China
1 Hotel of Modern Art (HOMA), near Guilin
For somewhere extraordinary (and very arty) in the Far East, look no farther than the Hotel of Modern Art, one of only two Chinese hotels in the Relais & Château group. The plain-speaking name explains what guests experience: a stay in the middle of a sculpture park (known as the Yuzi Paradise park), in rooms full of contemporary art and avant-garde design touches such as Salvador Dalí-style chairs with big “eyes” as backrests. The most unusual feature of the hotel is the setting: a large triangular building with peculiar grass-covered roofs, all surrounded by lakes and rice paddies. There are 200 sculptures by more than 140 international artists in the grounds — collected by a Taiwanese cemetery tycoon. Works include a jokey golf green with giant balls and golf tees, and a vast paint roller by the Cuban Jorge Luis Santana. Lots of fun.
Details: 0086 773 386 5555, relaischateaux.com. Bamboo (bambootravel.co.uk) has a nine-night tour of China with two nights at HOMA from £2,195pp.
Argentina
2 El Casco Art Hotel, Patagonia
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This striking hotel contains 475 works created by some of Argentina’s finest artists. The works of Ernesto Bertani (in the Nahuel Corner Suite) are colourful and include risqué nudes. Meanwhile, the works of Enrique Burone Risso (in the Bustillo Studio) are also vibrant and bright — depicting abstract versions of football grounds and city scenes. Sculptures are dotted about the public areas. The hotel is on the edge of Lake Nahuel Huapi.
Details: 0054 2944 463131, hotelelcasco.com; toescapeto.com. Doubles from £199.
Spain
3 Hotel Estela, Sitges
There are nine “art rooms” in this hotel, each designed by contemporary artists. Room 214 is a swirl of abstract forms, with unusual faces peering out from behind mad-looking bunches of fruit (by the artist Josep Puigmarti), while Room 106 has a huge painting of a glamorous woman applying crimson lipstick above the bed’s headboard (by Marc Vilallonga). The hotel may look plain from the outside, but the interior is a bright surprise.
Details: 0034 938 114545, hotelestela.com. B&B doubles from £139.
Australia
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4 The Blackman, Melbourne
There’s a mini art hotel boom going on in Melbourne, with three properties springing up over the past couple of years — each devoted to the works of renowned Australian artists. The latest is The Blackman, which showcases the work of the illustrator Charles Blackman. It is in the trendy St Kilda district, with bright bedrooms, arresting colourful interiors and original paintings depicting slightly surreal figures. The other two art hotels in Melbourne are The Cullen (named after Adam Cullen) and the Olsen (named after John Olsen).
Details: 1800 278468, artserieshotels.com.au. Doubles from £100.
5 The Henry Jones Art Hotel, Hobart, Tasmania
This wonderful hotel overlooking the harbour regularly holds exhibitions. The walls in the corridors and bedrooms are covered in splashes of bright paintings; you really feel as if you are wandering about a gallery.
Details: 0061 3 62 10 7700, thehenryjones.com. B&B doubles from £153.
France
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6 Hotel des Académies et des Arts, Paris
Athletic abstract figures are painted on the walls throughout this boutique hotel in the Latin Quarter. The paintings are by Jérôme Mesnager, the French artist, who is known for his striking depictions of “white bodies”. At times it is almost disconcerting: the white figures seem to be everywhere, even above the beds.
Details: 0033 1 43 26 66 44, hotel-des-academies.com. Doubles from £157.
Britain
7 Broomhill Art Hotel, Barnstaple, Devon
The 5m-high (16ft) red stiletto shoe outside sets the tone for this six-room hotel, which has an art gallery inside and a sculpture park in the garden. Works include a large version of a cracked egg, tall figures made out of wire, and mini-forest of 15 telegraph poles. Strange figures occupy the old tennis court.
Details: 01271 850262, broomhillart.co.uk. B&B doubles from £75.
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8 St James’s Hotel, London
Tucked away in a back street behind The Ritz, this is an art hotel with class. The centrepiece is a gallery of portraits in the slick, dimly lit, lemon-yellow bar that includes a boxer with gloves up in defence, two reclining nudes, and a girl with flowers in her hair. It feels (almost eerily) as though a wall of faces is watching you.
Details: 020-7316 1600, stjameshotelandclub.com. Doubles from £253.
9 One Aldwych, London
Subtle modern art is dotted about One Aldwych. A papier-mâché dog decorated with old cartoons — and known by the name of “Beano” — greets you in reception. The bar has a centrepiece sculpture of a rather glum rower holding two oars in the air.
