Go Niche

YOU CAN’T BEAT the Dutch for sheer quirkiness. Just take Scheveningen in The Hague. At first glance it’s a run-of-the-mill seaside resort, with a beach, a pier and its own nudist colony.

Quirkier still however is a section of the town known as FAST. It stands for Free Architecture Surf Terrain, the name given to a higgledy piggledy stretch of land that is home to the town’s surfing community (the area is popular for surfing and windsurfing).

As well as surf shops and a restaurant, FAST has a range of tourist accommodation, all of which began life as something else. This includes bedrooms made out of recycled shipping containers, with T-shirts for curtains and fish crates for shelving. An overnight stay at FAST’s hostel costs €25, or is free if you work on the site for a few hours a day instead.

Quirkiest of all are its two Capsule Hotels, which are not to be confused with Japan’s famous versions, where weary travellers get a coffin-sized box in which to lay their head.

FAST’s Capsule Hotels are former oil rig emergency pods: bright orange balls built to accommodate up to three people should part of a oil rig blow up. Built in the early 1970s and standing, or rather, floating, just over 4m in diameter, they’re not big but they are cosy – and indestructible – with an en suite in the form of a chemical toilet.

They also have a rather surprising decor including a disco ball, sheepskin bedding and DVD player. And it could all be yours for €60 a night.

capsulehotel.info