Staying in an offbeat hotel can make your vacation more memorable. These wild and wacky places offer visitors more than rooms to rest their heads after dusk. The ambiance of these locales will have your friends shaking their heads in awe as you recount your adventures. Be sure to take pictures for revisiting the memories.
Scuba dive 21 feet beneath the sea to Jules' Underwater Lodge in Key Largo, Florida, which has been featured on "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," and in the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue." The world's only underwater hotel, as of 2010, features 42-inch round windows from which you can peer out at the surrounding aquatic life. Despite the underwater environs, enjoy the comforts of a traditional hotel with hot showers, videos to watch on television and a kitchen equipped with a refrigerator and microwave.
The hotel started as an underwater research laboratory. Today, the lodge rests in an area replete with tropical fish, sponges and oysters. Guests can don scuba gear and venture outside to explore the world beyond. The lodge acts as an artificial reef, actually helping the surrounding aquatic life flourish, says lodge owner Ian Koblick.
Compressed air fills the lodge and prevents it from flooding. Visitors enter through what appears to be a small pool in the so-called "wet room," where they leave their gear and enter the rest of the lodge. The space features an 8-foot by 20-foot common room, along with two private bedrooms. Scuba novices must complete a three-hour class before descending to the hotel.
Jules' Undersea Lodge at Key Largo Undersea Park
51 Shoreland Drive
Key Largo, FL 33037
305-451-2353
jul.com
Stay in a yurt overlooking California's Big Sur coast at Treebones Resort. "National Geographic Traveler" listed Treebones on its 2009 International Stay List. Yurts are circular, tent-like structures made of fabric stretched over wood lattice frames. The yurts contain heat, electricity and a sink but not shower and bathroom. They have pine wood floors and ocean views.
The hotel offers 16 yurts and five campsites and generates energy from turbines then using the resulting heat to warm the pool with ocean views and hot tub. While staying at the hotel, guests can book an eco adventure, including a tour of local canyons, waterfalls, beaches and trails.
Take a kayaking trip through the nation's largest protected marine reserve, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Relax with a massage and try dinner at the Wild Coast Restaurant and Sushi Bar.
Big Sur Treebones Resort
71895 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
877-424-4787
treebonesresort.com
Step back in time while staying at the Royal Mansion in Bisbee, Arizona -- the Royal Mansion trailer, that is. The 33-foot aluminum travel trailer decked out with a leopard carpet, phonograph and record collection marks one of the Shady Dell resort's nine travel trailers. Besides a trailer, guests can stay in the 1947 Chris Craft Yacht, with a leopard chair, vintage boating memorabilia and champagne-stuffed refrigerator, or the Tiki Bus, decorated like a "Polynesian Palace."
Among travel trailers, you might opt for the 1949 Airstream, a picture of which ran in "Bride's Magazine" the same year. Inside, a vintage white bedspread features pink peacocks. Many trailers lack bathrooms but guests can access a nearby bathroom and shower. Roughly 6,000 people live in Bisbee, a quirky town full of artists and retirees in the mountains near Mexico. While visiting, you can tour an old copper mine or wander the downtown streets filled with coffee shops, bookstores and restaurants.
The Shady Dell
1 Douglas Rd.
Bisbee, AZ 85603
520-432-3567
theshadydell.com
