Experimental and Unusual Living Spaces You Can Spend the Night In

From treehouses to jumbo jet cockpits to private islands, just about any kind of accomodation can be booked for the right price. These days, spending a night in a lighthouse or a windmill is as easy as logging onto AirBnB and finding a willing owner.

Whether they were built as art installations, the cornerstone of a philosophical movement or just as a good old-fashioned wild idea, these living spaces push the concept of overnight stays in new directions. Stay somewhere so quiet the only thing you can hear is your own breathing, or so small you can bring the house on an elevator, or so unusual you'll feel like your talking out of your ass when you call up your friends from inside. It's all possible.

All of these unusual and experimental places can be yours for a night or more with just a few mouse clicks. Travel safely—or make sure you have an escape pod handy for the night.

RELATED: The 25 Most Ridiculous Hotels in the World

Name: House In The Clouds
Location: Thorpeness, Suffolk, England
Rates: £525-£800 ($847-$1290)/night
Book it at: houseintheclouds.co.uk

This picture-perfect red cottage perched on top of a plain four-story box may look ridiculous, but to Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, the man who designed much of the quaint vacation village of Thorpeness that the house overlooks, it was preferable to the sight of a normal water tower on the skyline. Built in 1923, the House in the Clouds disguised a 50,000 gallon water tank on its fifth floor until 1977, although its lower levels were residential. It's since been remodeled as a five-bedroom, three-bathroom vacation rental, and the top floor cottage area serves as a giant game room. It's probably the most down-to-earth accommodation you're going to find this far off the ground.

Name: Capsule Inn Osaka
Location: Osaka, Japan
Rates: 3,000-9,900 yen ($30-$101)/night
Book it at: capsulehotel-inn-osaka.com

Japan's capsule hotels have justifiably become famous as experiments in high-density living, with their economical rooms just big enough to sleep one person. Capsule Inn Osaka is the original home of the idea. Built in 1979, its sleep capsules were designed by famed architect Kisho Kurokawa, a member of the Japanese Metabolists movement, which focused on organic, renewable architecture that could evolve using modular elements. The capsules include TV, radio, lights and a Tempur Pedic mattress and pillow, but guests aren't solely confined to their rooms. The hotel also has a spa and sauna, and breakfast is included. Double and triple rooms are also available, but don't plan on bringing the whole family or a date you're trying to impress. Originally designed for business travelers on a budget, the Capsule Inn Osaka only allows male guests age 19 and older.

Name: Snowhotel
Location: Kirkenes, Norway
Rates: NOK 2450 ($415) per person/night; open Dec. 20-April 20
Book it at: kirkenessnowhotel.com

Keeping the temperature in the room stable can be a major source of frustration at many hotels, but, in the Snowhotel, it's never a problem, as the snowy insulation ensures the rooms stay at a cozy constant of -4 degrees Celsius (24.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Guests sleep inside expedition-grade sleeping bags (warm down to -35 degrees Celsius) on normal mattresses with thermal insulation. A standard overnight stay includes a three-course meal at the wilderness restaurant, and access to the sauna and breakfast. But additional activities like snowmobiling, king crab catching, ice fishing and, naturally, slinging down ice cold vodka from glasses made of ice at the Icebar, are also available.

Name: Hotel Utter Inn
Location: Västerås Bay, Sweden
Rates: 1000-1500 SKE ($157-$237); April-October only
Book it at: visitvasteras.se/aktor/hotell-utter-inn/

Beachfront resorts, houseboats, private islands—none of them offer quite the same exposure to the water as the Hotel Utter Inn, a floating getaway off the coast of the Swedish city of Västerås. Designed by the artist Mikael Genbergs, Hotel Utter Inn is your own 25 square meters of paradise, a two-story hotel with "fishing on site." The top floor, which is above water, includes a kitchen equipped with a stove, dishes, 10 liters of water, a dry toilet, and windows looking onto the bay. Below the water, the two-person bedroom has windows looking into the bay. There's no electricity, but rather gas-powered heating and lighting. Visitors also have access to an inflatable boat, which lets them check out the nearby uninhabited islands. And if Hotel Utter Inn is booked, Västerås has a couple other Genbergs hospitality offerings, including the partially submerged house called the Ooops Hotel and a treehouse called the Hotel Woodpecker. There's also a Best Western in town, but the fishing opportunities there just aren't quite the same.

