Unusual Accommodations – Staying in Ice Hotels, Treehouses, and More

Have you ever dreamed of sleeping in an ice hotel, in a luxurious treehouse surrounded by the secrets of the forest, or in a cave?

In this post, we pick the most amazing unusual accommodations worldwide and explain why you should book one for your next trip before they are all booked up.

Frozen Fantasies

Picture yourself cocooned in thermal sleeping gear, snuggled within a sprawling, fully functioning hotel that’s entirely formed from ice. If you find this description too outlandish to believe, be warned: ice hotels are very, very real. The very first opened in Sweden in 1989, and today you can have your very own frosty sleepover in snowy surroundings at diverse locations around the world, including Canada, Finland, Norway, and Japan.

I’m not going to pretend an ice hotel is toasty. You’ll sleep on a block of ice, draped in reindeer fur and cocooned in a bag made for Arctic explorers.

But if you’re intrepid, if you’re a show-off, if you’re not afraid of being cold for just one night, the ice hotel will take your breath away. It will be the coolest experience of your life. Perhaps helped by the cocktail you enjoyed in the ice bar before crawling into your chilly bed.

Dreamy Treehouse Nights

Imagine instead waking up in a luxury treehouse hotel.

Birdsong. Sunlight through the leaves outside your window.

Around the world, they’re building treehouses—from the humble to the suitably outlandish, more extravagant than many hotels.

You can stay in a treehouse for grownups in luxurious Costa Rica or Washington State, Bali or British Columbia. Swinging in the trees, you’ll drift off to sleep. Some ladders and stairs climbing through the foliage will take you up to your treetop suite. Invite your partner and have the most romantic weekend of your life.

Beware: treehouse hotels are not for those scared of heights! But if you don’t mind living up in the trees, then why sleep on the ground?

Primal Cave Life

Next comes the rather strange notion of wanting to stay in caves. But you can do just that in Turkey, Greece, and Italy—where ancient stone caves have been transformed into some of the wildest suites in the business.

We’re not just talking about deep, dark fissures here. Think plush, carpeted beds carved into the walls of airy caverns.

Under the Sea

In the tropical hotspots of Fiji and the Maldives—along with a handful of other places—you can literally sleep with the fishes. Elegantly appointed undersea hotel rooms surrounded by ocean offer the full aquarium-sleeping experience.

Needless to say, an underwater room comes with a hefty price tag; but seriously, where else could you immerse yourself with marine life this closely without getting wet? A once-in-a-lifetime extravagance, sleeping submerged is undoubtedly the dream holiday to blow your savings. Be thankful; pray that the glass doesn’t crack in the night.

Wild and Rustic

Tucked away in a cabin in the Rockies, the Alps, or the Appalachians, slow down and open your ears to the sound of silence. Cook outside on a fire. Look at the stars through the back window. Retreat indoors when the chill of night descends.

Make do without hot showers or proper beds. No frills, just the romance of the fundamental. Or spend the night in an isolated mountain hut at the terminus of a day’s hike high in the mountains. Magic.

Get away from civilization into a wild and inaccessible place and learn to appreciate a night’s sleep with only the natural sounds of the wind in the trees and your own breathing for company.

When you can do this, you’ll be well-prepared to hear what nature has to murmur in your ear.