8 Incredible Underwater Hotels

by  Tommy Burson | Mar 27, 2014
Courtesy of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

If you’ve ever dreamed of splashing around with dolphins, Flipper-style, singing with crabs like a certain redheaded mermaid, or simply like the sound of "sleeping with the fishes," then here are eight epic hotels that bring you as close to the deep blue as you'll ever get.

Pemba Island, Zanzibar

What if you could book your own, private island? Well… you can, kinda. Essentially a three-story, private, floating island in the midst of the Zanzibar archipelago, The Manta Resort (from $900 per night) features everything from a perfect sunbathing deck, open-ocean swimming, and a bedroom submerged 13 feet below the ocean.

Västerås, Sweden

Part hotel, part art project, and part traditional, single-room Swedish house, Utter Inn (from $400 per night) floats atop Lake Malaren and lets guests experience life on their own island. Although equipped with only twin beds, a bathroom, and a table, Utter Inn simulates a typical Swedish countryside home...only by the sea. On deck, guests can relax under the sun, swim in the chilly waters, or watch the fish from their bedrooms 10 feet below the surface.

Key Largo, Florida, USA

Located 30 feet deep in the murky Emerald Lagoon, guests at the Jules’ Undersea Lodge (from $800 per night) must scuba dive just to reach their bedroom. Can’t scuba? No worries, you can book a scuba crash-course at check-in. Formerly an underwater research laboratory, the retreat's 42-inch submarine-inspired window overlooks an aquatic nursery.

Rangali Island, The Maldives

Submerged 16 feet beneath the Indian Ocean, the entirely glass-walled Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Resort (from $815 per night) is a hotel. Fully encapsulated by  warm blue seas, guests experience 180-degrees of panoramic ocean vastness. Oh, also, whale sharks may watch you as you eat dinner – no big deal.

Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The underwater and floating hotel project known as ReefWorld (from $399 per person; one-night maximum stay) bobs near Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef. Featuring amenities like an underwater spa, glass-walled rooms, scuba diving, and even helicopter tours, guests can endlessly gaze at the vivid creatures clinging to 3,000 individual reefs nearby.

Anywhere / Caribbean

Equipped with a butler, private chef, and a sensual copy of Barry White’s Greatest Hits (that’s not even a joke), The Lovers Deep submarine (from $140,000 per night per person) wants guests to explore the motion of the ocean in more ways than one. Surrounded by the vibrant colors of coral and voyeuristic angelfishes, lovers can enjoy an aphrodisiac-filled menu of oysters becoming members of the exclusive Mile Low Club.

Coming soon...

Fiji's Poseidon Undersea Resort could be either a huge human fishbowl in the ocean, or it’s a former James Bond lair. Set at a depth of 40 feet in the Pacific, Poseidon Undersea Resort will supposedly feature 22 guestrooms, an under water restaurant and bar, a library, a wedding chapel, a spa, and maybe – just maybe – a 1977 amphibious Lotus Esprit… for Bond, of course.

Costing $550 million, the first proposed underwater hotel in Dubai, known as Hydropolis, has been postponed indefinitely due to technical difficulties. Apparently engineering an underwater metropolis is challenging. The hotel’s expected to reach a depth of 65 feet and include amenities like a spa, movie theater, ballroom, and bars.

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