Last month, 01men published an great article (in French) about amazing hotels.

In a totally subjective order:

Costa Rica, close to the Arenal volcano. Always in activity, this volcano has undergoes a large explosion 4 years ago. The hôtel is located in the zone D, i.e. a small-risk zone: there is a ravine between the hotel and the volcano. But of course, an evacuation plan exists.
Between 60 and 70 euros for a double room.












The guides who answer visitors’ questions at the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières are former inmates.Based on personal accounts and faithful reconstructions, the Musée québécois de culture populaire Go To Jail exhibit gives visitors a very strong, very real and sometimes disturbing experience.
En prison is the name of the hotel. 57 USD to be free after a night.


Chole Mjini is a lodge set in the baobab trees on the island of Chole at the Southern tip of Mafia. A small island off a small island off a small island. You can not get more remote. There are only eight rooms at Chole Mjini and these are perched in the baobab trees, set amongst the ruins of an early settlement from the days when Chole held a trategic position on the trade route between the mainland town of Kilwa and Zanzibar. The rooms are simple and very open to the elements as one would expect from a luxury tree house, but the beds are comfortable and each room has beautiful views. Between 290 and 470 euros for a room.















In another style, the Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada. The snow is used as raw material for the construction of the hotel, it is generated by snow guns. It is then puffed up on metal moulds in the shape of domes. Ten hours at three days later (according to the temperature), these moulds are withdrawn and ready for the forthcoming season. The Ice Hotel’s four foot thick walls act as an excellent insulator and helps maintain a constant temperature, acting similarly to a “Thermos”. The temperatures inside the Ice Hotel remain between 28° to 23° Fahrenheit (-2° to –5° Celsius). For example, on a very cold day, the exterior temperature of the Ice Hotel may be -18° F or –28° C, however, the interior temperature of the Ice Hotel would not descend below 25° F or –4° C.

The Ice Hotel covers an area of 3,000 m² (30,000 ft²) composing of 500 tons of ice and 15,000 tons of snow.
The bed is made of a solid block of ice with diagrid out of wooden and a mattress. The latter are covered with covers of Hudson Bay and you will sleep in a special bed bag conceived to be warm until a temperature of -30°C.
Prices are from 580 to 700 USD.














The article also describes
- rooms in a headlight of the old Harlingen port in the Netherlands,
- rooms in the Lilla Marras, an old lifeboat,
- Mongolian yurts in Switzerland at 2000m on the top of the Leman lake
- a 2-rooms-hotel in the giant crane of the port of Harlingen...


For those who do not know: A Yurt is a portable felt dwelling structure used traditionally by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia..

Labels: anecdote