✦ 77 extraordinary stays worldwide

The World's Most
Extraordinary Hotels

Hand-curated stays that redefine what a hotel can be — from underwater bedrooms to treetop suites, desert palaces to ice palaces.

Filter by: All Hotels tree Treehouse Hotels 🪨 Cave Hotels 🌊 Underwater Rooms 🏰 Castle Hotels 🫧 Bubble Hotels 🛶 Floating Hotels ⛰️ Cliffside Hotels 🏜️ Desert Camps 🧊 Ice Hotels 🌿 Jungle Lodges safari Safari Lodges overwater Overwater Bungalows 🔦 Lighthouse Hotels 🚂 Train Hotels

All Extraordinary Stays

77 properties
Amangiri
✦ Featured
9.8
Cliffside Hotels Canyon Point, Utah

Amangiri

Built around an ancient Navajo sandstone mesa in the canyon country of southern Utah, Amangiri's poured concrete suites have private plunge pools calibrated to catch the electric blues and crimsons of the desert sky. The main pool is pressed against the mesa face; the spa treatment rooms hover over the rock itself.

✓ Resort designed around an ancient geological mesa formation
✓ Private pool suites with direct canyon and mesa views
From
$2,000
/ night
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Conrad Maldives Muraka
✦ Featured
9.8
Underwater Rooms Rangali Island

Conrad Maldives Muraka

The world's only two-story underwater hotel suite, Muraka at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island places its bedroom and bathroom 5 metres beneath the Indian Ocean. Curved acrylic panels on all sides give 180-degree views of living coral reef from the bed — reef sharks, rays, and fish drifting past as you fall asleep.

✓ Only two-story underwater suite in the world
✓ Bedroom surrounded by Indian Ocean coral reef
From
$8,000
/ night
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Longitude 131°
✦ Featured
9.7
Desert Camps Uluru, Northern Territory

Longitude 131°

Sixteen tented pavilions on a private red-sand dune, each oriented so the bed faces Uluru directly — the 348-metre sandstone monolith turns from deep violet to coral pink in the twenty minutes after dawn, visible from the pillow.

✓ Direct sunrise views of Uluru from your private pavilion bed
✓ Sixteen luxury pavilions on a private red-sand dune
From
$1,500
/ night
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The Manta Resort, Underwater Room
✦ Featured
9.6
Underwater Rooms Pemba Island

The Manta Resort, Underwater Room

A free-floating platform anchored off Pemba Island — one of the least-visited islands in the Western Indian Ocean — with a bedroom 4 metres underwater, where the nocturnal reef life at the windows is the reason most guests report being unable to sleep.

✓ The entire bedroom is submerged 4 meters below the Indian Ocean surface
✓ 360-degree underwater windows with live reef views at night
From
$1,500
/ night
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Museum Hotel
✦ Featured
9.6
Cave Hotels Uçhisar, Cappadocia

Museum Hotel

Positioned at the top of the Uçhisar rock formation — the highest point in Cappadocia — Museum Hotel fills 30 cave suites with a founder's private collection of Anatolian carpets, ceramics, textiles, and woodwork accumulated over decades, no two rooms alike. At dawn, balloon flights rise directly below terrace level, and Lil'a Restaurant serves elevated Anatolian cooking in a candlelit cave dining room that earns its own journey.

✓ 30 unique antique-furnished cave suites
✓ Panoramic Cappadocian valley views
From
$400
/ night
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Ashford Castle
✦ Featured
9.5
Castle Hotels Cong, County Mayo

Ashford Castle

Built in 1228 on the shores of Lough Corrib in County Mayo, Ashford Castle is the real thing — not a Victorian hotel with a turret, but 800 years of Irish history spread across 350 acres with 83 individually designed rooms, Ireland's best falconry school, and a dining room that takes the surrounding land seriously.

✓ 800-year-old authentic Irish castle
✓ Ireland School of Falconry on estate
From
$500
/ night
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Skylodge Adventure Suites
✦ Featured
9.5
Cliffside Hotels Sacred Valley, Cusco Region

Skylodge Adventure Suites

Three aerospace-grade transparent pods bolted into the red granite face of Pachar mountain, 400 metres above the Sacred Valley floor, reachable only by a one-to-two-hour via ferrata climb or zip line descent. Gourmet Novo-Andean dinners are carried up the cliff face by guides; the sunrise over snowcapped peaks through polycarbonate walls follows at no extra charge.

✓ Pods suspended 400 metres above the Sacred Valley floor
✓ Only accessible via via ferrata climb or zip line descent
From
$450
/ night
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The Floating Seahorse
✦ Featured
9.4
Floating Hotels The World Islands, Dubai

The Floating Seahorse

Semi-submerged floating villas on The World Islands archipelago, each with a bedroom 3 metres below the Arabian Gulf surface and a personal coral reef installed at construction — with Dubai's skyline visible from the rooftop deck at night.

✓ Semi-submerged underwater bedroom
✓ Private rooftop sundeck with 360° ocean views
From
$2,000
/ night
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ICEHOTEL 365
✦ Featured
9.4
Ice Hotels Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland

ICEHOTEL 365

The original ice hotel, rebuilt entirely from frozen Torne River ice every winter since 1990. In summer, ICEHOTEL 365 stays open with 20 suites kept at -5°C year-round, making it the world's only permanent ice hotel and the most iconic cold-weather accommodation on Earth.

