Bored with standard-issue hotels? One with a theme, from The Beatles to a KGB jail, could be just what you're after. TONY CLAYTON-LEAhas 10 eye-catching examples
1 Hard Days Night HotelNorth John Street, Liverpool, England, 00-44-151-2361964, harddaysnight hotel.com. This is both a functioning hotel and a celebration of The Beatles. The art is the key: it includes work by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the Beatles associates Paul Ygartua and Klaus Voormann, plus commissions by the well-known Beatles artist Shannon, and a photographic record of the hotel's development by McCartney's brother, Mike. Other neat touches include Beatles sheet music hanging from the ceiling in reception, Beatles-linked names on the entrance walls – Rita, Mr Mustard and Billy Shears, for example – and, in Bar Four, a cocktail menu that includes delights such as Honey Can't Buy Me Love.
RatesThe Beatles Tour Package of two nights' BB, staying in a deluxe double room, with dinner one night in Blakes and a personal guided taxi tour, costs from £399 (€460) for two sharing.
Where to eatThe hotel's restaurant, Blakes, is named after Peter Blake, who designed the cover of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The walls feature images of the people on the album cover.
Go thereRyanair (ryanair.com) flies to Liverpool from Dublin, Cork, Knock, Shannon, Belfast and Derry. EasyJet (easyjet.com) flies from Belfast.
2 Fosshótel HúsavíkKetils-braut 22, Húsavík, Iceland, 00-354-4641220, fosshotel.is. Based in a town that describes itself as Europe's whale-watching capital, this bills itself as "probably the world's only whale-themed hotel", with pictures, paintings, sculptures and – be still my beating heart – an extensive stamp collection. The hotel's Moby Dick bar, based on Herman Melville's book, features whale stools, rocking chairs and tables. The town also has a whale museum (whalemuseum.is/museum).
RatesDoubles from €210; new whale-themed rooms from €245. (All rooms are decorated with a whale theme, although it can be limited to photographs of whales on the walls.)
Where to eatGamli Baukur (Hafnarstett 9, Húsavík, 00-354-4642442, gamlibaukur.is) is a restaurant made from driftwood – a must-visit, perhaps, after a day watching whales.
Go thereThere are no direct flights from Ireland to Iceland. Icelandair (ice landair.co.uk) flies to Reykjavik from Dublin via Britain. The no-frills airline Iceland Express (icelandexpress.com) flies to Reykjavik from London Gatwick and Stansted. You can travel on to Húsavík by bus and internal flight.
3 Hotel Puerta AméricaAvenida de América 41, Madrid, Spain, 00-34-917-445400, hoteles-silken.com/hotel-puerta-america-madrid/en. This hotel brings together 19 top architecture and design studios, including those of Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Marc Newson. Each of its 12 floors showcases a design concept, such as that of geometry, on the fourth floor, by London's Plasma Studio. Some are more style than substance – the wastebaskets in first-floor rooms have been designed not to be discovered – but others fuse simplicity with beauty: the rooms designed by the Scottish architect Kathryn Findlay separate spaces with sweeping white curtains.
RatesRooms from €200.
Where to eatThe hotel's Lágrimas Negras restaurant, which blends traditional and avant-garde cuisine, was designed by Christian Liaigre. Its 4,000-bottle wine cellar is as much a sculpture as a working cellar, while – credit-card alert! – its water menu claims to feature "the ideal type of water for each occasion".
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com), Iberia (iberia.com/ie) and Ryanair (ryanair.com) fly to Madrid from Dublin.
4 Apostrophe Hôtel3 Rue de Chevreuse, Paris, 00-33-1- 56543131, apostrophe-hotel.com. Billed as the first "poem" hotel in this literary city, Apostrophe – in the arty Montparnasse district, home to many publishers and bookshops – is equal parts chic'n'arty and really very clever. The design, decor and concept coalesce from the moment you step into the rooms, which reflect the primary design concerns of owner Christian Gatien, designer Sandrine Alouf and architect Vincent Bastie. Everything is linked by writing and letters; from the ground floor up, the history of visual language is displayed – from cave drawings and alphabets to travel notes, graffiti, posters and newspapers.
RatesDoubles from €160.
Where to eatThe hotel is so boutique it doesn't have a restaurant, but this is Paris, so you won't be stuck for choice. Nearby is the tiny, cosy Le Timbre (3 Rue Sainte Beuve, 00-33-1-45491040, restaurant letimbre.com).
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Paris Charles de Gaulle from Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Paris Beauvais from Dublin and Shannon. Air France (airfrance.ie) flies to Charles de Gaulle from Dublin and Shannon. EasyJet (easyjet.com) flies to Charles de Gaulle from Belfast.
5 Hotel Rathaus Wine & DesignLange Gasse 13, Vienna, Austria, 00-43-14001122, hotel-rathaus-wien.at. This family-run hotel majors on wine. It's everywhere, from the wine cheese on the breakfast buffet and wine guglhupf with your coffee to the wine cosmetics in your room. Each room is dedicated to an Austrian vintner, who provides wines for the minibar. The hotel organises tastings and excursions, and Vintner of the Month wines are served in its Wine Lounge.
