Four kinds of hotel · 10 entries

Hotels worth a detour, sorted into four.

Art, capsule, casino and ice hotels, each described in plain prose so you can tell in a minute whether one suits you.

The four categories

Every hotel in the index sits in exactly one of these panels. Pick the one that matches the trip.

013hotels

Drawings on the landing, sculpture in the lounge, whole floors handed to one artist. These are hotels that treat the walls as a working gallery.

022hotels

A bunk-sized berth, a locker, a bath down the corridor. The format is Japanese and exact, and it rewards travellers who pack light.

034hotels

Rooms, restaurants, theatres and spas come first here. Each property also runs a gaming floor, which is one part of the stay among several.

041hotel

Walls, beds and bar are carved from frozen river water and left to melt in spring. One hotel defines the category, so one hotel is listed.

Three rules decide what gets in and how it is written up.

A hotel qualifies when its category is the reason to stay, not a footnote. Plenty of good hotels are left out for that reason alone.

Entries draw on what the properties publish and on long-standing public facts. We avoid anything that would need a private source.

No prices, no ratings, no bookings. Just what each place is, where it is, and what defines a stay there.