The world’s 5 most extreme hotels

What, you wanted to sleep on vacation? Forget that.

1. Poseidon Undersea Resort, Fiji

The Poseidon Undersea Resort is being touted as the word’s first sea-floor resort. Unlike the other underwater hotels out there that leave much to be desired, the Poseidon is a five-star, 24-roomed lodge with each suite made of four-inch acrylic, allowing guests a full view of the surrounding Fijian lagoon inhabitants. Although the cost of this experience will set you back $15,000 ($30,000 per couple), you get to spend two nights in the underwater, state-of-the-art hotel that harbors a coral reef. The next four nights you will stay in over-water bungalows at the 222-acre Poseidon Mystery Island resort, which features a high-end restaurant, library, and theater area – all underwater so you can imagine you’re aboard the Nautilus (and not broke). As your stay at the Poseidon nears an end, the thought of disabling the only entrance to the underwater hotel will creep into your mind, as a Captain Nemo-esque exile from civilization starts to sound appealing.

2. Hotel de Glace, Canada

This famous hotel will bring back memories of the time you built that sick snow tunnel in your back yard as a kid, then fell into a nice, near-hypothermic nap. However, this time your frozen sleep will be a little different: Hotel de Grace boasts 15,000 tons of snow and 500,000 tons of ice, with walls as thick as four feet. On top of that, not only is all the furniture made of ice, but so are the plates that serve cold cuts and the glasses that hold the cocktails you’ll need to layer up for that cozy booze blanket. Don’t build up too thick a booze jacket though – passing out naked on an ice-couch might literally come back to (frost)bite you in the butt.

3. The Four Seasons Bora Bora, French Polynesia

With 100 overwater bungalows and seven beachfront villas, the Four Seasons Bora Bora makes even the most ostentatious urban hotel look like a 30-floor cement entrapment. Walking onto the deck of one of these bungalows, you can either dive into the crystal blue lagoon or dip into the private “plunge pool” – a camouflaged freshwater pool that rests adjacent to the open seawater. Not only was it named the #1 Hotel for Romance in the World by TripAdvisor, but it is also home to the Ruahatu Lagoon Sanctuary, mixing the love found between two humans with the sometimes-controversial love between human and dolphin. Go easy on the rum before your dolphin experience, is what we’re saying here.

4. The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong

Just opening in March of 2011, the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong occupies the top 16 floors in the 488-meter tall International Commerce Building, making it the highest hotel in the world. But don’t expect to see the cliché “I got high in…” t-shirts at this hotel – all 312 rooms of this place are oozing with swag. Not to say you can’t brag about swimming in the world’s highest swimming pool (complete with 144 television screens lining the ceiling, because what’s exercise without watching TV these days?), or getting boozed up in Ozone, the world’s highest bar. The hotel also offers quite possibly the greatest panoramic views of Hong Kong, and worry not, Peeping Toms of the world, every guest rooms comes equipped with a telescope.

5. Nayara Hotel, La Fortuna de San Carlos

If being planted in the middle of a rainforest is more your thing, then set your destination to the Nayara Hotel in the northern lowlands of Costa Rica. You can get your Indiana Jones on through multiple canopy, canyon, and rafting tours in the surrounding rivers, lagoons, waterfalls, suspensions bridges, and mountains. And doing all these tours might end up saving your life - the enormous, still-active Arenal Volcano is just a few miles away, so knowing where certain lagoons or caverns are will come in handy in case the volcano decides to turn this luxurious, 5-star hotel into a scorched, post-apocalyptic wasteland before you can even grab your hat.