Food & Wine reveals the strangest places to book a room.
Photo: Courtesy of Jules' Undersea Lodge
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to sleep underwater or inside a prison—there’s a hotel for that.
Offering more than just a bed near the sights, theme hotels are quickly becoming destinations for adventurous travelers.
Consider Wigwam Village in Arizona, where guests stay in tepees, a preferred sleeping arrangement of road-trippers in the 1940s. At Jules' Undersea Lodge in Florida, scuba training is required for check in.
Here, 10 reasons to skip the standard room and check into a cave, a giant wooden beagle or a simulated golf course.
Jules' Undersea Lodge
Key Largo, FL
Guests need scuba training—offered on site—to check into this hotel's underwater suites. Incredibly, there's room service: Staff divers will deliver well-wrapped pizzas from local restaurants ($500 per person per night).
Photo: Courtesy of Dog Bark Park Inn B&B
Dog Bark Park Inn
Cottonwood, ID
Originally a roadside attraction, this massive wooden beagle is now a B&B. Alongside, there's a port-a-potty hidden in a 12-foot-tall fire hydrant (doubles with breakfast from $92).
Photo: © David A Eastley/Alamy
Wigwam Village
Holbrook, AZ
1940s road-trippers witnessed the country's brief profusion of "wigwam hotels." A few remain, like this Arizona property where guests sleep in freestanding concrete tepees (doubles from $54 per night).
Photo: Courtesy of Beckham Creek Cave Lodge
Beckham Creek Cave Lodge
Parthenon, AR
It took four years to turn this Ozarks cave into a hotel. Dehumidifiers keep dampness at bay, and natural sunlight penetrates the space through large windows (from $450 per night).
Photo: Courtesy of The Liberty Hotel
The Liberty Hotel
Boston, MA
For more than 100 years, this riverside property was a prison with a view. Today, it's a luxe hotel that retains the cell doors and catwalks from its past life. Visit Clink restaurant for crisp-seared Berkshire pork belly from Eleven Madison Park escapee Joseph Margate (doubles from $295).
Photo: Courtesy of Winvian
Winvian
Litchfield Hills, CT
The Winvian's helicopter cottage houses a 17,000 lb chopper that's been turned into a private lounge. Want something cozier? Choose from the woodland compound's 18 other quirky rooms, like one modeled after the inside of a beaver's den (doubles from $650).
Photo: © BUTTER
Kate's Lazy Meadow Motel
Mt. Tremper, NY
True to form for flamboyantly retro B-52s singer Kate Pierson, her Catskills retreat is awash in vintage kitsch. Multihued appliances complement Midcentury-Modern sofas and easy chairs (cabins from $17).
Photo: Courtesy of Aurora Express Bed & Breakfast
Aurora Express Bed & Breakfast
Fairbanks, AK
Owners Mike and Sue Wilson pieced together their B&B from retired railroad cars, hauling them one by one to this ridge overlooking Fairbanks. The newest is an 85-foot-long dining car (double cars from $145).
