Spain, Greece, Norway. Every summer the same three answers come back when I ask people where they are going, and every summer a few of them admit they picked the destination first and the bed second. I would do it the other way round.
An exceptional holiday usually comes from an exceptional place to sleep, not an exceptional country. A caravan in a field, a cabin up a tree, a desert lodge or a boat you steer yourself will each reshape a week more than swapping one coastline for another. The trick is choosing the format for what it genuinely does well, and checking the boring details before you fall for the photographs.
Quick takeaways
- France counted 2,226 professional unusual accommodation sites in 2024, with 1.2 million nights sold, according to the Observatoire de l’hebergement insolite.
- Comfort is no longer the gamble it was: only 4 percent of sites offer neither water nor electricity, and 17 percent have a hot tub or sauna.
- A hire boat on French canals needs no licence, just the handover briefing at the base.
- Desert trips need a security check first: parts of the Sahara are formally advised against, and remote areas have limited rescue capacity.
Have your dream holiday in an exceptional location
Unusual is now an industry, which is mostly good news
What used to be a handful of eccentrics renting out a hut has become a proper sector. The third edition of the Observatoire de l’hebergement insolite, run by Unic Stay and Cabinet Alliances, counted 2,226 professional sites in France in 2024, with revenue of 430 million euros and 1.2 million nights sold, both up sharply on 2021. Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie hold the biggest share of the offer.
The figure I find most useful for planning is the comfort one. Only 4 percent of these sites provide neither running water nor electricity, and 17 percent now include something like a hot tub or a sauna. The romantic idea that unusual means roughing it is a decade out of date, which also means you should stop assuming and start reading the listing properly.
A week in a gypsy caravan
A caravan, a roulotte in French, is the format that best suits people who want a change of scenery without a change of country. It is a wooden box on wheels parked in a field or an orchard, usually sleeping two to four, and its charm is entirely about proportion: everything is within arm’s reach, which forces a slower week on you whether you planned one or not.
What to check before booking, in order of how often it ruins a stay: where the bathroom is and whether it is inside or a walk away, whether heating exists if you are going outside July and August, and how the beds are actually arranged, because a caravan billed for four often means two adults and two children in a nook.
A tree house, minus the celebrity story
Tree houses are the most photographed category and the one where expectations most often outrun reality. They range from a platform with a ladder and a dry toilet to a fully plumbed cabin with a terrace, and the price gap between those two things is enormous.
You will also find the celebrity angle attached to them, usually the claim that Eva Longoria and Tony Parker spent their wedding night in one. I could not find anything solid behind it: what is on the record is that they married in Paris in July 2007, with the reception held at the chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte. Treat celebrity provenance as marketing and judge the cabin on its access, its facilities and its noise.
A lodge in the Sahara
A desert camp delivers something no hotel can, which is silence and a sky, and it is the one idea on this list that needs a safety check before a booking. The French foreign ministry’s advice for Morocco, updated on 7 August 2026, formally advises against all travel along the Mauritanian border, requires prior authorisation from the gendarmerie or the armed forces for off-road travel in Western Sahara, and warns about residual landmines in areas bordering it near Guelmim province.
None of that makes a desert stay unreasonable. It does mean you book through an operator who knows the zones, you keep to established routes, and you accept that in remote areas rescue capacity is limited, which is a phrase worth taking literally. Check the current advice for your own nationality before you pay a deposit, because these pages are revised often.
A canal boat you steer yourself
This is my favourite of the four, because it is the only one where the accommodation is also the activity. In France you can hire a habitable boat without any licence: the rental company issues you a pleasure card for boats under 15 metres, the activity itself is authorised and regulated, and you get a handover briefing of about an hour before you cast off. Speeds on the canals are slow by design, so the skill you need is patience at locks, not seamanship.
The playground is large. Voies navigables de France manages roughly 6,700 kilometres of waterways, and river tourism generates around 1.4 billion euros for the areas it passes through. The Canal du Midi, Burgundy and the Breton canals carry most of the hire fleet. If you want the practical side of hiring rather than the romance of it, we covered what to sort out before you take a boat for the holidays separately.
Which one fits your week
| Format | Suits | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| Gypsy caravan | Couples, families with young children, short budgets | Bathroom location, heating, real sleeping layout |
| Tree house | One or two nights, a romantic occasion | Access, stairs or ladder, plumbing, road noise |
| Desert lodge | Travellers who want distance and silence | Current security advice, operator, medical cover |
| Canal boat | Groups and families who want to keep moving | Lock count on your route, fuel and deposit terms |
Before you book
Is unusual accommodation more expensive than a hotel?
Per night, often yes for one or two people. Per group, a caravan or a boat sleeping six competes well with two hotel rooms, and you get a kitchen with it.
Do these places work in winter?
Some do and many close. Heating is the dividing line, and it is the single question worth asking by phone rather than trusting a listing checkbox.
What if I have never handled a boat?
That is the normal case on French canals, and the hire system is built for it. The briefing at the base covers the controls, the locks and the mooring, and the speed limits leave you time to think.
If you are tired of the same three answers, the fastest way to break the pattern is not to find a country nobody knows. It is to book a bed that changes the shape of the day, then let the surroundings be whatever they are.
Last updated: August 2026. Market figures come from the third edition of the Observatoire de l’hebergement insolite by Unic Stay and Cabinet Alliances, covering 2023 and 2024. Security information for Morocco and the Sahara is from the French foreign ministry’s travel advice, updated 7 August 2026, and should be rechecked before departure. Waterway data is published by Voies navigables de France.
Slept somewhere odd?
Tell us the format, the region and what you wish you had known before arriving. That is the kind of detail no booking site will ever print, and it is exactly what this community is for.