✓ World's first and most famous ice hotel, in operation since 1990
✓ ICEHOTEL 365 open year-round with 20 refrigerated art suites
From
$500
/ night
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Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita
✦ Featured
9.4
Cave Hotels Matera

Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita

Eighteen cave chambers in Matera's ancient sassi district, restored to expose their original tuff-stone walls and vaulted ceilings rather than conceal them — a city once called 'the shame of Italy' now home to one of its most sought-after hotels.

✓ Rooms carved into sassi caves inhabited since the Paleolithic era
✓ UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on earth
From
$300
/ night
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Treehotel
✦ Featured
9.4
Treehouse Hotels Harads, Swedish Lapland

Treehotel

Seven architect-designed rooms suspended in the pines of Swedish Lapland, each a completely different proposition — from a perfectly mirrored cube that vanishes into the forest to a silver disc on a rope bridge. Sixty kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, this is one of the most inventive places to sleep in Europe.

✓ Seven unique architect-designed rooms
✓ Mirrored Cube that reflects the forest
From
$300
/ night
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Dromoland Castle
✦ Featured
9.3
Castle Hotels Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare

Dromoland Castle

The ancestral home of the O'Brien dynasty — direct descendants of High King Brian Boru — Dromoland Castle stands on 450 acres of County Clare parkland with a championship golf course, a falconry school, and brown trout fishing on the estate lake.

✓ Former seat of the O'Brien clan, descendants of High King Brian Boru
✓ 450-acre private estate with championship golf course
From
$400
/ night
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Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort
✦ Featured
9.3
Bubble Hotels Saariselkä, Finnish Lapland

Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort

Sixty-five heated glass igloos scattered across a pine forest at 68 degrees north, each one a private observatory with a king bed pointed at the Finnish sky. Yrjö Rissanen built the first one in 1999 around a simple idea — why watch the aurora from a cold window when you can watch it from a warm bed?

✓ World's largest glass igloo village with 65+ individual igloos
✓ Thermal glass stays clear in temperatures down to -30°C
From
$400
/ night
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La Cabane Perchée
✦ Featured
9.3
Treehouse Hotels Dordogne Valley

La Cabane Perchée

Individually designed treehouses set eight metres above the medieval Dordogne Valley, several with glass-panel floors directly above the woodland below, private hot tubs on cantilevered decks, and morning breakfast delivered by basket to your door.

✓ Multiple acclaimed treehouse designs, each entirely unique
✓ Some suites feature glass floors with views straight to the forest below
From
$250
/ night
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Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses
✦ Featured
9.2
Treehouse Hotels Kaikōura

Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses

Five tree house suites perched 8 metres above a native manuka grove on a working deer farm, with the snow-dusted Kaikōura Ranges to the west and the South Pacific to the east. One of the few properties in New Zealand where you can watch sperm whales from a boat in the morning and eat venison from the farm at dinner.

✓ Tree houses perched 8 meters above native manuka grove
✓ Panoramic views of Kaikōura Ranges and the Pacific
From
$550
/ night
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Nothofagus Hotel & Spa
✦ Featured
9.1
Treehouse Hotels Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve

Nothofagus Hotel & Spa

A treehouse hotel built around living ancient Nothofagus trees inside the 100,000-hectare Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve, where the world's smallest deer graze beneath your window and thermal pools fed by volcanic hot springs sit open to the forest canopy. The Huilo-Huilo waterfall is half a kilometre from the front door.

✓ Built around living ancient Nothofagus trees
✓ Inside a 100,000-hectare private biological reserve
From
$400
/ night
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Free Spirit Spheres
✦ Featured
8.8
Treehouse Hotels Vancouver Island

Free Spirit Spheres

Three handcrafted wooden orbs — Eve, Eryn, and Melody — hang by rigging ropes from ancient Douglas firs on Vancouver Island, swaying gently in the forest canopy above Qualicum Beach. Each sphere is the life's work of one boat builder and artist, and the interior joinery proves it.

✓ Handbuilt spherical treehouses suspended in old-growth forest
✓ Each sphere is unique, built by the same craftsman over years
From
$350
/ night
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Rovos Rail
9.8
Train Hotels Pretoria to Cape Town (and beyond)

Rovos Rail

Widely considered the world's most luxurious train, Rovos Rail runs privately owned vintage carriages, each restored to period specification, across southern Africa's most dramatic routes. The Pretoria to Cape Town journey crosses the Karoo; the Cape to Cairo epic takes two weeks. Service and comfort surpass most five star hotels.

✓ Widely acclaimed as the world's most luxurious train
✓ Private owner-operated, not a corporate product but a personal passion project
From
$2,800
/ night
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Singita Grumeti
9.8
Safari Lodges Grumeti Game Reserve, Serengeti

Singita Grumeti

Singita Grumeti occupies an exclusive 350,000-acre private concession on the western corridor of the Serengeti ecosystem, offering some of Africa's finest safari experiences in a landscape of genuine diversity. With three distinct lodges and a tented camp, Singita delivers its legendary service standards within a conservation concession where guests have the wilderness entirely to themselves.