Name: The Shire of Montana
Location: Trout Creek, Montana
Rates: $295/night for two people (two night minimum for holidays/weekends); no children allowed; May-October only
Book it at: vrbo.com/324679

Your significant other may have thought all that time you spent learning Elvish wasn't going to do you any good, but that was probably before they found out it's possible to have a romantic getaway in Middle Earth. When you pull up to this place, you'll be getting the Lego-last laugh, with the knowledge that the trick to having a great weekend is in the Bag (End). Okay, the Elvish might still not be that useful (The Shire is where the hobbits lived, duh), but you'll probably still be impressed at the feats of engineering involved in replicating the experience of living in an actual hobbit hole. Hobbit holes, of course, are known for being supremely cozy and comforting, and this one is full of modern conveniences to go along with the Lord of the Rings-themed art pieces. No children are allowed, and there is no cell phone service, making this the perfect fantasy escape for a couple to, in the owner's words, "re-confirm their relationship, reconnect with nature, or meditate on their spirituality while being surrounded with magic and fantasy."

Name: Les Cols Pavellons
Location: Olot, Spain
Rates: €300 ($414) and up for two people
Book it at: lescolspavellons.com

A project by the architect team of RCR ARANDA-PIGEM-VILALTA, Les Cols Pavellons is a unique, ultra-minimal take on the luxury hotel near Garrotxa Volcanic Zone National Park in Spain's Catalonia region. Each of its five rooms is an empty glass cube devoid of TV, phone or other distractions beyond a minibar and a soaking tub kept at a constant 99.2 degrees, according to Conde Nast Traveler (the extreme minimalism extends to the hotel's nearly information-free website). Glass floors give a view of the illuminated ground below. Dinner can be taken as a picnic lit only by the stars and candles or as a sit-down meal from the adjoining Michelin two-star restaurant Les Cols, which is in a 13th-century farmhouse. Altogether, it's presented as a radical return to the simplicity and calm of nature—except it happens to be in a futuristic structure that costs hundreds of Euros a night.

Name: Grand Canyon Caverns' Underground Suite
Location: Kingman, Arizona
Rates: $700/night for two people
Book it at: gccaverns.com

This far underground, no one can hear you scream—in excitement—at the fact that you'll be spending the night in what is simultaneously billed as the world's largest, oldest, deepest, darkest and quietest hotel room. At 220 feet below the ground in a 65 million year-old cave that measures 200 feet by 400 feet with 70-foot ceilings, it's completely dark other than the lights provided. All that space holds two double beds, a pull-out sofa, a bathroom, a collection of old books and records and plenty of room to stretch out. Water is brought down by hand. The air is naturally purified and dehumidified by the limestone passages it travels to get to the room, and there are no living organisms—other than the tours that come through between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. 363 days a year (your check-out time and check-in time, respectively). If you get claustrophobic, Grand Canyon Caverns also rents out open-air "rooms" above ground for the complete opposite experience.

Name: Free Spirit Spheres
Location: Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada
Rates: $145-$235/night; must be 16 or older
Book it at: freespiritspheres.com

There are treehouses, and then there are mystical spherical dwellings hanging from the trees. Free Spirit Spheres are the latter. Suspended from surrounding trees on three support ropes in a way that's intended to mimic the resilience of a web and leverage the flexibility of the trees, the spheres are designed to bring their residents into harmony with nature. By relying on three trees, the spheres also create de facto druids' groves. The spherical construction works not only to make the walls more resilient, but also to break up any hard lines in the structure and ensure there are only two sides: inside and outside. The ultimate goal is a low-impact communion with the surrounding natural spirit, with the idea that such structures could provide access to a wide range of pristine outdoor locations without the damaging effects of traditional construction. For now, there are just three available to rent, but the goal is to build an entire eco-friendly retreat swaying in the trees.

Name: Das Parkhotel
Location: Ottensheim, Austria
Rates: Pay what you can; May-October only
Book it at: dasparkhotel.net

The traveler on a budget always has the option to sleep in a drain pipe under a bridge if things get dire, but at Austria's Das Parkhotel, it's possible to do so in style. The repurposed concrete tubes offer plenty of headroom and storage, and each come equipped with a double bed and linens, as well as a lamp and electrical outlet. The project, a concept created by the architect Andreas Strauss, is an experimental "hospitality tool" that takes advantage of local infrastructure to keep costs low. Since bathrooms, showers, water and a breakfast cafe are all publicly accessible nearby, Das Parkhotel is very economical, and visitors are asked to pay only what they can afford. The hope, according to promotional materials on the website, is that the model could be replicated in other cities around the world.

