The astonishing medieval town of Kortrijk in Belgium is home to some of the most well preserved historical architecture in Europe. The city center is kept free of cars so the atmosphere is left unspoiled. The D-Hotel takes a 19th Century windmill and farm building and marries it with cutting …

The exceptionally flat salt plains in southern Bolivia are the largest in the world covering over 4000 square miles. They are rich in minerals and contain around 60% of the world’s Lithium. Extracting and exporting the minerals has been big business and a railroad was constructed by the British in …

‘Seekoo’ is Inuit for ‘mass of ice’. It is also Boudreaux’s only 4-star design hotel and the first hotel in the world to be made entirely from the architectural equivalent of George’s Marvelous Medicine, Corian. Corian is a material somewhere between plastic and metal that can be shaped easily without …

Alta is the northernmost city in the world that has over 10,000 inhabitants. Its location in a valley along the banks of the river Alta means it is sheltered from the vicissitudes of the climate to the extent that its land does not develop permafrost. It is one of the …

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 …

Two specially commissioned holiday apartments located high in the Austrian Alps where the scented air holds, in its spell, spicy conifer forests and ancient glaciers. Professor of architecture, Andreas Meck used bird’s nests for his inspiration. He placed his design hotel on the edge of a deep valley with views …

The Royal Crescent, Bath, was built in the 1770s by noted architect, John Wood. A keen occultist and freemason, when viewed from above, the crescent represents the moon as part of a series of buildings that mimic Masonic symbols. Shapeshifting Lizards notwithstanding, The Royal Crescent Hotel is a fine place …

You are balancing on a mountain bike at the top of a slither of rocky trail running steeply down a mountainside. Everything is focused on your next maneuver. Your behind hovers behind the saddle for balance, feet in firm contact with the pedals, white knuckles on the handlebars, you choose …

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 give Hotel Lodz a classic and beautiful face, like that of Ava Gardner. The interior has been designed …

‘Kelebek’ means ‘the butterfly’ in Turkish so-called because of its two fairy chimneys that rise from the rocks like the wings of a butterfly. Set in the mythical lands of Cappadocia, the rock formations that created the hotel date back to a pre-historical volcanic eruption. For thousands of years, people …

A former limestone quarry, this privately owned boutique hotel has been a labor of love for the family that owns it. The idea was to make the structure as simple as possible so as not to detract from the stunning surroundings of Gotland, Sweden’s largest island and home to Visby …

The Tree Hotel offers you the chance to return to childhood fantasies of the ultimate treehouse. All rooms are situated 4-6 meters above the ground among the treetops. Each room is a unique design with hand-picked furniture from local artisans. The Mirrorcube Room is invisible to the human eye but, …

If you are going to stay at the STF Eco Lodge, I suggest you wrap up warm and practice swinging an axe because you will be chopping your own firewood – that’s one way of keeping warm and getting your daily work-out done. Sorted. And you will be rewarded with …

Unusual? Yes. Unique? Possibly. Most hotels are made from bricks and cement or concrete and steel, this one is made from ice and snow. Skilled ice artisans (or should that be icetisans?) build the hotel every winter slightly differently each time. If you want to volunteer to help them, apply …

Popular with travelers and drunk businessmen, the Japanese capsule hotel has caught imaginations all around the world and this is the original – first opening its doors in 1979. You will need to put your shoes away and change into slippers on arrival and then you are shown to your …

The Aqua Dome Spa and Hotel sits high in the Austrian Alps in a granite-walled valley. The area is well known for its cross-country skiing but this is not the main reason you visit: far greater things await you because this is one of the most [luxurious spas](https://www.uniqhotels.com/spa-hotels) in the …