Free Republic

If you thought that staying somewhere remote or quirky, or both, meant sacrificing luxury - think again. From a converted bus with comfortable beds, to an iron age roundhouse with extravagant interiors and even a luxury shipping container by a lake, MailOnline Travel presents unusual stays that still provide high levels of comfort. They can all be booked through Canopy & Stars, a glamping website that describes itself as marketing 'a wonderful collection of beautiful, quirky and special places to stay in the great outdoors in the UK and Europe'.

...'There was a meteor shower as well and we had this profound experience. But after the tour we went home and couldn't sleep under the stars so we took blankets out to a pontoon on the lake in freezing weather so we could look at the sky. 'We were just thinking about how amazing it would be to stay under the stars but there wasn't anything like that available so when we came back to Australia we decided to try and replicate the experience we had for others.' The couple started looking up bubble tents - completely clear inflatable tents...

One of the most iconic living quarters in the history of mankind, the yurt is most closely associated with the nomadic peoples of central Asia. Herodotus, the father of history himself, was the first to describe yurts in the written word. According to him, yurts were the primary domiciles of the Scythians, who rode horses and lived in a nomadic fashion near the Black Sea from 600BC-300AD. The Ger Nomadic Mongolian families called their homes “gers.” Their dwellings were made up of same-sized orange mesh-like walls that curved around the center of the tent. Each yurt had 3-5 walls and...

Camping used to mean really roughing it. Sleeping on the cold ground, killing and cooking your dinner, using Mother Nature as a bathroom and forgetting about showers. But for some, camping has gone glam. These "glampers" or "glamorous campers" are staying in grandiose teepees equipped with Persian rugs and heated bathroom floors.