Hotel de Glace, Quebec, Canada / Feature photo: lande2006 / Photo above: duplamox

From mountainous dens to underwater abodes, the following destination hotels offer more novel and memorable experiences than your typical Ramada Inn.
1. Ice Hotel

Built every winter only to melt in the spring, Icehotel in Sweden is constructed entirely from ice and snow; that includes the walls, fixtures, and furniture.

Luxury suite for two. Icehotel, Jukkasjärvi, Sweden / Photo: bjaglin

Try falling asleep in this church. Icehotel, Jukkasjärvi, Sweden / Photo: bjaglin

No ice hotel would be complete without an ice garage. Icehotel, Jukkasjärvi, Sweden / Photo: Köttbullekvist

2. Cave Hotel

The Cappadocia region of Turkey draws in hordes of tourists with its landscape of fairy chimneys, into which the buildings — including hotels — are carved.

A Dr. Seuss wonderland. Göreme, Cappadocia, Turkey / Photo: Curious Expeditions

Göreme, Cappadocia, Turkey / Photo: Adam Franco

High class cave dwelling. Urgup, Cappadocia, Turkey / Photo: Jason Devitt

3. Forest Hut Hotel

For a nominal fee, travelers in Kolarbyn, Sweden, can be left to fend for themselves while roughing it in a rustic forest hut. Food drops are optional.

Photo: Tom Williams

The kitchen / Photo: Li-Lian Williams

4. Survival Pod Hotel

These bright orange mod pods anchored in The Hague were part of an art project before being capitalized on as adventurous getaway. Packages range from basic survival with a sleeping bag and food rations to something a bit more James Bond-esque.

Photo: Roel

5. Capsule Hotel

In special discount hotels in Japan, guests stow their luggage in lockers, then buy automated tickets to little cubicles that leave enough room for bedding and television monitor.

Tokyo, Japan / Photo: Massa

Tokyo, Japan / Photo Andrés Monroy-Hernández

6. Sewage Pipe Hotel

Austria’s answer to the capsule hotel, Das Park Hotel has the same premise of buying a ticket from an automated machine, but, supposedly, guests pay whatever amount they want. Fair, considering it’s a concrete sewage pipe.

Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim, Austria / Photo: Foam

7. Floating and Underwater Hotel

The Utter Inn floats one kilometer out on Lake Malaren as a solitary island, and beneath the surface lies a bedroom with a panoramic underwater view.

In dry dock. Lake Malaren, Vasteras, Sweden / Photo: Jonas Wallinder

8. Prison Hotel

Nine centuries old and originally the historic residence of Empress Matilda, the Oxford Castle has also been a prison. Now, it’s a hotel and shopping complex.

Photo: Miladus Edenensis

Photo: Jim Fruchterman

9. Yurt Hotel

Yurts hold a special symbolism in Central Asian culture, adorning the Kazakhstan coat of arms and the Kyrgyzstan flag.

Nayrn, Kyrgyzstan / Photo: Rob

Naryn, Kyrgyzstan / Photo: Rob