*Besotted with Ottoman* Sitting boldly in Old Istanbul, Hotel Niles is located near all the best sites: the Blue Mosque, Iyos Sophia and Topkapi Palace. It is the perfect base for you to explore the city from and one you will secretly long to return to. Why? Well look at ...

This hotel was built by the Serbian Tim Burton, Emir Kusturica and is based on his film Life is Miracle. Everything is constructed from wood mixing traditional with modern styles. The famous director still lives there with his family in the large main house. The design was set to recreate ...

Forget little sculptures at winter fares… in Romania they make entire hotels out of ice. When it comes to sleeping in a bed made of ice you need not worry about the cold because your bed is super insulated with multiple mattresses, reindeer fur and thermal sleeping bags. Dinner is ...

*The last days of the decadent Hapsburg Empire* The Hotel is named after St Gellert who was a visionary monk and priest who lived in the 10th Century AD. Situated between Gellert Hill and the banks of the Danube the Gellert Hotel sits on a site that has been used ...

This stunning hotel was built in 1952 as part of the ‘Soviet Skyscraper’ project. The foundation stones were laid in 1947 to mark the 800th anniversary of Moscow and celebrate the USSR victory in World War Two. Though completed after his death, this building and its sisters are seen as ...

Looking at the Red Stars from the outside, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another standard hotel inside a concrete cube. But this apparent ugliness is only skin deep. The interior of the hotel has been decorated by the best street artists in Russia creating a ...

You go to Istanbul because it is one of the world’s great historic cities. So why stay in a boring hotel? You want to stay in something charming, something with a connection to the city with a unique character. Step forward the Dersaadet Hotel. The name means “place of felicity ...

Next level luxury resort on the Aegean Coast in Greece where you stay in a pavilion or villa located near a central Parthian-style building, a marble palace full of spa treatments, fine dining and a private art gallery. Or take a bike, a walk, a drive down to the resort’s ...

Blow Up Hall 50/50 is a complex which includes a restaurant, art gallery and hotel. It commissioned its hallmark installation to be designed by crucial artist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer who is one of the top digital artists in the world. He is a BAFTA prize-winner and his work has appeared in ...

You won’t wake to the sound of your neighbour’s obnoxious music blasting from their in-room ipod dock here. Nor will you hear anyone talking to their friends on their mobile phones. Because it’s all banned. All the annoyances of the modern world are left behind you so you can yourself ...

So you’re fed up with anonymous hotel corridors, beige walls and red carpets. And you have dined in too many dark-wood restaurants with leather-bound menus. So what you need to do is go to Athens and head over to the Baby Grand Hotel and get your mind blow-dried by some ...

I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights. Now, you can view them in all their mystical glory whilst remaining in your bed, how? Because you are staying in a glass igloo, deep in the adventurous arctic circle, you lucky thing. Made from thermal glass, the igloo never spoils your ...

This baroque chateau was built in the in the 17th Century. Originally intended as a hunting lodge, the chateau became the country residence of a succession of aristocratic families. The house hosted great ballets and balls until the communists took over in the 1940s and pooped the party. The chateau ...

‘You do not find yourself. You create yourself’ is the optimistic philosophy of this hotel. Owner and award winning architect, Paris Laikos wanted to create a blank canvass for his guests. So they would have the freedom to create their own experience. When he started the hotel, his canvass was ...

Hooray! Now we can finally combine Golf and modern art. This hotel might look like a giant coffin on stilts but inside you will find a flourish of top design to delight your eyes. Works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Anish Kapoor hang in the private ...

In Chinese tradition, the front façade of a building is highly important as it is the ‘face’ of the building. The lovingly restored entrance and red bricks of this converted textile mill gives Hotel Lodz a classic and beautiful face, like that of Ava Gardner. The interior has been designed ...

Located in a quiet Athenian suburb this hotel was designed down to the last detail by Karim Rashid who is regarded as the best designer of his generation with over 300 awards to his name. The idea was to create a vibrant, functional and relaxing space. Lollypop colours create a ...

You are enjoying Four Seasons luxury in a unique building in the historic district of Istanbul - what could be better? This converted prison was built by the Ottomans in 1918 and has housed many dissident writers over the years. It has even appeared in the literature of the famous ...

You will be pleased to know your window does not have bars here. And you can check out whenever you like. When this unusual hotel was a prison, inmates would ask each other: ‘how long is your cake?’ ‘Cake’ was a term Finnish prisoners used to describe the length of ...

Unchanged since Tsarist Russia, for 100 years this prison served to brutalize those who fell foul of the Tsar and Communist Party. The place is said to be haunted. Perhaps you feel brave enough to take their tour. Just don’t blame your captors… I mean hosts when you see a ...

Sveti Stefan is a fortified village built on an island connected to the Montenegro mainland by a thin causeway. It was originally a Muslim settlement built in the 15th century. When it became Christian, the 12 families living there fortified the village to protect it from the expansionist Ottoman Empire. ...

Ikies offers you the chance to stay in the traditional village houses of Oia on the Greek island of Santorini. Stunning little whitewashed domes with mosaic floors built on terraces carved from a cliff where the Mediterranean sea sings 1000 feet below. The Oia sunset is famous for its beauty ...