Weird & Wonderful
PLACES TO STAY
Deplar Farm
Tröllaskagi Peninsula, Iceland
This ain’t no ordinary, Old McDonald kind of farm; Deplar Farm in Iceland’s far-north is like a farm from a dream world.
Weird & Wonderful
PLACES TO STAY
Deplar Farm
Tröllaskagi Peninsula, Iceland
This ain’t no ordinary, Old McDonald kind of farm; Deplar Farm in Iceland’s far-north is like a farm from a dream world.
Weird & Wonderful
Turf-roofed houses accommodate you in five-star interiors, but its outside where the magic is here. Deplar is pushing the boundaries of what luxury is: guests are encouraged to take on mental and physical challenges that get them out of their comfort zone. This might be Heli-Skiing under the midnight sun, the far north’s propensity to stay light for 24 hours in summer combined with this area’s constant snow, mean that you can shred around the clock. It might mean salmon fishing, sea kayaking and mountaineering, or something more left of field like axe-throwing or ‘sensory-deprivation’ night walks. Or it might just mean chilling in the farm’s hot springs as the northern lights dance majestically above you.
From AU$6,926 per night
Lorenzo Hotel
Dallas, United States
Everything you need to know about the Lorenzo Hotel can be gleaned from it’s foyer: an eclectic mix of hot pink matchsticks jumbled along the ceiling, monster-size timber chandelier and domed mirrors warping reflections.
Weird & Wonderful
The are no cookie-cutter hotel rooms here. There’s seven theme suites and get lost stayed in the premium Cake Suite, inspired by “Let Them Eat Cake” from Marie Antoinette. Opulent furniture is vandalised by Jackson Pollock flings of fluorescent paint, actually the handiwork of the hotel’s engineer. The offending paintbrush hangs above the bed in an ornate frame.
Infamous for their Vegas-style pool parties, summer weekends at Lorenzo are ticketed events with DJs and private cabana service, complete with a fountain spewing into the pool from the mouth of a giant Warhol-like Albert Einstein mural.
One thing’s for sure: your gram won’t be lacking content after a stay here.
From AU$263 per night
Deos
Mykonos, Greece
Sometimes the stays in this section veer more toward the weird than the wonderful. And sometimes they’re more wonderful than they are weird. The latter is certainly the case when it comes to the rand new Deos Mykonos, a slice of heaven carved out of stone and placed delicately on a Myconian hilltop, overlooking sea, islands and windmills.
It feels less like a hotel here, and more like a private residence… if your private residence is a small Greek villa with marble bathrooms, a terrace and either a pool or a jacuzzi facing the water.
The promotional video for Deos features a madly-in-love couple swanning about the hotel, intimately embracing in various locations around Deos. This kind of gives us the impression they’re targeting couples at this place.
And while the romance levels are high, it’s also a beautiful spot to invest in yourself and revive your senses in exquisite luxury.
From AU$906 per night
LOST Lindenberg
Pekutatan, Bali
Right down to the name, this place is get lost all over.
Weird & Wonderful
Untouched isn’t a word you usually associate with Bali, but Lindenberg have found a spot that’s hardly seen a footprint and from ground level, feels as if you’ve just stumbled upon a long-lost village. The eight treehouse-style villas are virtually hidden, but have just managed to find a way through to peek above and beyond a palm-tree laden horizon, which reveals a stunning beach with black sand and a surfable wave.
Incredibly attractive pools bend at right angles, and give the impression you might be the only people left on Earth.
Dark wood is everywhere in the dreamy rooms, which are all sort of connected and achieve the feeling of some sort of floating village. Incredible.
From AU$395 per night
Stella the Stargazer
Victoria, Australia
Stella the Stargazer, the absurdly attractive off-grid tiny home which moves around Victoria’s most epic spots, is back for another year.
Weird & Wonderful
It’s bigger and better than last year too—although still not that big, given it is a tiny home. This year it’s got a woodfired, Swedish-style sauna, and two hot tubs built into a deck with unobstructed views of Mount Buller. Soak it up.
It’s also still got last year’s extendable bed which actually extends out of the home itself, so you can lay in bed and look up at the incredible night sky country Victorians are blessed with most nights.
That idea for the unique bed, took it's inspiration from the designer’s childhood, when his family would move a double bed into the middle of a paddock and sleep under the stars.
Stella the Stargazer is currently at the Delatite Winery in Mansfield and is available from 3 May to 3 August, after which point it will be transferred to a different, eqully epic location in the state, one we’re not allowed to tell you about yet.
From AU$385 per night
Mama Shelter
Burgundy, France
A cinema room? Oui. Karaoke? Oui. Free mustard? Oui. Free porn? Oui.
Weird & Wonderful
They’ve got it all at Mama Shelter in the Eastern French city of Dijon, and yes, that is where the mustard comes from.
Mama is an eclectic mix of things but the thing we love here is the food situation: chefs working in front of your eyes producing gigantic, homemade feasts consisting of steaks and cutlets, char-grilled corn, baked potato, salads and roast vegetables—probably all with butter. Then there’s wine—you’re in Burgundy after all. At brekky it’s pastries for days.
It's enough to forget about the hotel itself, which is kitschy in a luxurious way. Cartoon characters are inexplicably dotted throughout the rooms, which are slick pieces of work which would make most interior designers happy. The TVs have a bunch of movies free for you to watch—including the naughty ones if that’s what you’re into.
Dijon is 90 minutes by train from Paris, and it’s a sick town, so get exploring. Dogs and cats are welcome here but they charge 25 euro for admission, which is way less what they charge for you.
From AU$339 per night
get in the know The Icelandic language includes over 100 words for wind. That seems excessive.
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