The historic Welsh building crowned UK’s most unusual hotel

Nation.Cymru staff

While many travellers opt for familiar hotel chains when planning a night away, there are countless quirky, unconventional, and one-of-a-kind hotels across the country offering truly unique stays. But which of these stand out the most as the UK’s most unusual hotels?

To find out, a team of researchers analysed reviews from 40 of the UK’s most unconventional hotels, ranking them by how often visitors described them with words synonymous with being ‘unique’ or ‘unusual’.

The West Usk Lighthouse is the UK’s most ‘unusual’ hotel, with nearly two-thirds of reviews featuring keywords relating to its “unusualness”.

Overlooking the Junction of the Severn and Usk estuaries near Newport, the West Usk Lighthouse has been crowned the UK’s most ‘unusual’ hotel. The grade II listed building itself is over 200 years old, and now operates as a cosy B&B and wedding venue.

With 64.16% of reviews highlighting its unique character, particularly its quirkiness, this lighthouse offers a truly charming stay thanks to its unusual layout, themed interiors and secluded coastal setting.

The West Usk Lighthouse was built in 1821 by Scottish architect, James Walker. It was his first venture, and later went on to build another 21 lighthouses.

The Lighthouse was on its own island up until 1856 when the land was reclaimed around it and a road was built. It served as a real lighthouse warning ships right up until 1922 when it was decommissioned. It then became a private home shortly afterwards but soon fell into disrepair and became derelict.

It is rumoured that the lighthouse was the first spot to see action during the First World War, as the lighthouse was used as a look-out post. War had just been declared and a German vessel was seen heading towards Newport docks. Those at the lighthouse raised the alarm and the ship was boarded only for it to then be realised that the crew were not aware war had even been declared and were just delivering goods into Newport.

In the late 1960s it was turned back into a private home until 1982 where it fell into disrepair once more. New owners bought the Lighthouse in 1987. It took them two years of hard work to make it habitable and is taking the rest to maintain it! The biggest job was to reinstate the lantern room in 1997 with help from the Wales Tourist Board and CADW.

Visit the West Usk Lighthouse website HERE

Methodology

To find out which are the UK’s most ‘unusual’ hotels, researchers created a seedlist of 40 places sourced from various travel articles that mention unusual and unique places to stay in the UK.

Data collected on 16/06/2026.

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