Kumbuk River among world's top 20 unusual hotels

Sri Lanka's Kumbuk River lines up alongside Dubai's landmark Burj al Arab and the Galactic, the first-ever hotel in space, in a list of the world's top 20 most unusual hotels, announced by an international portal dedicated to the unusual and the audacious.

Nestled on the banks of a lively river on the edge of Yala, Kumbuk River, a 16-acre eco-resort in Buttala, is Sri Lanka's highest-awarded tourism brand and continues to be in the eyes of the world media. Made famous by a 40 foot-tall, two-storey eco-villa in the shape of an elephant, Kumbuk River has won a Travel Oscar as the world's leading eco-lodge at the coveted World Travel Awards.

Kumbuk River Eco Extraordinare

It has also been picked by Times-Online as one of the world's best green places and been included by Rough Guides in a special book titled "Clean Breaks: 500 new ways to see the world." This spectacular and exclusive up-market eco-lodge also includes two other chalets in its sprawling location.

In its latest exploit on the world stage, Kumbuk River (www.kumbukriver.com) joins 19 other amazing hotels ranging from the world's most costliest and dazzling to the most audacious small wonders. The majority in the hot list is from Europe and USA while only Sri Lanka and Japan figure from the Asian continent with Japan's famous high-tech 'Capsule' hotel taking the honours for Asia along with Kumbuk River.

For many people a hotel is only a place for having a sleep.

These are the top 20 most unusual hotels in the world that will give you a most entertaining destination for your next great vacation, say the website's authors in presenting their choice of the world's craziest and the most unusual hotels.

The most breathtaking among the pick may be The Galactic scheduled to open in 2012. The well-heeled guests arriving at the space hotel will be charged $4.4 million for a three-night stay at the first hotel in space - eight-week training course on a tropical island included.

Also in the list is Mardan Palace Hotel in Turkey. What makes it 'crazy'? Its sheer cost: it is billed as Europe's most expensive hotel.

It cost roughly $1.4 billion to build, and Mariah Carey, Sharon Stone, Richard Gere and Paris Hilton all attended its opening, according to Luxury Travel Advisor.

A stay at this hotel on the Turkish Riviera could run you up to $18,000 per night.

At the Mardan Palace Hotel, "it takes half an hour to cross the pool (by gondola, naturally), the spa has a room full of real snow, and the bathrooms have gold-plated mirrors on the floor".

Kumbuk River first opened as a US$500-per-night exclusive eco-hideout but offers special packages to locals starting at Rs. 3,500.

This extraordinary eco-resort put Sri Lanka on the global map of tourism even before the war ended, making the government to hail it as a true Sri Lankan wonder.

Kumbuk River is a CSR initiative by The 7th Frontier , an integrated communications solutions provider and brand strategy specialist, headed by young visionary Dinesh Watawana, a former international correspondent and a military analyst.