I've got five hotel suggestions that will keep you from going over your vacation budget so you can enjoy the valley, but will still have you wishing that you didn't have to leave your room.
Check out more photos of the Custom when you read more.Checking in? Yes, please! It's always been at the top of my list to visit the Maldives, and it looks like the Conrad Maldives Rangali Resort may be the place for me to check into. Not only for it's spa, 10,000 bottle wine cellar, seclusion, luxury free standing rooms, and inarguable beauty, but for it's awesome undersea restaurant. Yes, I am a sucker for an underwater experience. Sue me.
The resturaunt gives you 180 degrees of underwater viewing, kinda like if you were walking through an underwater aquarium. Actually, that's exactly what it's like, except you're eating. The only question I have is this: does eating fish in the underwater resturaunt in plain sight of live fish make me a bad person?
Contemplate that while you check out other images of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Resort in the slideshow when you read more.
Although it's rare that I actually need whats inside, those little hotel shampoo bottles can come in handy for later travels. Since TSA requires that your liquids be under 3oz, these little guys are a perfect fit. Just empty out the stock hotel shampoo, and load them up with your own, or full them with lotion, perfume, sunblock, hair gel, whatever you need while on the road. Plus, you won't have to buy any travel sized bottles before your trip, so it's a great way to save a few bucks.
Who ever thought you'd need to pay to sleep in a sewage pipe? The Park Hotel in Austria has added a trio of (clean) concrete pipes to their roster of rooms for guests to doze in. The pipe rooms contain enough room for two - double bed, storage, bedside lamp, and are key code secure, but these rooms are available only during temperate weather (May through October) since the pipes are void of insulation and heat.
The coolest thing about this hotel experience is that it's run on a "pay as you wish" system, meaning you can pay what you can afford, and your contribution goes to supporting this very unique experimental hotel. I dig the interior design of the pipes, and would totally stay in these rooms. Would you? Check out more photos of the hotel when you read more.
With Valentine's Day coming up this week, I'll be showing you some of the things I love, some places to go to share yours, and some travel goods that may just steal your heart. First up though, is the Grecian Baby Grand Hotel. Not only is this place hip and with it when it comes to services (wireless Internet, spa, and a restaurant called Meat Me? It's love at first sight), but they have some pretty interesting and totally geeky rooms.
Starting with graffiti adorned rooms designed by famous street artists, and ending others that have you sleeping soundly with Batman and Spiderman watching over you. If you can't tell, my inner geek is showing and I'm not ashamed.
Greece is quickly moving up my list of "Must Visit" places, not only because of it's history, but also because of it's many interesting hotels. Remember the Semiramis? Yeah, I thought you did. Check out more images of the Baby Grand Hotel in the slideshow.
Well check me in and call me pokey, this has to be one of the coolest hotels EVER. Located in the hip northern area of Athens, and surrounded by high end boutiques, the Semiramis boasts a fantastic Mediterranean restaurant, heated pool and bathing deck, gym, and art gallery on site. Plus, at rates starting at about $275 a night, you can get 24 hour room service and wireless Internet access in each room. But it's not the amenities that I'm drooling over, it's the design. And what else would you expect from modern-chic designer Karim Rashid? Check out the view for yourself in the slideshow below.