✓ Exclusive 350,000-acre private concession adjacent to the Serengeti National Park
✓ The Great Migration passes through the concession (June–July)
From
$1,800
/ night
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Londolozi Varty Camp
9.7
Safari Lodges Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Mpumalanga

Londolozi Varty Camp

Londolozi is where the modern luxury safari was invented. The original Varty Camp, established by the Varty family in the 1970s and refined over five decades into one of Africa's most celebrated lodges, sits on the banks of the Sand River in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, sharing an unfenced border with Kruger National Park and offering some of the world's finest leopard sightings.

✓ Birthplace of the modern luxury African safari concept
✓ World-famous leopard sightings, habituated individuals with known lineages
From
$1,200
/ night
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Soneva Jani
9.7
Overwater Bungalows Noonu Atoll, Maldives

Soneva Jani

In Noonu Atoll — a two-hour seaplane ride from Malé into some of the least visited waters in the Maldives — Soneva Jani's overwater villas have retractable roof panels above the master bedroom and a waterslide from the bedroom deck straight into the lagoon. It's the most architecturally playful overwater resort in the Indian Ocean.

✓ Retractable roof panels for outdoor sleeping under the stars
✓ Waterslide from the master bedroom directly into the lagoon
From
$2,500
/ night
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Alila Jabal Akhdar
9.6
Cliffside Hotels Al Dakhiliyah Governorate

Alila Jabal Akhdar

Perched at 2,000 metres on the edge of Wadi Ghul in Oman's Al Hajar Mountains, Alila Jabal Akhdar has infinity pools and private plunge pools hanging over a gorge with a kilometre of vertical drop — and sits 10°C cooler than the coast year-round.

✓ Clifftop infinity pools suspended 2,000 metres above sea level
✓ Views over Wadi Ghul, Oman's "Grand Canyon", from your room
From
$500
/ night
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Aman-i-Khás
9.6
Desert Camps Ranthambore, Rajasthan

Aman-i-Khás

Ten canvas-and-hardwood pavilions at the edge of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, India's most productive ground for Bengal tiger sightings, with Aman naturalists who track individual tigers by name and territory.

✓ Only 10 pavilion tents, ensuring an intimate, exclusive experience
✓ Direct access to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve for morning and evening game drives
From
$1,200
/ night
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Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru
9.6
Overwater Bungalows Baa Atoll, Maldives

Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru

Positioned in Baa Atoll's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, this Four Seasons resort sits minutes from Hanifaru Bay — where hundreds of reef mantas feed in formation between June and November — with a resident team of marine biologists running the research and guest programmes.

✓ UNESCO Biosphere Reserve location in Baa Atoll
✓ World-renowned manta ray and whale shark aggregations
From
$1,500
/ night
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Jao Camp
9.6
Safari Lodges Jao Concession, Okavango Delta

Jao Camp

Jao Camp occupies one of the finest concessions in the Okavango Delta, a 60,000-acre private wilderness of permanent and seasonal floodplains, islands, and channels that supports some of Africa's densest wildlife concentrations. The camp's treehouse-style architecture and Wilderness Safaris' service make it one of the continent's most singular safari lodges.

✓ Extraordinary private 60,000-acre concession in the heart of the Okavango Delta
✓ Multi-activity safaris, game drives, mokoro canoes, motorboat, and walking
From
$1,500
/ night
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Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
9.6
Train Hotels London to Venice (and beyond)

Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

The most famous train in the world, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is a rolling museum of 1920s Art Deco grandeur, operating its original restored carriages across the great rail routes of Europe. From London to Venice, Paris to Istanbul, or the Swiss Alps to the Adriatic, this is travel as it was experienced in the golden age of railways, unhurried, beautiful, and irreplaceable.

✓ Original 1920s and 1930s Pullman and wagon-lits carriages, lovingly restored
✓ London to Venice route through the Swiss Alps and Italian lakes
From
$3,000
/ night
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Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa
9.5
Desert Camps Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve

Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa

Set inside Dubai's 225-square-kilometre protected desert reserve, Al Maha's 42 suites each have a private infinity pool facing open sand where Arabian oryx — declared extinct in the wild in 1972 — now roam freely around the property.

✓ Located in Dubai's only protected nature reserve, 225 square kilometres of conserved desert
✓ Arabian oryx and gazelles roam freely around the suites
From
$900
/ night
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Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas
9.5
Underwater Rooms Baa Atoll, Maldives

Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas

Anantara Kihavah's SEA restaurant sits 5 metres below the ocean surface, its 270-degree glass walls looking directly onto living coral reef — a setting that makes it the most distinctive dinner in the Maldives, backed by overwater villas with glass floors above active reef sections.

✓ SEA, acclaimed underwater restaurant 5 metres below the ocean
✓ Overwater villas with underwater glass floors above living reef
From
$1,200
/ night
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&Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve
9.5
Safari Lodges KwaZulu-Natal

&Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve

Set across seven distinct habitat types in the rolling hills of northern KwaZulu-Natal, &Beyond Phinda is one of Africa's most ecologically diverse private reserves and the site of one of the continent's great conservation success stories. Six intimate camps offer exceptional Big Five game viewing alongside remarkable rare species and &Beyond's signature warm South African hospitality.

✓ Seven distinct ecosystems within a single reserve, sand forest to wetland
✓ Exceptional cheetah populations and sightings
From
$900
/ night
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Belmond Royal Scotsman
9.5
Train Hotels Edinburgh to the Scottish Highlands

Belmond Royal Scotsman

Britain's only luxury sleeper train, carrying a maximum of 36 guests through the Scottish Highlands in restored carriages of tartan, polished wood, and brass. Departing Edinburgh, the train follows the West Highland Line past Glenfinnan Viaduct to Mallaig, with optional routes to the Far North and whisky distillery excursions en route.

