We go around the world to find the most beautiful, weird and wonderful hotels. From converted silvermines to igloo style hotels, expect the unexpected. This week, Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida.
What’s the gimmick? First of all, to get into the lodge you have to dive 21 feet underwater. Once you get there, it will feel like you’ve discovered a secret underwater sports club! Divers can book overnight stays in either of two rooms, perfect for a romantic dip in the sea.
Why stay? Well, for the aspiring explorers, Jules Undersea Lodge would certainly be a walk in the footsteps of legendary explorers, such as Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Edwin Link, and Ian Koblick. Visit this underwater lodge to experience theperfect balance of relaxation and adventure, or to simply test your scuba skills.
The WOW Factor?The big plus of each room, is the 42 inch porthole looking out into the ocean. Better than any tv, you’ll be amazing by the mangrove lagoon, where Jules is found and there are tonnes of tropical fish and sea creatures to look at. The JUL for Two Package costs about £530 for an overnight stay, Pizza delivery dinner and breakfast inclusive.
We go around the world to find the most beautiful, weird and wonderful hotels for our series of posts on a night less ordinary. From panda-themed hotels to converted silvermines, expect the unexpected. This week, a plane hotel in Teuge, Netherlands.
What’s the gimmick? This one is for all the airplane appassionatos who dream of travelling and staying business class! This 1960 Ilyushin 18 was once the pride and joy of governmental transport, now it’s been converted into a luxury suite made just for two. At 40 metres long and filled with as much luxury as you can think of, a night in the plane hotel is really a high-flying experience.
Why stay? The Airplane Suite offers great views of the platform and runway at Teuge Airport. So it makes a great treat for any engineering fanatics in your life. Although it’s in an airport, privacy is a major priority. Guests can enjoy the whole plane to themselves, with on site jacuzzi, sauna, mini bar and all sorts of appliances and entertainment facilities.
The WOW Factor? If you fancy being a pilot but can’t face the hours, then this is the choice. The cockpit is left completely intact, so you can play pilot or cabin crew as much as you like. What’s more, guests can take an extra plane tour, helicopter trip or flight lesson. If you’re really making it something special, get yourself booked in for a parachute jump or ride on a stunt plane.
Anovernight stay for 2 persons, including luxury breakfast costs about £300.
We go around the world to find the most beautiful, weird and wonderful hotels. From Underwater Lodges to converted Airplane Suites, expect the unexpected. This week a hotel made entirely of cake. If you can make it through this post without drooling, you’re better than us. Ladies and gentlemen, let us present to you the Cake Hotel in London… and get ready to drool just a bit.
What’s the gimmick? For most of us, eating out and treating ourselves is part of the fun of holidays. You might check out the hand made pasta in Rome, the cheese in Paris or the Mediterranean cuisine in Greece. However, this is something a little different. A hotel for one night only made entirely of cake. The Cake Hotel in Soho is filled with bright pops of coloured cakes, frothy confections and macaroons as far as the eye can see.
Why stay?The Hotel has eight tasting rooms with different themes including Pirates of the Caribbean, Mardi Gras and more. The brainchild of a sugar cane manufacturer, it certainly set our tastebuds tingling just at the thought of it. The best part is, each lucky guest can eat everything, carpets, decorations, lights and windows. The bedside tables house edible books and the bathtubs are filled with caramel popcorn.
The WOW Factor? Did we mention everything is edible? The walls are made with 2,000 macaroons, the rugs are made of 1,081 meringues, there are edible pearls in treasure chests and a two-metre-high Easter Island chocolate statue. 14 bakers slaved for 2,000 hours using 600 of sugar to make this hotel taste as delicious as it looks. However, sadly this special hotel was open for one night only, but we can always dream.
We go around the world to find the most beautiful, weird and wonderful hotels. From caves to igloo styled hotels, expect the unexpected. This week, Sala Silvermine Underground suite in Sala Västmanland, Sweden.
What’s the gimmick? If you fancy spending a night with your other half, 500ft underground in a room dug out of a cave, then this room in a silvermine is just the ticket. This little bit of luxury is so hidden away, you can only access it via a mineshaft lift.
Travel all the way to the small town of Sala Västmanland in Sweden, and spend a night in the world’s deepest bedroom. The Silvermine of Sala is one of the world’s best preserved mine settings and your stay here begins with a guided tour. Although there are plenty of luxurious touches, it’s 14 storeys down, so if you need a phone, beware!
However it is the perfect balm to the stresses of life, not too many people can reach you down there, unless you choose to; through a personal intercom system. Before leaving for the night, your guide will leave a basket of goodies for you and then you are all alone to feel the peace and quiet of your new world. You’ll see the guide again in the morning when breakfast arrives. There is a toilet near your “room” however the showers are topside.
Why stay? You can sleep 155 metres underground, where you will see dark winding galleries, vast caverns and magical lakes. It doesn’t matter if you’re familiar with mining or not, the underground setting will amaze you. Oh, and you’re not alone with the idea, weekends are usually booked up all year round.
