to marry him or her, but we’ve also got guests who come back every year just because they like the place so much.”
A stay at the hotel can cost anywhere between $425 and $800 (during the holidays) per roomnight including breakfast. Although this seems pricey, Comello said, in typical years, the hotel room is rented 95% of the winter days and 100% of the summer days. The two-person cabin has computer controlled room temperature, high-tech lights, a king size bed and a flat-screen TV. Aside from the main room in the cabin, there is a patio on the roof for sunbathing.
Jumbo Stay
At Jumbo Stay, the first property in a 747 jumbo jet on the ground, you can avoid the sun while hiding away in one of its 27 rooms. Located at Stockholm Arlanda Airport in Sweden, this 1976 Jumbo Jet has been converted to a hostel and cockpit accommodation. Have a fear of flying? This is the perfect way for you to get to experience an airplane without getting off the ground.
In the body of the jet, guests can choose from a couple of ensuite rooms, a budget dormitory, twin and three-bed combo rooms with shared showers and toilets or the luxury suite in the converted cockpit. Opt for the stay in the cockpit, and you get a panoramic view of the airport. Room prices range from $60 per roomnight to $500 for the cockpit suite. Breakfast is included in all prices except the dormitory rooms.
Converted to a swanky conference location on the upper deck, the first-class lounge on the Jumbo Stay is home to guests hosting meetings. It can fit up to eight people and comes with a food-and-beverage option. Of course, the extras come at a cost, but to secure the lounge for a meeting will cost approximately $380 for the full day. Don’t want to do either? Just visit the Jumbo Bar and café, which is open 24/7.
Palacio de Sal
Admittedly, I heard about the Jumbo Stay and the Harlingen Harbour Crane hotel before writing this blog. However, I had never heard of Palacio de Sal, which translates to “palace of salt” and is the first salt hotel in the world. Located in the port of Colchani, on the eastern shore of the Great Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia—the world’s largest salt flat—it seems only fitting that this property exists there.
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The interior of a room at Palacio de Sal in Bolivia.
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The 16-room hotel, which was recently remodeled in 2007, is built entirely of salt: walls, ceilings, floors, chairs, tables, beds and sculptures. Rooms are equipped with a private bath, solarium, and central heating and electricity in every room. A notable perk of the property is the nine-hole, hard-surface salt golf course, which is open from May to November. A trip to the “palace of salt” is easy on the pockets with roomnights ranging from $100 to $250 per night. There’s only one rule to remember: Don’t lick the walls.
Magic Mountain Hotel
You can get a taste of the outdoors at Magic Mountain Hotel in Panguipulli, Chile. This volcano-shaped boutique hotel is tucked away in the “Huilo Huilo” Biological Reserve in the heart of the Patagonian Rainforest. It even has water, not lava, spewing out of the top of it.
Many of the services provided at the 13-room hotel are beyond what you would typically find at hotels in the middle of the rainforest including a miniature golf course and a children’s reading room. Guests can enjoy the natural wonders by taking self-guided tours through La Leona’s Fall, Trail of the Spirits and Huilo Huilo’s Falls.
You can choose from three types of rooms. There’s the suite room, which is located at the bottom of the mountain, the standard room, which is located in the middle of the mountain, and the bunk bed room located at the top of the mountain. I don’t know about you, but I’d opt to stay in the bunk bed room. Not only is it the least expensive at $240 per roomnight for two people, but it’s at the top of the mountain with the best views. The suite room costs $300 and the standard, $270. The weather in the rainforest is a cause for concern, meaning the best time to go is during March and April.
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