✓ Britain's only luxury sleeper train through the Scottish Highlands
✓ The famous West Highland Line, voted the world's greatest railway journey
From
$2,400
/ night
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Gili Lankanfushi
9.5
Overwater Bungalows North Malé Atoll, Maldives

Gili Lankanfushi

Twenty minutes by speedboat from Malé, Gili Lankanfushi is home to the world's largest overwater villa — the 1,600 sqm Private Reserve — and a coral restoration programme that puts its sustainability credentials well ahead of the Maldivian pack.

✓ World's largest overwater villa, the Private Reserve at 1,600 sqm
✓ Multiple acclaimed sustainable luxury resort
From
$1,000
/ night
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Keemala Bird's Nest Pool Villa
9.5
Treehouse Hotels Kamala, Phuket

Keemala Bird's Nest Pool Villa

Spherical villas perched on angled timber poles above a jungle ravine in Kamala, Phuket, inspired by the mythology of four ancient Thai forest clans. Each Bird's Nest Pool Villa has a private infinity pool with Andaman Sea views, and the Marbas Spa offers treatments in outdoor pavilions above the ravine.

✓ Spherical Bird's Nest villas perched on poles above the jungle
✓ Private infinity pool with Andaman Sea views
From
$700
/ night
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Tierra Patagonia
9.5
Cliffside Hotels Torres del Paine, Magallanes Region

Tierra Patagonia

A sinuous timber lodge on the shore of Lake Sarmiento, designed by Chilean architect Cazú Zegers to follow the lakeshore contour and let the prevailing Patagonian wind pass over the building. Every room faces the lake and the granite towers of Torres del Paine, which rise 2,800 metres from the pampas directly in front.

✓ Curved timber lodge on Lake Sarmiento with Torres del Paine views
✓ Floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows in every room
From
$1,200
/ night
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Alila Villas Uluwatu
9.4
Cliffside Hotels Uluwatu, Bali

Alila Villas Uluwatu

A clifftop villa resort sitting 100 metres above the Indian Ocean on Bali's Bukit Peninsula, designed by Singapore architects WOHA with private infinity pools in every villa and a genuine commitment to passive cooling, rainwater harvesting, and an organic kitchen garden supplying the AWOL restaurant.

✓ 100-metre clifftop location above the Indian Ocean
✓ Private infinity pools in every villa overlooking the ocean
From
$800
/ night
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&Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
9.4
Safari Lodges Ngorongoro Conservation Area

&Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

Perched on the rim of the world's largest intact volcanic caldera, &Beyond's Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is one of Africa's most extraordinary and theatrical hotel experiences, a baroque fantasy of Maasai architecture, European opulence, and natural grandeur, positioned 2,200 metres above a crater floor teeming with the highest density of large mammals on Earth.

✓ Rim-edge position directly above the world's largest volcanic caldera
✓ The Ngorongoro Crater contains the highest density of large mammals on Earth
From
$1,400
/ night
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Arctic Bath
9.4
Floating Hotels Harads, Swedish Lapland

Arctic Bath

A wooden driftwood ring floating on the Lule River at 66 degrees north, with six private cabins and a central pool open to the sky year-round — an ice bath when the river freezes solid in winter, a wild swim in summer. Architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi built something that makes the Arctic feel entirely habitable.

✓ Floating driftwood ring hotel on the frozen Lule River
✓ Central outdoor pool becomes a natural ice bath in winter
From
$500
/ night
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The Gibbon Experience
9.4
Treehouse Hotels Bokeo Nature Reserve, Houaphan

The Gibbon Experience

Treehouse platforms suspended 40 metres above the floor of Laos's Bokeo Nature Reserve, connected by a network of long ziplines through primary rainforest. A community-owned conservation project where guest fees fund anti-poaching patrols and mornings bring the territorial calls of wild black-crested gibbons.

✓ Treehouse platforms 40 metres high in primary rainforest
✓ Zipline network connecting treehouses through the jungle canopy
From
$200
/ night
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Lapa Rios Lodge
9.4
Treehouse Hotels Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas

Lapa Rios Lodge

Acclaimed eco-lodge in a private 1,000-acre rainforest reserve on Costa Rica's wild Osa Peninsula, one of the world's most biodiverse regions. Bungalows elevated in the rainforest canopy overlook the Pacific while the surrounding jungle teems with scarlet macaws, jaguars, and four species of monkey.

✓ 1,000-acre private rainforest reserve on the Osa Peninsula
✓ Resident scarlet macaw colony visible from the main lodge
From
$400
/ night
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Rocky Mountaineer
9.4
Train Hotels Vancouver to Banff / Jasper

Rocky Mountaineer

Rocky Mountaineer operates glass-domed GoldLeaf and SilverLeaf carriages on daytime-only journeys between Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies, covering the Fraser Canyon, Rogers Pass, and the approach to Banff and Jasper National Parks. The train runs only in daylight so passengers see every kilometre of the route.

