We love staying in unusual places (Hotels with the Wow! factor, Weird and wonderful places to stay, eco-houses, lighthouses) and bathing in unusual pools – we just find them so much more exciting than regular hotel rooms.
Of course, quirky accommodation isn’t limited to the realm of hotels! Some of the most weird and wonderful places out there are hostels. Here are four of the best, all bookable with HostelsClub.com.
Sleep on the beach – Mossel Bay, South Africa
Santos Express Train Lodge, situated at Santos beach in the heart of the famous Garden Route, is an old steam train with five sleeper coaches parked beside the beach. The hostel offers single, double and dorm rooms as well as a restaurant, bar, beer garden and sundeck.
Mossel Bay provides an array of leisure activities including horse riding, shark cage diving, surfing, bungee jumping, game drives and hiking.
Sleep in a capsule – Tokyo, Japan
The Japanese are famous for their quirky use of space, their legendary capsule hotels being a prime example. The Capsule Hotel Asakusa Riverside is located within a minute’s walk of Asakusa station in Tokyo’s Taitō district.
The capsules are roughly 6 ft 6 in (2 metres) by 3 ft 3 in (1 metre), providing what you might call a cosy spot to rest your head.
Taitō is most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. Visitors can also enjoy cruises down the Sumida River, which depart from a wharf only five minutes’ walk from the temple.
Sleep in a cave – Coober Pedy, Australia
The family-run Radeka Downunder Underground Backpackers Inn & Motel is in the outback gateway town of Coober Pedy, South Australia. The town is renowned for its subterranean residences. Known as “dugouts”, they have been built to provide respite from the scorching daytime heat.
The four-bed underground dorms, located 11-21 feet (3.5-6.5 metres) underground, are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Coober Pedy has a number of authentic underground homes to explore as well as underground museums, opal shops, art galleries, underground churches and opal mines.
Sleep on a jet – Stockholm, Sweden
Tucked away in a quiet corner of Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport is a retired, and very much repurposed jumbo jet.
Jumbo Stay is a converted 1970s Boeing 747 containing 27 rooms with 76 beds. Rooms are around 20 feet (6 metres) square and 10 feet (3 metres) in height.
Arlanda Airport is near the town of Märsta, which has various shops, bars and restaurants.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Featured image by carlbob)
