The World's Wildest Travel Accommodations

Make your next trip something truly out of the ordinary with this roundup of offbeat travel accommodations, including tepees in Texas and tree houses in Sweden.

By Architectural Digest and Hannah Martin

August 3, 2015

El Cosmico, a quirky campground in the desert of Marfa, Texas, offers a choice of eccentric accommodations. The Sioux-style tepees—22 feet in diameter—are far more luxurious than your typical tent, with brick floors, heated queen-size beds, and a playful furnished sitting area. From $150/night.
Looking for a different desert vibe? Channel Breaking Badwith retro trailer rentals, also at El Cosmico, with everything-you-could-think-of amenities, down to locally made shampoo and snacks. From $120/night.

Sweden's Treehotel comprises a series of funky tree houses in the forests of Harads. The candy-red façade of the birch-clad Blue Cone (pictured) pops from the surrounding woods. The guesthouse, created by the architecture firm SandellSandberg, is accessible only by bridge from a nearby mountain.
Experience a new kind of bird’s-eye view from Treehotel’s Bird’s Nest, designed by the firm Inredningsgruppen, where guests can roost within a structure of branches and twigs. The sleek interior, featuring porthole windows and wood paneling, is a stark contrast to the rustic exterior. Pack light—the only entrance is a long, retractable ladder. From $4,000/night.

Accessible only by boat, the eco-friendly 4 Rivers Floating Lodge in Cambodia consists of 12 luxury tents arranged along a bend in the Tatai River, which winds through the remote Cardamom mountains. The octagonal floating structures—whose furnishings are made from the locally abundant water hyacinth—boast windows on all sides, allowing guests to take in lush views from every angle. From $220/night.
Looking to vacation Fred Flintstone–style? Cappadocia, located in central Turkey, is famed for its unusual rock formations, which were used as ancient cave dwellings. Cappadocia Cave Suites offers 36 modern rooms and suites that are built on the original foundation of a 1,000-year-old monastic complex. Architectural additions were made with hand-carved stone that blends into the historic design.

The ancient rooms—some of which feature 1,000-year-old frescoes—are decorated with traditional Turkish crafts. From $125/night.
Situated in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, at the southern tip of the Andes, EcoCamp shares the landscape with Patagonian forests, glaciers, lakes, rivers, and fjords. Nature-loving guests are put up in environmentally friendly geodesic domes, which are modeled after the early dwellings of the area. From $719 for three nights.

Encuentro Guadalupe accommodations in Baja California, Mexico, were conceptualized by Encuentro Antiresorts—a group that aims to create resort-like experiences that reflect local communities. Comprising 20 stylish steel-and-glass eco-lofts perched atop the craggy terrain in the Valle de Guadalupe wine region, the hotel has an on-site winery and several kitchens that specialize in local cuisine. From $240/night.
Stay in a magical glass igloo, snow igloo, or log cabin at Finland’s Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Guests can take a chilly dip in a natural spring—if it’s frozen over, staff will cut a hole for you to jump through. In the summer, the resort offers mountain biking and riverboat cruises on the Lemmenjoki river, and in the winter, guests can go cross-country skiing and dogsledding. From $78/night.

The No Man’s Fort was built off the coast of the Isle of Wight as protection for Portsmouth, England, in the late 19th century. Now, the fortified structure is available for rent as a hotel or an entertainment venue.
The stylish accommodations at sea include a rooftop lounge and pool. Price upon request.

Leave it to the French to make camping look chic. Le Camp, in Tarn et Garonne in southwestern France, boasts a stylish set of canvas tents and yurts decorated with woodsy whimsy.
Guests are invited to cook in an outdoor kitchen, shower amid the trees, and take a dip in the property’s pond. From $162/night.

The British-based group Living Architecture collaborated with famous architects and artists on a collection of dreamy vacation houses, now available for rent. The cantilevered Balancing Barn in Suffolk, England, was built by the Dutch firm MVRDV and boasts a silver tile façade and expansive views of the surrounding nature reserve. From $1,278 for four nights.
From Living Architecture's A Room for London, designed by David Kohn Architects, guests can see Big Ben out of one window and St. Paul’s Cathedral out of another. The one-room structure is designed to resemble a boat that has washed ashore at the edge of the Thames, but offers all the amenities of a boutique hotel. From $450/night.

Named for French glaciologist and geographer Charles Rabot, who explored Scandinavian mountain ranges in the 19th century, the Rabot Cabin by Norwegian firm Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS Arkitekter was created for hikers on the country’s Okstindan mountain range. One of 500 affordable lodges the Norwegian Trekking Association has built in the area, it can be reached only by foot or on skis, meaning the timber and other building materials needed for the project had to be delivered by helicopter. $19/night for Norwegian Trekking Association members and $38/night for non-members.
Sleep surrounded by fish and an expanse of crystal-blue sea in the underwater room at the Manta Resort, located off Pemba Island in Tanzania. The structure was created by Sweden’s Genberg Underwater Hotels and features two floors made of local hardwoods and a submerged glass room that offers 360-degree views of a thriving coral reef. $1,500/night.
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