America's Weirdest Theme Hotels
Jules' Undersea Lodge
Key Largo, FL
Guests need scuba training—offered on site—to check into this hotel's underwater suites. Incredibly, there's room service: Staff divers will deliver well-wrapped pizzas from local restaurants ($500 per person per night; jul.com).
—Amanda Pressner
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Dog Bark Park Inn
Cottonwood, ID
Originally a roadside attraction, this massive wooden beagle is now a B&B. Alongside, there's a port-a-potty hidden in a 12-foot-tall fire hydrant (dogbarkparkinn.com).
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Wigwam Village
Holbrook, AZ
1940s road-trippers witnessed the country's brief profusion of "wigwam hotels." A few remain, like this Arizona property where guests sleep in freestanding concrete tepees (doubles from $54 per night; sleepinawigwam.com).
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Beckham Creek Cave Lodge
Parthenon, AR
It took four years to turn this Ozarks cave into a hotel. Dehumidifiers keep dampness at bay, and natural sunlight penetrates the space through large windows (from $450 per night; beckhamcavelodge.com).
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The Liberty Hotel
Boston, MA
For more than 100 years, this riverside property was a prison with a view. Today, it's a luxe hotel that retains the cell doors and catwalks from its past life. Visit Clink restaurant for crisp-seared Berkshire pork belly from Eleven Madison Park escapee Joseph Margate (doubles from $295; libertyhotel.com).
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Winvian
Litchfield Hills, CT
The Winvian's helicopter cottage houses a 17,000 lb chopper that's been turned into a private lounge. Want something cozier? Choose from the woodland compound's 18 other quirky rooms, like one modeled after the inside of a beaver's den (doubles from $650; winvian.com).
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Kate's Lazy Meadow Motel
Mt. Tremper, NY
True to form for flamboyantly retro B-52s singer Kate Pierson, her Catskills retreat is awash in vintage kitsch. Multihued appliances complement Midcentury-Modern sofas and easy chairs (cabins from $175; lazymeadow.com).
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Aurora Express Bed & Breakfast
Fairbanks, AK
Owners Mike and Sue Wilson pieced together their B&B from retired railroad cars, hauling them one by one to this ridge overlooking Fairbanks. The newest is an 85-foot-long dining car (double cars from $145; fairbanksalaskabedandbreakfast).
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McMenamins Kennedy School
Portland, OR
Chalkboards hang on the walls of the classrooms-turned-guestrooms at this 1915 elementary school. The sizable, pink-tiled girls' restroom is now a brewery that turns out nearly half-a-million pints each year (doubles from $115; mcmenamins.com).