If you gotta get away, why not choose accommodations that will be as memorable as your vacation? "Why would you want to go on vacation and stay in a house that looks like yours?" asks Christine Karpinski, director of the Owner Community for HomeAway.com, the nation's largest vacation rental portal.
To help you point your compass in the right direction, we spent some time browsing for unique vacation homes on the HomeAway.com portal.
Pack your bags. Here are a half dozen vacation properties that will have you rethinking your getaway plans:
Homeaway.com
This sea shell house is on Mexico's Isla Mujeres.
You really can hear the ocean in this sea shell -- a 5,500-square-foot, two-story conch shell with a 180-degree view of the Caribbean Sea. The property is perched on Isla Mujeres, 50 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula city of Cancun. The swirling conch shell theme continues inside with curved walls, a spiral staircase, circular seating areas and rounded beds and sleeping areas. It just sounds dizzying. The bathroom resembles the nooks and crannies inside a conch shell and is outfitted with sea shell fixtures. Neptune's home-away-from-home sleeps four and comes with an outdoor pool. Contact owner for rates.
Play Aloft In Playa Selva Tree House -- Mal Pais, Costa Rica
You and those howler monkeys in the tree outside your balcony will go bananas for this vacation home perched high in a Banyan tree on two tropical acres, just minutes away from the Mar Azul Beach. This isn't your typical childhood clubhouse. It has electricity, running hot water, a full bath (the shower looks out through the tree), kitchenette and a private swimming pool -- outside, down the ladder. The studio-sized house is the perfect lookout for spotting tropical birds and other wildlife. Sleeps three. Rents for $50 to $65 a night.
Homeaway.com
The "Onion House" is on the west coast of Hawaii's Big Island.
Waterworks at the Onion House -- Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Named the "Onion House" for translucent, layered arches that frame its exterior, this vacation home is more reminiscent of Australia's Sydney Opera House. Peel away the layers, however, and the architecture can bring tears to your eyes. Gently arched ceilings, stained glass walls and the open floor plan create a spiritual aesthetic inside. Outside, the home is framed by a lava rock terrace, lily ponds, swimming pools, lanai and lush tropical landscaping. Onion House sleeps six in three bedrooms and rents for up to $450 a night and $3,000 a week. Crying yet?
Go Bohemian In Santa Barbara Yurt -- Santa Barbara, Calif.
Thirty feet in diameter, this yurt is on a 10-acre ranch founded in the 1950s by a leader of the area's bohemian movement of the era. Yurts are circular, canvas-clad collapsible structures without interior walls. They once served as mobile housing for nomads in Mongolia, Siberia and Turkey. Along with a living area with a wood-burning stove, sleeping area, kitchen and office space, this 800-square-foot yurt includes an attached claw foot bathtub ("fill it up ... let it spill over the edges!"), separated toilet room and deck encircling the structure. In the mountains, where the real stars come out at night, but just 20 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara, you feel both secluded and liberated. Sleeps four. Rents for $155 to $185 per night.
Worries Float Away in Boston Houseboat -- Boston
Water taxi a crew of up to 10 out to the two-story "White Elephant Floating Inn," a houseboat built from scratch in five years by one man. Painstaking craftsmanship is obvious in the wood-paneled walls, exposed beams and inlaid flooring. Docked at Boston's India Wharf Marina, the houseboat includes king and queen staterooms, a bunk room for two, salon, fully equipped galley and two baths, one with a cast-iron claw foot tub and solid brass sink sunken into a slab of redwood. The 1,150-square-foot houseboat rents from $275 per night to $2,200 per week. Landlubbers need not apply.
Homeaway.com
Montana's Centennial Inn is a restored Northern Pacific Railway parlor car.
Next stop? A restored railway parlor car has been sidetracked on 13 grassy acres near the Yellowstone River in Montana. The whistle stop of a vacation home once served as Montana's 1964 World's Fair Entry and is now the Centennial Inn. The interior brings back memories of the "Wild Wild West" TV series, adorned with Victorian-era elements, from the copper ceiling to the hardwood furnishings, leather furniture, antique fixtures and oak floors. Updated with modern amenities, this property on wheels includes a parlor room, a fully equipped galley, laundry and two bedrooms that that sleep four. Contact owner for rates.
"Staying in these homes, exploring these homes, that's your vacation," Karpinski says.
