Hotels in Unlikely Places

Recycling is de rigeur, and no one wants to see a perfectly good historic property go to waste. That (and, of course, the marketing draw) is why you see so many hotels popping up in spaces once used for other purposes, whether primary school or prison. Someday, you might be heading off for a night's rest in a hotel that was once…

A Jet Setting Place

Hotel Costa Verde in Costa Rica

Transported the shell of an old 1965 Boeing 727  and transported it to the jungle—making it look like it "landed" among the treetops. The result is part-hotel suite, part-treehouse.


The now-teak interior is big enough for two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a dining area, and the spacious balcony offers a toucan's-eye-view of the jungle beyond. We know some travelers find it hard to sleep on planes, but we don't think anyone will have any trouble here.

A Run-Down Paper Factory

A Quinta da Auga
Santiago de Compostela in Spain

 


When the Lorenzo García family found the property that became A Quinta da Auga, it could hardly be called a former paper factory—the site was basically in ruins, with vegetation climbing over the 18th-century stone walls.

A Centuries-Old Fort

Ahilya Fort, Maheshwar, India

   
When Holkar started renovating the fort in 2000, it had no running water. Today, though it still retains the impressive exterior of an 18th-century fortification, the inside is posh enough to receive a Relais & Châteaux distinction.

An Augustinian Monastery

Augustine Hotel in Prague Czech Republic

A Jam Factory 

The Henry Jones Art Hotel in Hobart Australia
  

A Primary School

Hotel Re! in Singapore

  

Not only did the 12-story site used to be the Pearl Hill School, but it was had the distinction of being the tallest school in Singapore when it opened in 1972. It remained in operation as a school until 2001. Though the blackboards may be gone, the spirit of the '70s remains in the new, psychedelic décor of the 140-room hotel.

Courtesy Hotel Re!

A Swedish Prison

Långholmen, Stockholm, Sweden

       

Operated as a prison from the 1840s all the way to 1975, and it's kept some cheeky nods to its past in its décor. You'll see them as you walk the cell blocks where the rooms are located. (Are those multi-paned windows supposed to look like they have prison bars.

A Norwegian Lighthouse

Molja Lighthouse, Ålesund, Norway

   

A Pullman Train Car

The Old Railway Station
Petworth, West Sussex, United Kingdom

     

From: CondeNastTraveler.com/ Posted by Mags