Sleeping in Unusual Places: A Traveller’s Favourites

A short note (updated 2026): this post grew out of a conversation with Annalisa, a wonderful traveller and connoisseur of unusual places to stay. Her recommendations and prices are from when she stayed, so treat the figures as a guide and, since small independent places open, close and change hands, do check each is still operating and book directly before you plan a trip around it.

Where you sleep is part of the journey, and sometimes it is the journey. Sleeping at the ranch in Tombstone, for instance, was the whole reason for my unforgettable stop in the heart of Arizona, and I could name many more.

But Annalisa and her husband Dario are the real experts in this kind of stay, so I asked her to tell me about her favourites, how she plans her trips, and which unusual places I should add to my own list.

Annalisa’s method

My name is Annalisa Dei, I live near Arezzo in Tuscany, and I work as an administrative manager at a web agency. Among my thousand hobbies (photography, TV series, anime, reading, gardening) I love to travel, all year round around Italy at weekends for Lego MOC exhibitions, and once a year, always in August, for a proper three-week trip.

I keep a notebook on my phone, divided by continent and country, and whenever I find an interesting place I add it, from travel blogs, from TV-series locations (Sedona and Atlanta for The Walking Dead, say), or by targeted searches for parks, zoos, aquariums, dark or unusual places. I have travelled with Dario since 2012, and we each have our role: I find the “pearls”, especially the non-touristy ones, propose them to him, and if he likes them too, we research the details.

Then we open a map and colour-code every spot: green for must-sees, orange for if-we-have-time, red for skippable. We build the itinerary around opening times, prices and how long each visit takes, Dario finds all the GPS coordinates, and we book flights, car, accommodation and tours before we leave, so that on the road only fuel, meals, parking and shopping remain. Over the years we have worked our way through Great Britain, Scotland and the Hebrides, Iceland, the parks of the western USA, and, most recently, a great loop of the American South (about 9,700 km). I could not pick a favourite; each trip is built around our own wishes.

Wherever we can, we treat ourselves to somewhere special to sleep. Here are a few of the best.

Wales: a medieval mansion and a haunted castle

In the Vale of Glamorgan we stayed at Llanmihangel Plas, a manor house furnished in medieval style (bathroom included), gorgeous, with warm owners who told us to make ourselves at home and served a lavish breakfast at the head of a very long table, as if we were minor nobility. There is a lovely garden and grove to wander. The only catch: it is genuinely hard to find without GPS.

We also slept at Gwydir Castle, near Llanrwst in North Wales, in the Duke of Beaufort’s Chamber (there are a few rooms, priced differently). We were the only guests, which made staying in a reputedly haunted castle quite an experience. A spectacular place, with breakfast in a dining room that doubles as part of the visitor attraction, and gardens reserved for guests until the public arrive. They even handed us the keys to the private chapel. The only downside: almost no light in the room.

Dorset: sleeping in a bookshop

In Lyme Regis we stayed at the Booklover’s B&B, above the Sanctuary Bookshop on Broad Street. After closing, the owners leave and guests have this paradise to themselves: a room where you eat surrounded by hundreds of books, bedrooms packed with them, and books lining the wall even around the claw-foot bathtub. The breakfast is excellent, and you can even request a Japanese one, as the owner’s wife, Mariko, is Japanese. The shop itself, all rooms and nooks and old toys, is a delight. The only snag: the nearby car park is not free, though the owners help.

Iceland: hobbit huts in the Westman Islands

In the Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) we stayed at Glamping & Camping, in a little turf-and-timber hut at the foot of the mountains, furnished simply but stylishly, with a small sitting area and a bedroom. The bathrooms and a shared kitchen are in the main building a couple of hundred metres away. You can camp in tents too, but even in August the nights were cold and damp, and the huts have heating. The only catch: no shop nearby, though there is a Bónus supermarket in town.

USA: a saloon at the gates of Yellowstone

In Montana, at the north-eastern entrance to Yellowstone, we stayed at the Range Rider Lodge near Silver Gate. You reach it through the Lamar Valley, watching for the bison herds that cross the road at dusk. You walk straight into a huge old saloon, with the rooms off the gallery around it, each named for a woman (yes, the kind of establishment it once was). Small, quiet, comfortable rooms with shared bathrooms along the corridor. The only place to eat is a tiny restaurant across the street, very good but closing early, and the walk back is pitch dark (we met deer by the door), so carry the torch they leave in the room. After dinner you sit in the rocking chairs on the porch and watch the stars. One morning a bison was waiting on the lawn below our window. Highly recommended.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

• My own favourite unusual stay: the dude ranch at Tombstone, Arizona
• More on where to lay your head: a whole Iceland ring-road trip full of characterful guesthouses
• A complete guide to hotel booking
• Planning an independent trip
• Follow Annalisa’s own adventures on Instagram