✓ Glass-domed GoldLeaf carriages providing 360-degree mountain views
✓ Daytime-only travel ensures every kilometre of scenery is visible
From
$1,600
/ night
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Cavo Tagoo Mykonos
9.3
Cliffside Hotels Mykonos Town, Mykonos

Cavo Tagoo Mykonos

Rooms cut from volcanic cliff above Mykonos Town's old harbour, their irregular walls following the rock's own geometry rather than any rectangular plan. The champagne pool — a raised basin cantilevered toward the Aegean — has become one of Greece's most recognized images, though sitting in it on a late afternoon with Moët cooling in your hand is better than any photograph suggests.

✓ Iconic cave-cut suites above Mykonos Town and the Aegean
✓ Famous champagne pool suspended over the cliff edge
From
$600
/ night
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Inkaterra Canopy Treehouse
9.3
Treehouse Hotels Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios

Inkaterra Canopy Treehouse

A treehouse platform 30 metres above the Amazon rainforest floor in Peru's Tambopata Reserve, one of the highest-biodiversity ecosystems on Earth. A resident naturalist team runs daily excursions to macaw clay licks, oxbow lakes, and night caiman watches in the Peruvian Amazon.

✓ Treehouse platform 30 metres above the Amazon canopy
✓ Access to Tambopata Reserve, one of Earth's most biodiverse areas
From
$400
/ night
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InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa
9.3
Overwater Bungalows Bora Bora, Society Islands

InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa

Overwater bungalow resort on the outer reef of Bora Bora, with the first deep-sea water air conditioning system in the hospitality industry — drawing cold water from 900 metres below the Pacific to cool the property at a fraction of the energy of conventional systems. Overwater villas give direct access to Bora Bora's lagoon, and the Deep Ocean Spa sits suspended above the reef itself.

✓ World's first deep seawater air conditioning system
✓ Acclaimed Deep Ocean Spa on the outer reef
From
$900
/ night
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Lindesnes Lighthouse Hotel
9.3
Lighthouse Hotels Lindesnes, Vest-Agder

Lindesnes Lighthouse Hotel

At the southernmost tip of the Norwegian mainland, the country's oldest lighthouse — operational since 1656 — anchors a boutique hotel where rooms are cut directly into the rocky promontory, their stone walls clad in warm timber and their windows trained on the confluence of the Skagerrak and the North Sea. The restaurant draws daily from local fishing families, and in winter guests watch gusts exceeding 40 metres per second from behind floor-to-ceiling glass.

✓ Norway's oldest lighthouse, operational since 1656
✓ Southernmost point of the Norwegian mainland
From
$350
/ night
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Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita
9.3
Cave Hotels Matera, Basilicata

Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita

Cave rooms cut into Matera's Sasso Caveoso district, with rough tuff-stone walls and vaulted ceilings left as the 9,000-year-old rock formed them. Breakfast is served in a Rupestrian church where medieval frescoes still mark the walls.

✓ Caves carved into Matera's 9,000-year-old sassi district
✓ UNESCO World Heritage Site accommodation
From
$300
/ night
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Wilderness Davison's Camp
9.3
Safari Lodges Hwange National Park, Matabeleland North

Wilderness Davison's Camp

Davison's Camp is an intimate tented safari camp set beside a productive waterhole deep within Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, offering exceptional elephant encounters, superb Big Five game viewing, and the Wilderness Safaris ethos of responsible luxury in a national park that is one of Africa's most underrated wildlife destinations.

✓ Set beside Ngweshla Pan, one of Hwange's most productive permanent waterholes
✓ Zimbabwe's Hwange hosts one of Africa's largest elephant populations
From
$650
/ night
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Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa
9.2
Overwater Bungalows Bora Bora, Society Islands

Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa

Bora Bora's lagoon produces a turquoise that photographs can't fully account for, and this resort sits on the outer reef with unobstructed views of Mount Otemanu from every bungalow deck. The 'Nui' in the name means big — the overwater living areas here are genuinely spacious, and the snorkelling from the private deck steps is among the best in French Polynesia.

✓ Overwater bungalows with direct Mount Otemanu views
✓ Private lagoon access with some of the world's clearest water
From
$800
/ night
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MS Fram Expedition Ship
9.2
Floating Hotels Svalbard & Norwegian Arctic

MS Fram Expedition Ship

Hurtigruten's ice-reinforced expedition ship named for Nansen and Amundsen's polar vessel, deploying Zodiacs to glacier faces and walrus beaches at 78° north — with 16 specialist guides on board and polar bear encounters that are a probability, not a marketing promise.

✓ Named after Nansen and Amundsen's legendary polar exploration vessel
✓ Expert team of naturalists, historians, and polar guides on every voyage
From
$1,500
/ night
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Rekero Camp
9.2
Safari Lodges Masai Mara National Reserve, Rift Valley

Rekero Camp

Rekero is a classic tented camp set in a grove of fig trees on the banks of the Talek River in the heart of the Masai Mara, operated by the Governors' Camp group with an emphasis on authentic bush experience, expert Maasai guiding, and the resident wildlife of Kenya's greatest game reserve. Its position within the reserve puts guests within reach of outstanding Great Migration sightings.

✓ Exceptional Great Migration river crossings at the Mara River (July–October)
✓ Resident lion prides, cheetah families, and leopard on the Mara plains
From
$600
/ night
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Scarabeo Camp
9.2
Desert Camps Agafay Desert, Marrakech

Scarabeo Camp

Berber tents on Morocco's Agafay limestone plateau, 40km south of Marrakech, with the Atlas Mountains on the horizon and no generator after dark — a genuine desert night sky without the two-day drive to the Sahara.