Name: La Bulle d'Eau
Location: La Chapelle Launay, France
Rates: €95-115 ($131-$158)/night
Book it at: uncoinchezsoi.net/lieux/gites-ephemeres/la-bulle-deau/

While the goal of traveling is usually to get outside of your bubble, this inflatable getaway outside the French city of Nantes might be one reason to make an exception. Proposing to "immerse its occupants in the element of WATER," the Water Bubble offers a full-on sensory experience, piping in the sound of birds from the local Loire River estuary over its sound system and filling the air with a custom rain-scented perfume. Ironically (but for obvious reasons), there's no running water, although there is a small solar shower. The same proprietor, Un Coin Chez Soi, also operates another royalty-themed bubble and several whimsical, Jules Verne-themed rentals (one of which allows you to stay in a room built to resemble a packing case), as well as installations of other occasional "ephemeral lodgings," like artist Yann Falquerho's experimental beach house "La Folie."

Name: Nakagin Capsule Tower
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Rates: $21/night
Book it at: airbnb.com/rooms/1305889

If Kurokawa's capsule hotel is a little too cramped for you, you might prefer to spend the night in his famous capsule tower, built of modular apartment units in 1972. Since the building isn't open to the public, a night spent there is your best option for seeing the unique sci-fi interior. This listing may not be the most comfortable stay—you'll be sleeping on an air mattress—but, at $21, this unique opportunity may be about the cheapest room you can find in Tokyo.

Name: Capsule Hotel
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Rates: €60 ($83)/night and up
Book it at: fastthehague.com

The Capsule Hotel is an art project by "garbage architect" Denis Oudendijk, the goal of which is to repurpose "neglected industrial scale objects to live in." The objects in question are survival capsules built in the 1970s and originally used on oil rigs. Oudendijk has rounded up a total of five capsules located around Europe, and the project ultimately imagines a floating hotel with all the pods together. However, the only one people can actually stay in right now, due to closures and bureaucratic struggles with local governments, is located at FAST (Free Architecture Surf Terrain), itself an experimental hostel and surf village. FAST also houses Oudendijk's BADGAST, an art space built out of shipping containers, as well as a theater, restaurant, skate park and surf school. If the capsule is booked, guests at FAST can camp outside or stay in the dorm rooms, which are in shipping containers. As the saying goes, one man's industrial trash is another man's hostel room.

Name: Jules' Undersea Lodge
Location: Key Largo, Florida
Rates: $300-675 per person/night
Book it at: jul.com/overnight.html

Divers eager to enact their 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea fantasies can start 21 feet below the surface of Key Largo's Emerald Lagoon, where this former marine research lab offers two cushy bedrooms and the distinction of being the world's only underwater hotel. With 42-inch windows, the views of the fish are unparalleled. The room service isn't bad either: Not only are staff on-call in a 24-hour command center that's connected to the pod by an umbilical cord piping in fresh air and electricity, the cost of a stay includes a pizza delivered by a scuba diver (in a waterproof case, obviously). Best of all, there's also free Wi-Fi, so you can brag about the whole thing on Twitter.

Name: CasAnus
Location: Stekene, Belgium
Rates: €120 ($165)/night
Book it at: verbekefoundation.com/bb

Sometimes when you're on vacation, you just have a gut feeling that a certain place you're in is special. Other times, you just have a special feeling that a certain place you're in is a gut. At CasAnus, a replica colon that you can spend the night in, you can have both. Designed by the artist Joep Van Lieshout, CasAnus is an installation on the grounds of the Verbeke Foundation art park that also happens to offer the most intimate way of experiencing the sprawling sculpture garden -- from within its bowels. A night at CasAnus includes full access to the park, as well as the unique opportunity to live like a piece of digested food. Equipped with a double bed, a toilet and a shower with hot water, it's a little more glamorous than the park's other accommodations, a series of elevated platforms with tents on them called "Camping Flat" and designed by the artist Kevin Van Braak--you do find the inside of an intestine glamorous, don't you?

Name: 1SQM House
Location: Berlin, Germany
Rates: €1 ($1.40)/night
Book it at: airbnb.com/rooms/542031

A rolling hotel room that's small enough to take anywhere-it fits in an elevator and a metro car, and the proprietors propose one might use it to sleep on the roof of parliament, in front of the Brandenburg gate or in a friend's living room-the 1SQM House was invented by architect Van Bo Le-Mentzel to allow "people from all over the world with low income but a big curiosity to experience Berlin." Claiming to be the smallest house in the world, it's a collaborative effort of the BMW Guggenheim LAB, Berlin's Eastseven Hostel and AirBnB. For €1, visitors get access to the grounds of the BMW Guggenheim LAB, which has Wi-Fi, and they can use the showers and kitchen of Eastseven Hostel. The house itself is waterproof and equipped with a sliding window and lockable sliding door. Upright, it has a chair and small desk, as well as a lockable compartment for holding a laptop. Turned on its side, it has a mattress that makes it perfect for sleeping. But don't get too comfortable-you'll have to say why you need to stay in the 1SQM House when you apply to stay there, and more original or "provocative" ideas are given preference.