Details: 020-7300 1000, campbellgrayhotels.com. Doubles from £205.
Denmark
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10 Hotel Fox, Copenhagen
This hotel’s 17 rooms look like pieces of wacky contemporary art — different artists are responsible for each one. Boris Hoppek’s suite, named Boxing, has a gold bedspread with a bizarre cartoon of a boxer, while room 506 has a “Heidi” theme . . . you could be on a Swiss hillside.
Details: 0045 33 95 77 55, hotelfox.dk. B&B doubles from £100.
The Netherlands
11 Hotel Winston, Amsterdam
For a really outlandish place to stay and a wonderful immersion in modern art (including lots of street-style art), try this cheap hostel-hotel with rooms created by local artists with the wackiest of styles. Some are covered in black and white cartoons, while others have multicoloured psychedelic swirls on every surface. One room is bathed in pea-green light; another has a red-leather bedspread and pictures of rap artists on the walls.
Details: 0031 206 231380, winston.nl. Rooms from £25 a night.
Germany
12 Art’otel Cologne
The Art’otel Cologne is inspired by the vibrant art of SEO, the South Korean artist. Primary colours capturing oriental flower gardens and tropical fish contrast with the minimalist interior fittings. The building itself looks like a giant shoebox (in a nice way). Each Art’otel is inspired by a different artist.
Details: 00 800 8147 0000, artotelcologne.com. B&B double from £99.
Italy
13 Art Hotel Atelier Sul Mare, Sicily
Each of this hotel’s 17 “art rooms” is designed by a different artist and has its own mad name such as “The Room of the Denied Sea” (with walls made of old wooden doorways and rows of TV monitors showing sky-scapes) and “I’m Boarding on a Paper Boat” (darkened walls and strange decorations made of string). Extremely unusual.
Details: 0039 0921 334295, ateliersulmare.it. B&B doubles from £132.
14 Rome Cavalieri, Rome
This is plush, extravagant, dripping with gilded fittings and packed to the rafters with ornate works of art. Some of the paintings and tapestries date back hundreds of years. There are landscapes by Giuseppe Zais (1709-84) and Venice paintings by Joseph Heintz (1596-1670).
Details: romecavalieri.com. Citalia (0800 232 1802, citalia.com) offers five nights’ B&B from £955, flights included.
15 Gallery Hotel Art, Florence
A slick, stylish retreat from the gallery crowds heading for the Uffizi just around the corner. In reception you are met with a bright wall of primary colours. Exhibitions are constantly held in the lobby and bar.
Details: 0039 055 2726 4000, lungarnohotels.com. Doubles from £155.
Canada
16 The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto
Walls decorated so that you feel you are sleeping in a forest, a room that makes you believe you are in the middle of a deep blue ocean, a “Parlour in Twilight” bedroom with odd neon fuchsia lighting, and a suite decorated almost entirely with glass boxes . . . the Gladstone is full of avant-garde art.
Details: 001 416 531 4635, gladstonehotel.com. Doubles from £148.
17 The Listel Hotel, Vancouver
There are vibrant landscapes, still lifes of fruit and vegetables (one suite includes a series of slightly odd pictures of onions), and paintings that draw on Native Canadian influences.
Details: 001 604 684 8461, thelistelhotel.com. Artist suites from £229.
United States
18 21C Museum Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky
Bedrooms are full of arresting images, including large portraits, abstract paintings and posters depicting large red penguins (the hotel’s motif), while the public areas have huge montages showing Native Americans.
Details: 001 502 217 6300, 21cmuseum.org. B&B doubles from £193.
19 Hotel des Arts, San Francisco
Outlandish and definitely offbeat, each of the rooms is designed by a different artist. Take, for example, room 307. Its walls are covered in maps of the US with a picture of a log cabin in the woods covering a panel by the bed. Meanwhile, room 211 has walls covered in cloud patterns, while entering room 310 feels as though you have stepped into a strange multicolured cartoon world.
Details: 001 415 956 3232, sfhoteldesarts.com. Doubles from £127.
20 The Sagamore Hotel, Miami
The Sagamore on South Beach is so arty that it has its own curator. Works include oils, acrylics, watercolours, photography and video installations. Quotes from artists are also dotted about — look out for Pablo Picasso’s comment: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Details: sagamorehotel.com. Bon Voyage (0800 3163012, bon-voyage.co.uk) offers a four-night stay from £899pp, flights included.