✓ Located in the Agafay stone desert, closer to Marrakech than the Sahara
✓ Traditional Berber tents with contemporary luxury interiors
From
$350
/ night
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The Ghan
9.2
Train Hotels Adelaide to Darwin (and return)

The Ghan

A 2,979-kilometre traverse of the Australian continent from Adelaide on the Southern Ocean to Darwin on the Timor Sea, completed in 54 hours. The Ghan crosses the Red Centre through Alice Springs, with off-train excursions to Katherine Gorge and an optional charter flight to Uluru on selected departures.

✓ 2,979 km traverse of the Australian continent from coast to coast
✓ Crossing the Red Centre through Alice Springs, the spiritual heart of Australia
From
$1,200
/ night
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Wadi Rum Bubble Camp
9.2
Bubble Hotels Wadi Rum, Aqaba Governorate

Wadi Rum Bubble Camp

Transparent bubble tents on the sandstone floor of Wadi Rum, positioned within the UNESCO World Heritage Protected Area where the Milky Way runs horizon to horizon on clear nights. Evenings follow Bedouin rhythms — zarb dinners slow-cooked underground, mint tea, and a desert silence that registers as a physical presence.

✓ Transparent bubble tents on the Wadi Rum desert floor
✓ Exceptional dark sky stargazing in a UNESCO World Heritage landscape
From
$200
/ night
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Amberley Castle
9.1
Castle Hotels Amberley, West Sussex

Amberley Castle

A 12th-century castle in West Sussex with 60-foot curtain walls still intact, a portcullis raised and lowered daily, and 19 individually designed rooms set inside the original towers and gatehouse.

✓ Working 12th-century portcullis, still raised and lowered daily
✓ Original 60-foot curtain walls and battlements in exceptional condition
From
$350
/ night
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Attrap'Rêves
9.1
Bubble Hotels Allauch, Provence

Attrap'Rêves

Transparent PVC domes set privately in the garrigue hills above Allauch, each themed with genuine conviction — from baroque velvet and gilded mirrors to spare Moroccan minimalism — and all oriented so the Provençal night sky fills the ceiling above your bed. Twenty minutes from Marseille, yet completely removed from it.

✓ Transparent bubble domes in a Provençal park near Marseille
✓ Thematically decorated interiors, from bohemian to baroque
From
$280
/ night
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Cappadocia Cave Suites
9.1
Cave Hotels Göreme, Cappadocia

Cappadocia Cave Suites

Carved into the volcanic tufa hillside at the centre of Göreme, Cappadocia Cave Suites occupies rooms that range from smoothed Byzantine cave spaces with barrel-vaulted ceilings to sharply cut suites finished with Anatolian tiles and kilim cushions. The rooftop terrace faces directly into the valley where 60 to 80 hot air balloons rise at dawn each morning — one of the more singular hotel views in Turkey.

✓ Authentic cave suites carved into Göreme's volcanic tufa
✓ Private terraces with panoramic balloon and fairy chimney views
From
$180
/ night
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Fastnet Rock Lighthouse Experience
9.1
Lighthouse Hotels Schull, County Cork

Fastnet Rock Lighthouse Experience

Fastnet Rock rises from the open Atlantic 14 kilometres off the Cork coast — a bare table of granite topped by a 54-metre tower completed in 1904, which the Irish have long called the Teardrop, the last piece of home visible to generations of emigrants heading west. Boat excursions from Schull or Baltimore cross waters regularly patrolled by common dolphins and minke whales before landing on the rock itself in suitable conditions.

✓ The most famous lighthouse in Ireland, known as Ireland's Teardrop
✓ Built from Cornish granite between 1897 and 1904 on a bare Atlantic rock
From
$180
/ night
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Gamirasu Cave Hotel
9.1
Cave Hotels Ayvali, Cappadocia

Gamirasu Cave Hotel

Gamirasu occupies a genuine 6th-century Byzantine rock-cut monastery in the quieter Ayvali valley, thirty minutes from Göreme, where rooms still carry the carved niches and vaulted proportions of their original design. Balloon launches from the fields immediately below the hotel, a wine cellar stocked with volcanic-soil Cappadocian bottles, and a Turkish breakfast served on the terrace as the morning light moves across the fairy chimneys complete a stay that feels found rather than packaged.

✓ Rooms in a genuine Byzantine-era rock-cut monastery (6th century AD)
✓ Quieter Ayvali valley, far fewer visitors than Göreme or Üçhisar
From
$180
/ night
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Kettuvallam Houseboat Alleppey
9.1
Floating Hotels Alleppey, Kerala

Kettuvallam Houseboat Alleppey

A traditional Kerala rice boat converted to a floating home, moving through the backwaters of Alleppey on a private overnight cruise. A dedicated on-board cook prepares fresh Kerala seafood daily, and narrow canals pass through paddy fields, coconut groves, and villages accessible only by water.

✓ Traditional kettuvallam rice boat converted to floating hotel
✓ Private overnight cruise through Kerala's backwater network
From
$150
/ night
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Snowhotel Kirkenes
9.1
Ice Hotels Kirkenes, Finnmark

Snowhotel Kirkenes

Intimate snow and ice hotel in Arctic Norway near the Russian border, carved anew each winter with themed suites illustrated by local and international artists. Just a snowmobile ride from the wilderness of the Pasvik Valley nature reserve and the king crab safari waters of the Varangerfjord.

