26 Unusual Hotels: Glass Igloos, Ice Rooms, Treehouses and Underwater Beds

A night in an unusual hotel can become the story of a whole trip. These 26 hotels around the world let you sleep under a glass dome in Finnish Lapland, four metres below the Indian Ocean off Zanzibar, inside a 30-foot wooden beagle in Idaho or in a room carved from river ice in Swedish Lapland.

Glass igloos, underwater rooms and wildlife hotels (1–5)

1. Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, Finland. In Finnish Lapland near Saariselkä, Kakslauttanen has been welcoming guests since 1974. Its glass igloos range from small units with two beds, a shower and a private sauna to Kelo-Glass Igloos for up to six people. The northern lights season runs from around the third week of August to the end of April. Read more in our guide to Kakslauttanen's glass igloos and on the resort's current room descriptions.

2. The Manta Resort Underwater Room, Pemba Island, Tanzania. About 250 metres off Pemba Island in the Zanzibar archipelago floats a three-storey platform built by Genberg Underwater Hotels. Its bedroom sits 4 metres below the surface, with windows on every wall looking out over the reef, while the upper levels hold a lounge and a roof deck for stargazing. Our updated Manta Resort article has more.

3. Giraffe Manor, Kenya. Built in 1932 by Sir David Duncan in Lang'ata, a suburb of Nairobi, and modelled on a Scottish hunting lodge, Giraffe Manor shares its grounds with endangered Nubian (Rothschild's) giraffes. The animals poke their heads through the windows at breakfast, and guests feed them from the table. The AFEW Giraffe Centre works on part of the estate. See the operator's own information.

4. Fairy Chimney Hotel, Turkey. This Turkish guesthouse takes its name from the rock pillars known as fairy chimneys; the hotel's location page has directions.

5. Udang House, Bambu Indah, Bali. Part of the Bambu Indah collection of houses in Bali, Udang House has a glass floor that looks down into a pond.

Themed rooms, bubbles and cliffside stays (6–10)

6. The Georgian House, London. This London hotel offers wizard-themed rooms for fans of magical stories.

7. Montaña Mágica Lodge, Chile. In the Huilo Huilo reserve in southern Chile, this forest lodge is shaped like a mountain, with water cascading down its walls. Read our Montaña Mágica guide.

8. Berggasthaus Äscher, Switzerland. In the Alpstein massif of Appenzell, the Äscher guesthouse clings to the foot of a 100-metre vertical rock wall. Reach it on a 7-kilometre hike with 859 metres of ascent from Wasserauen via Lake Seealpsee, or walk down from the Ebenalp cable car station at 1,587 metres. The route is best from June to October.

9. Free Spirit Spheres, Canada. Three suspended spherical treehouses, named Luna, Melody and Eryn, hang in the coastal rainforest of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, about 14 kilometres from Qualicum Beach.

10. Attrap'Rêves, France. Attrap'Rêves ("dream catcher") rents transparent bubble rooms in the French countryside, so guests fall asleep looking at the stars.

Forest huts, ice, mirrors and converted buildings (11–15)

11. Kolarbyn Ecolodge, Sweden. Near Skinnskatteberg, about two hours from Stockholm, Kolarbyn has twelve small forest huts modelled on old charcoal burners' huts, each with two beds and a fireplace. There is no electricity and no shower, but there is a floating sauna on Lake Skärsjön. See our Kolarbyn Eco Lodge feature.

12. Icehotel, Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Opened in 1990, the Icehotel is rebuilt every winter from snow and ice blocks cut from the Torne River, then melts back into it in spring. About 50 artists chosen by a jury design the art suites, ice bar and church each year, and the rooms stay around −5°C. Since 2016 a permanent Icehotel 365 has added year-round rooms. Details on the official site.

13. Mirrorcube, Treehotel, Sweden. The Mirrorcube is one of the individually designed rooms of Treehotel in Harads, northern Sweden: a mirrored box hung among the pines that reflects the forest around it. Our Treehotel guide covers the other rooms.

14. Sala Silver Mine, Sweden. Silver was mined at Sala from the 15th century until 1908. Today the mine, owned by the municipality since 1988, is a museum, and one underground chamber can be booked as a bedroom deep below the surface.

15. Martin's Patershof, Mechelen, Belgium. This 79-room hotel occupies a former Franciscan church and convent built in neo-Gothic style in 1863. Since opening as a hotel in 2009 it has kept its stained-glass windows and vaults, some of them inside the rooms.

Ocean views, stacked houses and themed interiors (16–20)

16. Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. The resort's Ithaa restaurant, opened in 2005, sits 5 metres below the sea in an acrylic tunnel with 270-degree views and seats just 14 diners. Read the Ithaa restaurant guide.

17. Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Zaandam, Netherlands. Designed by WAM Architecten and opened beside Zaandam station in 2010, this 160-room, 11-storey hotel looks like nearly 70 traditional Zaan houses stacked on top of each other, painted in four local shades of green. One blue house recalls the Zaandam scenes Claude Monet painted in 1871.

18. Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, Australia. Set on limestone cliffs above the Southern Ocean between Flinders Chase National Park and Seal Bay, the lodge was destroyed in the 2020 bushfires and reopened in December 2023 with 25 suites. See its current website; the photo shows the original building.

19. Hằng Nga Guesthouse ("Crazy House"), Vietnam. Architect Đặng Việt Nga, daughter of the Vietnamese leader Trường Chinh, opened this guesthouse in Đà Lạt in 1990. Its curving, organic forms resemble a giant tree.

20. V8 Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany. At Motorworld Region Stuttgart in Böblingen, on a former airfield, the V8 Hotel has 26 themed rooms where guests sleep in car beds, such as a Mercedes W 116 or a Jaguar.

Treehouses, pipe rooms and playful shapes (21–26)

21–22. Kingston and Chalkley Treehouses, Lion Sands, South Africa. Two separate treehouses run by the Lion Sands safari lodges in South Africa.

23. Wanderlust Hotel, Singapore. A design hotel in Singapore with individually styled rooms.

24. Tubohotel, Mexico. In Tepoztlán, Morelos, guests sleep inside large concrete pipes turned into compact rooms.

25. Batcave room, Taiwan. A Batcave-themed room at the Eden Motel in Taiwan.

26. Dog Bark Park Inn, Idaho, USA. On Highway 95 in Cottonwood, chainsaw artists Dennis Sullivan and Frances Conklin built a 30-foot, two-storey beagle, locally nicknamed "Sweet Willy", and opened it as a bed and breakfast in August 2003. The inn closed in 2024.

For more remarkable places to stay, see our five distinctive resort pool settings and our US hotel comparison.

Related reading

• Kakslauttanen’s Glass Igloos: A Room with a Sky View
• Ten Distinctive Resort and Mountain Settings: What the Photographs Show
• Montaña Mágica, Chile: A Forest Lodge with a Cascading Exterior
• Kolarbyn Eco Lodge: A Forest Stay Built Around Simple Routines
• Treehotel in Harads: Architecture, Rooms and a Northern Sweden Stay
• Ithaa Undersea Restaurant: Dining Beneath the Maldives

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