The WOW Factor?The experienced guides tell you of a fantastic chapter in industrial history. During its heyday, production amounted to more than 3 tons of silver a year, and a total of more than 400 tons of silver and about 40,000 tons of lead were extracted – completely by hand! Most of the silver was used in manufacturing coins, but artefacts were also made.
A stay at this one of a kind single suite amounts to 3750 sek or about £287 per night.
We go around the world to find the most beautiful, weird and wonderful hotels for A Night Less Ordinary. From igloo-style hotels to converted prisons, expect the unexpected. This week, prepare for a cuteness overload with the Panda Hotel in Sichuan-China.
What’s the gimmick? C’mon, admit it, who isn’t convinced that pandas are the cutest thing on earth? Here at Purple Travel we are big fans, so we wanted to share this amazing Panda Hotel with you. In Sichuan in China, it’s packed to the brim with all things cute, furry and panda related. Scheduled to open in May 2013 we can’t to go.
Why stay? Located at the foot of Mount Emei, this first panda themed hotel in the world aims to help its guests return to nature and find the simple and true meaning of life; and also guarantees a memorable stay. One room has a panda version of the famous Titanic scene when Kate Winslet was standing in front Leonardo DiCaprio on the bow of the ship.
The WOW Factor?Every room in the Panda Hotel is an absolute panda-monium as all of them include panda pictures, cuddly panda toys and furniture with patterns of the cute animal. What’s more, it’s reported that employees dress up like the eucalyptus eating bears so guests can have a real-live panda experience.
The hotel has room rates that range from US$48 to $80 per night.
Are you completely dead tired? Feeling a bit lifeless? Then this is the hotel for you.
An entrepreneurial Tasmanian businessman has announced plans to turn a morgue into a hotel, just in time for Halloween. Yes you read that right. But it’s not the kind of place where you’ll find four poster beds, covered in goose feather duvets, this is the real deal.
Here’s the plan for the morgue turned motel. The beds will be made of stone cold slabs, where autopsies once took place. The room will feature two huge fridges, where bodies were stored while the stainless steel bathtub that stands in the room was once used for washing cadavers. Out of use surgical implements will be scattered around the room, you know, to give it that ‘authentic’ look.
He says, “It’s still got its terrazzo slabs, and it’s still got its pull-out fridge, it’s a beautiful thing… We’ll be looking at putting a double bed in one of the rooms and then we have three slabs and two pull-out fridges which could be used.”The owner, Haydn Pearce an antiques dealer, has already opened a hotel on a former asylum at the same site and hopes to open his morgue hotel early next year. Speaking to ABC News in Australia, he said he thinks the hotel will attract “the unusual”, and the dissection table will be the main suite (and main attraction.) The Morgue will be an extension of the existing 22 room Willow Court Hotel that operates from an old hospital ward.
But will anyone actually want to stay in a hotel that used to be a morgue? Mr. Pearce answered that question with a simple: “we’re going to find out.”
Find out more about weird and wonderful hotels around the world in our series: a night less ordinary.
If your idea of a good night is packed with Lego bricks, towers of all shapes and sizes and little square headed figures all over the place, then head for a night in Legolandin California, USA. Due to open on April 5th 2013, if you thought your home was coming down with Lego bricks, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Legoland California is dedicated to all things colourful and brick shaped, from the blocks that adorn the walls as you make your way in, to the perfectly themed carpets. There are around 3,422 Lego models throughout the hotel, including eight in each room, made from more than three million Lego bricks. In the lobby alone there is a wall of 6,000 minifigures and a family of smoke breathing dragons at the front entrance.
In the hotel there are three dedicated room types: Pirate with its Jolly Roger flags and Lego pirate parrots, Adventure with a sweeping jungle theme and friendly brick made monkeys and Kingdom where you get a taste of all things King Arthur and the Round Table. It’s probably fair to say these rooms and staying in the hotel fulfil just about every Lego fantasy you could imagine. In fact you could say it’s a Lego geek’s dream right down to the smallest detail. On top of family sleeping areas and dedicated Lego treats for little ones, a trip to the Hotel also offers select entry to rides and attractions within the theme park.
Beyond the hotel you get to splash around in the water park and even build your own raft from soft Lego bricks, or dodge the water cannons, go on a Safari trek, or visit Sky Patrol. Whatever you choose, we’re sure Lego adventurers of all ages will find something to enjoy. There are even mini Lego Star Wars adventure areas, a mini Las Vegas and something called a Coastersaurus, which we are dying to try!
Find out more about hotels you never knew existed in other posts in a Night Less Ordinary.
This is a post by writer Rosalie Cruz, who spent the past few months in Goa, experiencing all that life had to offer there. Read her insider’s travel guide to Goa and find her online on Facebook.
India has always held a certain magical appeal to westerners. The reasons for that are more than we can list; maybe it’s the spirituality or perhaps it’s the amazing diversity of cultures, spice, food, colour that floods your senses at every turn but the truth is, there isn’t much you can’t find in India. From beautiful palaces tucked away in the deserts of Rajasthan, ageless rituals and the mysticism of Varanasi, the massive city sprawl of Mumbai or Delhi where anything can happen, the beauty of Kerala, the quaintness of Pondicherry. And then there is Goa, playground for Indians and the rest of the world alike.
