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Top ten jails for arresting holidays
  • It was once a German prison and the Alcatraz Hotel still retains its jailhouse features with barbed wire along the outside walls, barred windows and cell rooms where the bathroom facilities aren't separate! The adventure hotel even offers striped pyjamas and a prison breakfast, which consists of a small jar of jam, a cup of black coffee and a piece of pumpernickel bread, so you can really feel like you're doing time! Visit alcatraz-hotel.com

  • This former county prison opened in 2007 as a Best Western Hotel offering guests rooms that were built from a combination of two or three cells. The Junior Suites have their own saunas and these were once cells where groups of 8 inmates were held. At the Restaurant Jailbird, the old laundry room of the prison, you can see original writing by inmates on the walls. There's also a church on the third floor where you can have your wedding. Visit bwkatajanokka.fi

  • Staying in a prison doesn't have to be a gruelling experience. This luxury Four Seasons Hotel in the heart of Istanbul was a jail in 1918 and has preserved some of the best features, like the old wooden doors, the courtyard where prisoners would exercise and the former watchtowers, which are now elevator shafts. A name engraved by an inmate in 1938 also remains on a pillar in the hotel and the neo-classical building is painted mustard yellow to add to its striking features. Visit fourseasons.com/istanbul

  • Built in 1862, this hotel was used as a prison up until 1998 and attracts everyone from backpackers to businessmen to spend the night in its cells. There's a lively bar on site and if you don't fancy spending the night in a prison cell you can check into one of the themed suites, which include the former director's office, visiting room and library. Visit jailhotel.ch

  • Before it became a prison during the Second World War, the Lloyd Hotel was already a hotel. It reopened in 2004 and there are 117 rooms, which come in five different categories for you to choose from various interiors fitted out by Dutch artists and designers. The hotel looks more like a contemporary art gallery than a former prison and there's a large terrace, restaurant, bar and four mezzanine platforms used for exhibitions. Visit lloydhotel.com

  • Brave guests looking for an 'unfriendly, unheated and uncomfortable' place to stay, as Karosta promotes itself, are in for a treat as this former KGB jail offers you the works - mug shots taken, a line-up and (verbal) medical examination and marches around the courtyard for those caught being bad! Here you'll sleep on a prison bunk or an iron bed and even receive a prison meal. It makes for an authentic prison experience and is definitely not for the faint-hearted! Visit karostascietums.lv

  • If you're looking for somewhere exciting to stay in Stockholm, look no further than the Langholmen Hotel, which was a jail until 1975 and has retained its original heavy cell doors (which these days lock from the inside!), history on the walls about the jail and a museum where you can discover its eventful history. The rooms are modern and newly renovated, so if you fancy staying somewhere with a prison history but not waking up to it this is the place for you. Visit langholmen.com

  • This luxury hotel, which was once a castle and then Her Majesty's Prison Oxford until 1996, is a fusion of decadent interiors and period features to give you a unique stay. Original heavy cell doors that open out onto the old jail wing, cells as guest rooms with seductive, velvet interiors and bars on the windows make this hotel one for the most stylish of inmates! Visit malmaison.com

  • This former jail was in operation from 1866 to 1995 and now offers affordable cell and non-cell accommodation to mostly backpackers. The old prison chapel has been transformed into a library and lounge equipped with internet, TVs, sofas and a study area. There are dorm rooms available, as well as twins, doubles and a two-bedroom family unit. Heavy, rusty doors and dining in the original prison mess hall are some of its most authentic features. Visit theoldmountgambiergaol.com.au

  • The former Charles Street Jail became the super-luxe Liberty Hotel in 2007 and has 298 modern rooms, trendy restaurants and bars including Alibi, which serves sophisticated cocktails and is housed where the jail's original cells once stood with amusing celebrity mug shots hanging on the walls. The building is one of Boston's best historical landmarks and an exceptional example of 19th century prison architecture. Visit libertyhotel.com

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