Sep

Six Bizarre Sex Hotels and Museums

1. Japanese Love Hotels

hellokitty Japan has a number of “love hotels” in which rooms can be rented by the hour or by the night, most of which feature a variety of fetish themed rooms. One of the most bizarre is the sickeningly pink Hello Kitty Bondage Room, a version of which appears at a few different love hotels. Amenities include a pink piano fitted with restraints, a bound and gagged plush Hello Kitty in a display case, and a karaoke machine. Other themed love hotel rooms include clinical waiting rooms and examination rooms, a high school classroom, and an alien spaceship. If none of those are creepy enough for you, a carousel room and a gas chamber room are also available. Some hotels also offer vending machines in the lobby selling snacks, cigarettes, and sex toys.

Here’s a tourist’s view of a love hotel room:

2. Sex Machines Museum

The Sex Machines Museum, located in Prague, houses erotic objects and devices, rather than the art that dominates most erotic museums. The collection consists of sexual devices dating back to at least the 16^th century, including chastity belts, erotic attire, sex furniture and harnesses, and devices such as dildoes and early vibrators. Mannequins demonstrate the proper use of many of the exhibits. One vibrator on display, from 1910, is operated by hand-crank. Also on display are an electronic anti-masturbation machine from 1915 and a prostitute’s shoes that stamp “Follow Me” onto the ground. A viewing room shows two pornographic films from the 1920s.

Enjoy a virtual tour:

3. The Icelandic Phallological Museum

Located in Husavik, Iceland, the Icelandic Phallological Museum is dedicated to the male genitalia. The museum showcases not only phallic art and images, but also the preserved penises of 92 species of animal, including creatures from folklore, like the troll and merman. Museum owner and phallologist Sigurður Hjartarson, also a historian and teacher, aims to collect a specimen from every animal species in Iceland, though the museum has some penises of foreign species as well. Elderly patron Páll Arason has donated his penis, which will be the first human phallus in the collection. Currently the museum displays only a photograph of Arason’s donation, as well as a human foreskin and testicles from other individuals. Lamps made from penises and testicles are also on display.

4. Propeller Island City Lodge

The slogan of the Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin, Germany is “Live in a Work of Art.” Though not specifically a sex hotel, Propeller Island features a host of bizarre and jaw-dropping room designs, many with fairly obvious sexual possibilities. The Mirror Room, for example, is diamond shaped and covered with mirrors on every surface except the floor. The Hol(l)y-Wood room has a bathroom with transparent walls of red glass. One of the most spectacular is the Gallery room, with a circular, rotating bed overlooked by an observation chair, as well as a bathroom with blue glass walls. The Nudes room is decorated with nude art photos and features an open bath. Those with less conventional tastes may enjoy the Freedom room, designed to look like a prison cell; Two Lions, with two raised cages that one can leave visible to neighboring guests; the Gruft room with two coffin beds; or the self explanatory Padded Cell room.

Here’s a tour of another offering, the Glashaus room:

5. Ashland Arms Guest House

Chicago’s Ashland Arms bed and breakfast caters mainly to homosexual men in the leather scene, but welcomes people of any persuasion, fetish or otherwise. Ashland Arms, located in a historic building atop gay nightclub Jackhammer and fetish retail store Mephisto Leathers, offers five themed rooms: Bunk, Dreams, Leather, Rubber, and Sports. Though currently only some rooms feature slings, the owners intend to outfit each room with one eventually. The sling in the Dreams room is planned to have Mickey Mouse ears, while that in the Sports room will be supported by baseball bats. Other amenities offered by the hotel are a gang shower and freshly baked muffins every morning. Guests of the bed and breakfast can enjoy the proximity of Jackhammer and Mephisto Leathers. Ashland Arms also houses the Hole, a separate nightclub in the basement with strict fetish dress code on Friday and Saturday nights.

6. Venustempel

The Venustempel in Amsterdam is one of the most extensive and diverse museums of its kind, as well as one of the most visited museums in the world. It features erotic art, photography, and objects from a wide varieties of cultures and eras, and even has interactive displays. Each hall or room in the museum is named after a personage from erotic history, such as Venus, the Marquis de Sade, Oscar Wilde, and Casanova. Interactive attractions include private video booths and vibrating chairs, and visitors can also walk through a reproduction of Amsterdam’s famous Red Light district.