Goa is quickly becoming the place to be if you’re looking for an amazing holiday at a relatively purse friendly rate. With its peaceful warm waters, stretches of fine sand surrounded by jungle and coconut tree forests, every beach in Goa could make it on a postcard. If you’re not so much into beaches, there is always the thrill of bargaining for handcrafted souvenirs in the many flea markets that dot the area or driving around on a spiffy little Vespa, snapping shot after shot of the architectural gems that remain from colonial days.
But if a beach holiday is what you crave, then Goa has much to offer. Some of my favourite beaches in North Goa are Morgim, Mandrem and Aswen. The three beaches are all part of the same large stretch of fine white sands, quiet warm waters and beach shacks and huts. If water based sports are your thing or you just need something to occupy yourself when you have decided to give yourself a break from tanning, this is the place to be. Surf lessons, para sailing, kite surfing. You name it, they’ll have it.
Then there is Arambol, also to the North. Home to hippies, yogis and free spirits in general, this beach is the place to be if you’re looking for some serious chill out time with all mod cons. I recommend you stay for sunset and the drum circle that happens at the beach every night.
As you make your way further south, be sure to visit Anjuna. If you’re looking for a party (a trance party I should say) this is definitely the place to be. There is always a party going on in any of the many shacks on the beach. Curlie’s is an institution when it comes to partying in Anjuna but Hippies, Shiva Valley and Café Lilliput should be on your to do list as well. Days here are all about lazing by the beach, spending a Wednesday bargaining at the massive flea market and getting some food before heading out to party all over again.
Vagator, the smaller town neighbouring Anjuna, is said to be the birthplace of Goan Trance and has a much different vibe. Here you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with the people who fell in love with Goa back in the 60’s and have been unable to ever truly leave. All you have to do is pull up a stool at the Mango Tree (renowned for its bad service but still a favourite in the area); I promise you’ll leave with a story to tell. For some trance, try Hilltop or Nine Bar.
Baga and Calangute could well be the places for you if things get a bit too quiet while you bum around in North Goa. Tito’s Lane in Baga will definitely have a bar that suits you down to a T. It’s a great place to mingle and meet some locals. If you time your stay well you’ll be around for Sunburn, a music festival that caters for those who enjoy dance, house and trance music and renowned as one of the best festivals in the world.
Before you leave, make sure you spend a Saturday night in the Arpora Saturday Night Market. Amazing stalls with local crafts as well as clothing and jewellery; designers from all over the world come here to sell their beautiful wares. It’s impossible to resist the urge to shop here, even if you dread the thought of shopping.
Before you leave North Goa, hop on a taxi and head to Old Goa, the district that was once the heart of Portuguese Goa. Beautiful churches and old colonial homes are the most evident remains of the colonial occupation. There is a stunning multi-dimensional feel to the whole state but Old Goa is where it is more evident and best preserved. It’s well worth spending an afternoon walking around with your camera in hand.
Once you hit South Goa, life slows down a bit more. The white sand beaches and warm waters of the Arabian Sea create the ideal place to see life go by. Away from the partying of North Goa, the key word here is “chill.” Palolem Beach, also known as paradise beach is definitely a must during a visit to Goa. And we assure you they don’t call it paradise beach for nothing. Sunset here is like nothing you have ever seen before. Spending the last few days of your holiday here will leave you invigorated and happy.
If after all the beachcombing you still have the time and energy, take a trip to Hampi in the state of Karnataka or Kerala but we’ll tell you all about that in another post.
Welcome to A Night Less Ordinary, our hotel series where we try to bring you the best in weird, wonderful and spectacular hotels from all over the world. Whether you want to sleep in a hamster themed hotel (do you??) or imagine yourself as James Bond, we’ve got something for you. This week, take a pinch of fairy dust as we take a look at Les Balade des Gnomes in Belgium.
The motto of this incredibly cute hotel in Belgium is ‘all that you can imagine is real.’ Found in near the village of Durbury, a 17th century village Les Balade de Gnomes, looks like it came straight from a fairytale – or a Tim Burton film.
With only ten admittedly crazy rooms, this is something really special. Built by architect Mr Noel, each room has been lovingly hand crafted to resemble a fairytale and includes the chance to sleep in a Trojan Horse, a Troll Forest, or a wine room. The Macquarie Island room has a boat bed that appears to float, while others are filled with wooden toadstools, starry skies, or, oddly enough a lunar capsule. Prices start around €115 for a double room.
You’ll find the hotel at Rowe de Remoleu 20, 6941 Heyd, Durbuy, Belgium; tel. +32 472 20 86 23 info@labaladedesgnomes.be
You’ll find the hotel at Rowe de Remoleu 20, 6941 Heyd, Durbuy, Belgium; tel. +32 472 20 86 23 info@labaladedesgnomes.be