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Your average high design hotel starts out as sterile property before having an artistic aspect added to it. Berlin’s Arte Luise Kunsthotel began as an artistic compound before having a hotel added it. The funky, individually designed rooms here formed organically during the building’s time as a Bohemian artists commune. Today the Arte Luise Kunsthotel still has a communal feel — there’s a public kitchen downstairs and several rooms have shared showers. There’s free wifi, too. Every room is cool though some of the edgier options are better for looking at than staying in. Do you really want to sleep in a room that makes you feel like you are in a cartoon (room #306) or that has brightly colored socks coming out of the walls (room #411)? For the best mix of design and comfort we are partial to the double Loop room (#205), the pseudo-futuristic Future Comfort room (#431) and the sophisticated Baustelle Deutschland suite (#105). Rooms start at an extremely reasonable €49/€79 for a single/double with shared shower.

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How to describe the bubble-shaped accommodations at the Museumotel? The complex’s nine units on an island in the northwest of France are part Smurf village, part spaceship pod and part hobbit house. The Museumotel was originally constructed in the late-1960’s as an attempt to create practical, cheap housing. Today, the furnishings in several of the pods look like they haven’t been updated since the late-1960’s. And another part of the original intent survives as well — the Museumotel is cheap (by France standards). A self-standing bubble with en suite bathroom and internet access can be yours for a little as 55 euros a night. We suggest “The Orange Bubble,” which is a little larger than the others and has two large windows looking out over the river.

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