Our holidays often feature unusual places to stay, ranging from converted abbeys and stations to tiny hotels in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains; we list some of the most curious hotels here in our Top 10 Unusual Places to Stay.

Train Station Inn, Nova Scotia, Canada. Featured on The Complete Nova Scotia Experience, this very individual inn must come first in our Top 10 Unusual Places to Stay for its quirkiness. Owner Jim Le Fresne saved Tatamagouche station from demolition in the 1970s and since then has converted it into a three-bedroom inn (breakfast is served in what was the ladies’ waiting room) and acquired seven railway carriages which he has turned into additional bedrooms all with their own bathrooms.

 

Lofoten Cottages, Lofoten Islands, Norway. These converted fishermen’s cottages make a great base from which to explore the enchanting Lofoten Islands. Fortunately, they now have central heating and fully fitted kitchens and bathrooms, things the original occupiers had to manage without!



 

Douar Samra, Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Located in an appropriately secluded mountain hamlet and built with the help of the villagers, this inn on our Beneath Djebel Toubkal walk is as authentic a taste of Berber life as you are likely to get. Like the other village houses, the main house has no electricity – the small but comfortable standard bedrooms are warmed by open fires and lit by candles which create a cosy glow.


 

 

Palacio del Bailío, Andalucia, Spain. Dating from the 16th to 18th centuries, this luxurious 5-star hotel on our Splendours of Al Andalus rail journey is listed as a Cultural Heritage monument. It is built on the site of a Roman villa, the ruins of which can be seen through the glass floor in the lounge and courtyard. Carved Moorish gates, Tuscan-inspired frescoes, marble corridors, citrus trees, a spa built around the old Roman baths and a garden of rare plants create an unusual hotel with a very special feel.

 

Hotel la Central, Catalonia, Spain. This extraordinary hotel on the From the Pyrenees to the Sea walk was built in the 1890s and has the appearance of an Art Deco palace built for an eccentric millionaire but its original purpose was, in fact, as a hydro-electric power station – you can still see the water-supply pipe at the rear of the dining room. Fittingly for a hotel in our Top 10 Unusual Places to Stay, it has all sorts of fascinating features such as ceramic-tiled towers and the occasional round window, and an eclectic choice of décor and furnishings. Its setting, in a valley surrounded by rivers and waterfalls, is truly superb.
 
 

Abbazia di San Pietro in Valle, Umbria, Italy. As its name suggests, this hotel has been tastefully converted from part of an 8th-century Benedictine abbey boasting a 12th-century campanile and frescoes. The bedrooms are set around the two-storey cloisters, and are appropriately decorated in a simple style. Guests say that it is a real privilege to stay at such an atmospheric place, and it is one of the highlights of our Italy's Green Heart walk.

 
 

Vila Bled, Lake Bled, Slovenia. This is another hotel with a fascinating past – it was once the summer residence of President Tito, presumably chosen for its tranquil and very panoramic position above Lake Bled. Now a 4-star hotel, it offers extensive gardens, excellent service and superb food. A recommended upgrade on The Lakes & Julian Alps walk.


 

Village Guesthouses, Binsar and Saryu, India. Other than the fact that they are run by the villagers as part of the Village Ways sustainable tourism project, the guesthouses on our walking holidays in India are not that unusual in themselves. Instead, it is the insights into the local communities that you gain that make them special. Don’t be surprised if you are invited to pick fruit at a farm, to join in a game with the local children or to listen to legends over a cup of chai (tea made with buffalo milk and ginger) at one of the villagers’ houses. Dinner is usually another great experience – you can watch your hosts cook wholesome vegetarian dishes made from produce they have cultivated themselves in their own fields.

Nomad-Style Tents, Sub-Sahara, Morocco. Spacious and carpeted, these tents are a far cry from the ones you typically see on a European campsite. Nor is the pitch that of your average campsite. There can be few more romantic places to spend a night under the stars than the sub-Saharan dunes, the colour of which changes constantly from red to orange to burnished gold. Rise early and you can watch the sunrise, a real highlight on our City & Sahara Experience.

 

Kelebek Hotel, Cappadocia, Turkey. In a region of such strange landscapes – the area is characterised by extraordinary rock formations – it is fitting that the hotels are a little bit unusual too. Along with the first hotel on the Two Faces of Cappadocia walk, the Kelebek makes full use of the numerous caves on its site. The result is a labyrinth of individually sized and shaped bedrooms – many of them with only one or two man-made stone walls – linked by terraces and staircases and furnished with beautiful carved wooden beds and hand-painted furniture.
 
 

Hotel Arbez, Jura, Switzerland. This hotel on our Lake Geneva to Lake Neuchâtel walk quite literally straddles the Franco-Suisse border, with some rooms in France, others in Switzerland. Fortunately, you don’t have to show your passport each time you walk between your room and the restaurant!





If our Top 10 Unusual Places to Stay has inspired you, please contact our friendly reservations team for more information.