The Ice Hotel Sweden is rebuilt each winter with a different design.

The Ice Hotel, Jukkasjarvi, Sweden

Constructed in the late 1980s, The Ice Hotel Sweden is rebuilt each winter with a different design. Located about 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the hotel is built with blocks of ice from the Torne River. Usually covering over 53,000 feet, the hotel uses more than 4,000 tons of ice to create the igloo-like structure, and usually features around 60 guest rooms. There is also a sauna, a reception hall, a multimedia theatre and an ice chapel for weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies. Depending on the weather, the hotel is open from December to March.

Beds are slabs of solid ice, and chairs are carved from blocks of ice. Reindeer-skin blankets provide some warmth, and guests are given beaver nylon jumpsuits and insulated body bags.

The bar uses ice glasses and ice-cold vodka. Heated bathrooms are located near the ice hotel, as are heated cabins for the less hardy. Costs are from $300 to $500 per night.

North Star Hotel, Melrose, South Australia

Go way out in the Outback to the North Star Hotel near the Flinders Ranges, and you’ll have your choice of a green truck or a red truck for sleeping accommodations. The trucks are outfitted like hotel rooms, but still they’re trucks! There’s a whole lot of filming going on in the area and it should be easy to spot the celebrities, since there’s pretty much nobody much else there.

Restored from a 1,000-year-old Byzantine monastery

Cave Hotels

Three cave hotels worth visiting are Beckham Creek Cave Haven in Arkansas, Gamirasu Cave Hotel in Ayvali Village, Cappadocia, Turkey, restored from a 1,000-year-old Byzantine monastery, and Desert Cave Hotel, underground in the scorching-hot mining town of Coober Pedy, Australia.

Westin Chicago River North

The Westin Chicago River North has a room featuring a Japanese toilet with heated seats and automatic washing and drying. This is something the Japanese have had for years. Often, the heat is programmed to turn on when the front door opens.

Waitomo, New Zealand

Most unusual is the 1950s Bristol freighter plane refurbished into two motel units, possibly the only accommodation of its type in the world. Choose the tail or the cockpit. This plane was one of the last allied planes out of Vietnam. Cost is $150 per night per couple and includes a glowworm walk in the evening.