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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It is amazing what a little personal attention can do. The folks at the Fox Hotel took an ordinary property, albeit an ordinary property well located in central Copenhagen, and set about making each of their 61 rooms artistic and individual. The result is a hotel with a collection of rooms that look like they could form an exhibit at the MoMA. We are fans of the Fox Hotel though wouldn’t necessarily choose to stay here for more than a night or two — the decor often tends to favor looking cool over being functional and many of the rooms are cramped. The hotel itself rates room from “extra large” to “small” but in making your selection you’d be wise to think of them as “medium” to “really tiny.” Our favorite rooms are #306, large, almost all-white and like sleeping in a cloud, and room #121, which is rather small but has a woodsy theme and a tent over the bed.
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Staying at the Semiramis Hotel you’d be forgiving for believing that you were in Miami’s South Beach rather than Athens, Greece. The hotel’s furnishings and bright color scheme are extremely art deco. And extremely cool. The room’s features, such as flat screen televisions and luxury showers, are as contemporary as the artwork. If there’s a downside it might be that the Semiramis is located in the residential area of Kifisia and not near the main Athens tourist attractions. Of course, if you are seeking an escape from typical tourist Athens this is a good thing. The poolside bungalows are well worth the extra splurge; if you are opting for a standard room go for one with a pool view instead of one facing out on the park.
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This is where Freud would go were he to tour northern Iceland. The Icelandic Phallological Museum contains a collection of preserved phallic specimens of every mammal species found in and around this Scandinavian island country including a bear, reindeer and whale as well as a Changeling, Merman and Elf. The variety of shapes and textures of the male members on display is disturbingly mesmerizing. The museum’s curator often personally gives a tour to guests and is rather passionate — maybe a little too passionate — about his exhibits. The museum is located in the town of Húsavíkurbær in a small roadside building (not that size matters). Open from noon to 6pm, mid-May through mid-September.
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Usually, if you had to spend the night in a drainage pipe in a public park that would be a bad thing.
Spending the night in a drainage pipe in a public park is typically thought of as a bad thing. The parks department in Linz, Austria has made it cool. There, three large cross-sections of pipe have been turned into hotel rooms. Each room-pipe at the Dasparkhotel is outfitted with a double bed, reading lights, wireless internet connection, storage space and, oh yeah, a hole so occupants can breath when the door is closed. Guests have to use park’s public restrooms but you can’t complain about the room rate — a donation to the park of any amount you wish.
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