Only one hour from the centre of Amsterdam by car – so you could combine a stay with a visit to that vibrant city.
Ladies; are you looking for a treat for your other half (no, nothing like that, this is a family site)! Chaps, want to drop a few hints about an uplifting weekend away?
Then I may have the answer for you.
Hit the heady heights (this is not a place to go if you suffer from vertigo). Its silhouette dominates the skyline.
The crane is a private retreat for two. The engineering that has gone into its ‘refurbishment’ is incredible. You don’t have to scale the cranes lofty heights to get to the one and only room; the external ladders have been replaced by two modern lifts, one takes you to a platform between the cranes legs, the other zooms you up to the heart of the crane! The one and only bedroom is in the old machine room in the body of the crane – it’s now such luxurious boudoir that any up market designer hotel would be proud to show you.
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Posted by Jackie Hewett on Wed 14th January 2009 at 03:49 AM, Filed in Unusual Hotels
Fancy a Night in Jail? Probably not if you have recently been detained at ‘her majesties pleasure’. However, if you are looking for a really different hotel experience, or even in the name of research Trip Inspiration have uncovered what must be some of THE most unusual hotels around – and yes, incredibly there is more than one of them!
Karosta Prison, Liepaja, Latvia
This hotel was built in 1905 as a navy prison for mutinous sailors and was used by the Soviets, Nazis and Latvians. It was changed to a hotel in the 1997. For under £20 you get to sleep on real prison benches / mattresses, see the graffiti left by inmates, be subjected to bed checks and be abused in Russian (for the real KGB experience) by hotel ‘guards’. The hotels motto? ‘Unfriendly, unheated and uncomfortable’. I wonder why there are no reviews on Trip Adviser for this one?!!
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OK, so we’ve ‘done’ snow igloos (great for freezing your bits off!), glass igloos (great for viewing Northern Lights) but how about metal ones?
The speciality of this place is possibly the best view of icebergs from a hotel room that you can get!
Situated on the west coast of Greenland on Disko Bay and 250 miles within the arctic circle, you will get views of the harbour, the town of Ilulissat (about a mile away which is good as you don’t hear barking dogs!) and of course the ‘bergs’.
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250 miles within the Arctic Circle (at Saariselka) lies Hotel Kakslauttanen. It is a 30 minute transfer from Ivalo airport.
There are a number of different room types available:
Snow Igloos – of which about 20 are constructed annually for habitation between December through April. Here you will be provided with special sleeping bags (good for temperatures as ‘cool’ as -32C, woollen socks and hoods – both a must! The snow igloos accommodate from 1 to 5 people. There are other places you can sleep in snow igloos – see http? So the really interesting thing about this place are the other rooms available:
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Most of us are aware of the various Ice Hotels throughout the world – which are truly amazing but - IGLU DORF (Igloo Village) – takes the experience to another level (or depth) depending on your point of view. There are 6 igloo villages - all in Ski resorts, four in Switzerland, one Germany, and one in Andorra.
What’s on offer, and how are they constructed?
Each village is constructed from scratch each year. Enormous balloons are inflated (not by blowing into them!) they are then covered in snow. All the igloo’s are connected by tunnels, viewed from the outside the village gives the impression of just being a huge pile of snow with a few entrances.
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