✓ Unique artistic ice suites carved and painted by commissioned artists
✓ King crab fishing safari in the Varangerfjord waters
From
$300
/ night
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Aerie Resort
9.0
Cliffside Hotels Chelan County, Washington

Aerie Resort

Rooms cantilevered over the basalt canyon walls of Lake Chelan — the third deepest lake in North America — with floor-to-ceiling glass framing 50 miles of glacially carved trough between snowfield peaks. Days extend naturally to the Lake Chelan AVA wineries or the ferry to roadless Stehekin at the lake's far end.

✓ Cantilevered rooms above Lake Chelan's basalt canyon walls
✓ Floor-to-ceiling glass walls framing lake and mountain panoramas
From
$400
/ night
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Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage
9.0
Lighthouse Hotels Augusta, Western Australia

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage

The keeper's cottages at Cape Leeuwin sit at the precise point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, beside Australia's tallest mainland lighthouse — a 39-metre limestone tower that has been sweeping both ocean surfaces since 1895. It's one of the few addresses on the continent where you go to bed with the sound of two oceans and wake up to neither horizon nor land.

✓ Stay at the meeting point of the Indian and Southern Oceans
✓ Historic 1895 limestone lighthouse on the UNESCO Tentative World Heritage list
From
$280
/ night
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Chole Mjini Lodge
9.0
Treehouse Hotels Chole Island

Chole Mjini Lodge

An eco-treehouse lodge built within the ancient ruined walls of a 19th-century Arab trading post on Chole Island, in the waters of the Mafia Island Marine Park.

✓ Treehouses built within 19th-century Arab trading post ruins
✓ One of Africa's most remote and authentic eco-lodges
From
$380
/ night
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Cuevas Al Jatib
9.0
Cave Hotels Benalauría, Málaga, Andalusia

Cuevas Al Jatib

In the village of Benalauría, perched above 700 metres in the Genal Valley, Cuevas Al Jatib has restored a cluster of Moorish cave dwellings — cut directly into the limestone cliff — into cave suites whose rough rock arches and curved ceilings maintain 18°C year-round. The breakfast terrace looks out over chestnut forest dropping away to the blue shadow of the Sierra Bermeja, and Ronda is thirty kilometres down the valley road.

✓ Authentic Moorish cave dwellings carved into white limestone cliffs
✓ Natural rock walls and vaulted cave ceilings throughout
From
$120
/ night
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Indochina Sails
9.0
Floating Hotels Ha Long Bay, Quảng Ninh

Indochina Sails

A boutique junk cruise through Ha Long Bay's 1,969 limestone karsts, with private balcony cabins, kayaking through sea caves accessible only at low tide, and cooking classes using seafood bought from passing floating markets.

✓ Private balcony over the bay
✓ Kayaking through hidden sea caves
From
$180
/ night
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Jules' Undersea Lodge
9.0
Underwater Rooms Key Largo, Florida

Jules' Undersea Lodge

Resting on the floor of a Key Largo lagoon since 1986, Jules' Undersea Lodge is entered through a moon pool in its floor — guests scuba dive 6 metres down to reach their room, making it the only hotel on Earth where checking in requires a wetsuit.

✓ The world's only true underwater hotel, entered by diving 6 metres
✓ Guests must be scuba-certified or complete a 3-hour mini dive course
From
$800
/ night
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Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel
9.0
Ice Hotels Alta, Finnmark

Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel

Norway's original ice hotel, rebuilt every winter on the banks of the Alta River in Finnmark, the world's northernmost ice hotel and one of Europe's most reliable destinations for northern lights viewing. Hand-carved ice suites, a reindeer-skin-draped ice bar, and an aurora zone location 70 degrees north.

✓ Norway's first and most northerly ice hotel, rebuilt every winter since 2000
✓ On the Alta River, 70 degrees north in the prime aurora zone
From
$350
/ night
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BubbleTent Australia
8.9
Bubble Hotels Hunter Valley, New South Wales

BubbleTent Australia

Transparent bubble tents on private land in the Hunter Valley, each oriented toward a Southern Hemisphere sky where the Southern Cross, Magellanic Clouds, and the full arc of the Milky Way appear on clear winter nights. Two hours from Sydney, with 150-plus cellar doors on the doorstep for the days.

✓ Transparent bubble tents with panoramic Southern Hemisphere sky views
✓ Located within Hunter Valley wine country, cellar door visits on the doorstep
From
$320
/ night
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Portland Bill Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage
8.9
Lighthouse Hotels Portland, Dorset

Portland Bill Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage

The keeper's cottages at Portland Bill sit within the complex of the 1906 red-and-white striped lighthouse, whose lantern still guides vessels around one of the most violent tidal races in European waters. Spring and autumn migration turns the headland into one of England's premier birdwatching sites, with Siberian and North American rarities recorded alongside the Jurassic Coast's fossil-bearing limestone cliffs.

