Only water here…

Wow is what you’ll utter when you step into any one of Welcome Beyond’s properties, available in dozens of countries from Mexico to Germany. Personal touches (you actually know who the owners are) and design feature heavily in their preened pads — from mirror-clad houses in the wilds of Italy to California farmhouses — and while they do cater for that top end of the spectrum, there are plenty of flash places to be had at real-people prices, too.

Founders Oliver and Chris Laugsch, Berlin-based brothers, curated a collection of unusual houses (and small hotels) in 41 countries that they say favor personality over pretension. That might mean a rustic 19th-century barn in Tivoli, N.Y., with curtains for walls or a fully staffed Swahili beach house built by native artisans on Kenya’s Lamu Island.

Aus Berlin stammt das Konzept für Welcome Beyond. Oliver und Chris Laugsch sind mit ihrem Portal immer auf der Jagd nach ausgefallenen oder hippen Unterkünften für Individualisten – angefangen von hübschen Boutique-Hotels, Strandhäusern und Apartments bis zu ausgefallenen Schlafplätzen in einem Hausboot auf der Spree oder im Jurtenzelt in Patagonien.

Recently, I logged onto VRBO.com, only to find my head spinning at the length of its roster. Scrolling through Hotels.com and Airbnb.com, I almost gave up.

Welcome Beyond offers lodgings with personality: a six-bedroom, cliffside villa in Phuket, Thailand, goes for 1,338 euros per night (chef included), and a cozy forest hut in Sweden with no electricity costs 44 euros. Welcome Beyond is best for the adventurous traveler who can appreciate the unusual.

This rental company is the brainchild of two brothers from Berlin, and is a testament to their passion for architecture and design. They hand pick every property, currently available in 38 countries around the world.

For a property to make it on to this site it needs to be architecturally interesting and something of an interior design delight. Choose, say, between a cave in Sicily or a rooftop apartment in Buenos Aires. You can search by location or interest, whether that be culture, nature or simply staring at the (beautifully decorated) walls.