RatesDoubles from €148 (single occupancy €118). Breakfast €15.
Where to eatClose by is Gaumenspiel (Zieglergasse 54, 00-43- 1-5261108, gaumenspiel.at), a tiny restaurant with a great wine list.
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Vienna from Dublin.
6 Hotel de FilosoofAnna van den Vondelstraat 6, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 00-31-20-6833013, hoteldefilosoof.nl. Each of this hotel's 38 rooms is dedicated to a philosopher. Take your pick from Georges Bataille, whose book The Tears of Erosinspires one room's risque red decor; Confucius, whose room is in calming violet; or Goethe, whose room features his line, above the bed, "Stay with me. You are so beautiful!" Other touches include tributes to Plato, Nietzsche, Hegel and Kant snaking up the staircase. A downside is that the rooms are tiny. Try to be philosophical about it.
RatesDoubles from €120.
Where to eatClose by is the French restaurant Spring (Willemsparkweg 177, 00-31-20-6754421, restaurant spring.nl).
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Amsterdam from Dublin. EasyJet (easyjet.com) flies from Belfast.
7 Le Monde16 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, 00-44- 131-2703900, lemondehotel.co.uk. We've probably all dreamed of it: after a romantic meal in Paris, or a cocktail in Vienna or Milan, why not wake up in Los Angeles, Shanghai or Sydney? With 18 suites (as well as three bars, a nightclub and a restaurant) inspired by world cities, that's exactly what might happen if you stay at this boutique hotel. It's a cute idea executed with verve and panache.
RatesPackages start at £245 (€280).
Where to eatThe hotel's restaurant, Paris, bills itself as a modern take on a Parisian brasserie.
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Edinburgh from Dublin. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Dublin and Shannon. Aer Arann (aerarann.com) flies from Cork and Galway. Flybe (flybe.com) and easyJet (easyjet.com) fly from Belfast.
8 Hotel Pelirocco9 Regency Square, Brighton, England, 00- 44-1273-327055, hotelpelirocco.co.uk. It's a little bit risque and a little bit rock'n'roll, a tad distasteful for some and just the right mix of saucy and sweet for others. The bijou hotel's 19 rooms include the romantic Absolut Love room, with its well-stocked minibar; the Pin Up Parlour, dedicated to Diana Dors; punk designer Jamie Reid's Magic Room; and the Modrophenia room. Good fun, but some rooms perhaps need a change of theme and a refurbishment.
RatesDoubles from £110 (€126).
Where to eatRiddle Finns (12b Meeting House Lane; 00-44-1273- 323008; riddleandfinns.co.uk) is a table-sharing champagne and oyster bar. Its pre-7pm menu is superb value, at £9 (€10.50) for two courses.
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to London Gatwick – 40 minutes by train from Brighton – from Dublin and Knock. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
9 Argonaut Hotel495 Jefferson Street, San Francisco, US, 00-1-415-5630800, argonauthotel.com. With San Francisco nearly surrounded by water, it's little surprise that it has a hotel themed around the city's maritime history. The boutique Argonaut is housed in the Haslett Warehouse, a 1907 building that overlooks the old ships docked at San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. Some of the rooms have original exposed-brick walls, large timbers and steel warehouse doors.
RatesDoubles from $178 (€125).
Where to eatAt Boudin Demonstration Bakery (160 Jefferson Street, 00-1-415-9281849, boudin bakery.com) you can see how to make sourdough turtles, crabs and other creations. Then you can try the seafood chowder in a hollowed-out loaf of sourdough bread.
Go thereAer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to San Francisco from Dublin and Shannon, directly until October 25th and via United Airlines and JetBlue hubs over the winter. British Airways (www.ba.com) and Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) are among the airlines that fly from Ireland via London Heathrow.
10 Karosta Prison HostelInvalidu Street 4, Liepaja, Latvia, 00-371-26369470, karostas cietums.lv. This former KGB jail, regarded as more secure than Alcatraz – nobody is known to have escaped – has been adapted to cater for adventurous customers. It promises to be "unfriendly, unheated and uncomfortable all year round". Once you check in you are treated as if you were a prisoner, complete with threats, gunfire and fellow "inmates" who cry through the night. The only toiletry item you are allowed is a toothbrush, the concierge barks orders in Latvian, and if you respond with a smart remark you are put in solitary confinement. You also have to make your own bed, which is then inspected. Popular, apparently, with stag groups, students and companies looking for an unusually stringent bonding experience for their employees.
RatesA bed in a cell costs eight lati (€12); the prison has a special offer of five lati (€7.25) each for groups of at least 10 schoolchildren.
Where to eatThere is no restaurant, and the room service could be deemed ever so slightly rude. The only food is stale bread, pickle and sweet tea.
Go thereRyanair (ryanair.com) flies to Riga from Dublin.