✓ Iconic red-and-white striped lighthouse on the UNESCO Jurassic Coast
✓ Keeper's cottage self-catering accommodation with lighthouse views
From
$150
/ night
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SnowCastle of Kemi
8.9
Ice Hotels Kemi, Lapland

SnowCastle of Kemi

The world's largest snow castle, rebuilt from scratch every winter in the Finnish coastal city of Kemi, a fortress of snow and ice with hotel rooms, restaurants, and a chapel, standing on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. The most architecturally ambitious snow construction anywhere on Earth.

✓ World's largest snow castle, rebuilt to a unique design every winter
✓ Hotel rooms, restaurant, chapel, and art gallery all within the castle
From
$200
/ night
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The Bubble Hotel Belgium
8.9
Bubble Hotels Pulderbos, Antwerp Province

The Bubble Hotel Belgium

Transparent domes in private forest clearings near the village of Pulderbos, each with a king bed oriented toward the sky and a hot tub on the terrace outside. Rural Antwerp Province delivers genuine darkness overhead and the medieval city of Antwerp within an hour's drive.

✓ Transparent PVC domes in private forest clearings
✓ Panoramic stargazing from the king-sized bed
From
$250
/ night
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Utter Inn
8.9
Underwater Rooms Västerås

Utter Inn

Created by artist Mikael Genberg in 2000, Utter Inn is a red Swedish cottage floating on Lake Mälaren with a bedroom 3 metres below the surface — the original underwater hotel room, where pike and perch replace tropical reef fish at the glass.

✓ The original underwater hotel room, opened in 2000 by artist Mikael Genberg
✓ Submerged bedroom 3 meters below Lake Mälaren
From
$600
/ night
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L'Aigle des Neiges
8.8
Bubble Hotels Les Deux Alpes, Isère

L'Aigle des Neiges

Alpine bubble suites perched above the ski resort of Les Deux Alpes in the French Alps, combining transparent stargazing domes with direct ski-in access and panoramic mountain views. A rare pairing of snow sports and luxury bubble accommodation at 1,650 metres altitude.

✓ Transparent bubble suites at 1,650m in the French Alps
✓ Panoramic mountain views and alpine stargazing
From
$300
/ night
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Atlantis Paradise Island
8.8
Underwater Rooms Paradise Island, Nassau

Atlantis Paradise Island

A large resort complex on Nassau's Paradise Island built around The Dig, an 11-million-litre marine habitat system woven through the resort's corridors and suites, holding sand tiger sharks, sawfish, and stingrays. Aquaventure, the resort's 141-acre waterpark, includes 20-plus slides and 11 pools, making it the Caribbean's most complete family water complex.

✓ Underwater suites with floor-to-ceiling lagoon and aquarium views
✓ The Dig, 14 million litre marine habitat woven through the resort
From
$300
/ night
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OFF Paris Seine
8.8
Floating Hotels Paris, Île-de-France

OFF Paris Seine

Paris's only floating hotel, moored between the fifth and thirteenth arrondissements with Notre-Dame upstream and the Bibliothèque Nationale downstream — rooms face the river directly, giving a view of the city that most Parisians only get from a passing bateau-mouche.

✓ Paris's only floating hotel, moored on the Seine
✓ Contemporary rooms with panoramic river and city views
From
$200
/ night
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Point Reyes Lighthouse Hostel
8.8
Lighthouse Hotels Point Reyes Station, California

Point Reyes Lighthouse Hostel

This former 1927 Coast Guard lifeboat station, converted into hostel accommodation within Point Reyes National Seashore, sits two kilometres from a lighthouse so wind-battered that it was built 308 steps down the cliff face to escape the gales above. January through March, grey whales pass by the hundreds from the headland; year-round, the tule elk reserve and Tomales Bay oyster shacks make for a Pacific Coast stay that trades luxury for something harder to find.

✓ Set within Point Reyes National Seashore, one of California's great wilderness areas
✓ Historic 1927 Coast Guard lifeboat station buildings
From
$30
/ night
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La Bulle Enchantée
8.7
Bubble Hotels Normandy

La Bulle Enchantée

Transparent domes among the apple orchards and bocage meadows of rural Normandy, each individually decorated with linen, aged oak, and hand-thrown ceramics. Breakfasts include juice pressed from the property's own orchard, camembert from a local farm, and croissants from the village boulangerie.

✓ Transparent bubble domes in Norman orchards and meadows
✓ Individually themed and decorated interiors
From
$180
/ night
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Nubble Lighthouse Inn
8.7
Lighthouse Hotels York, Maine

Nubble Lighthouse Inn

Cape Neddick Light — built in 1879 on a small granite island called The Nubble, separated from York Beach by a narrow tidal channel — is by most measures the most photographed lighthouse in America. The coastal inns and guesthouses facing the island give you the white tower, the red-roofed keeper's house, and the Atlantic behind it from your own room.

✓ Unobstructed views of Maine's most iconic lighthouse from coastal inns
✓ Cape Neddick Light is one of the most photographed lighthouses in America
From
$180
/ night
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Desert Cave Hotel
8.2
Cave Hotels Coober Pedy

Desert Cave Hotel

Carved into the opal-bearing sandstone of Coober Pedy — the town that produces 70% of the world's gem-quality opals and where most residents live underground to escape 50°C summers — the Desert Cave Hotel keeps a constant 23°C year-round, with gemstone seams visible in the corridor walls.

✓ Rooms carved into opal-bearing sandstone, opals visible in the walls
✓ Coober Pedy produces 70% of the world's opals
From
$150
/ night
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