Is Dubai's underwater hotel the wackiest of its kind?

The Water Discus Hotel (Deep Ocean Technology)

Boosting its reputation as Disneyland for grown-ups, Dubai may soon host the largest underwater hotel in the world, after a Polish firm unveiled plans to construct a massive disc-shaped floor 10m below the sea surface.

Visitors will be able to book one of 21 double rooms in the underwater section of the hotel, which is connected by a central shaft to another disc suspended above the water.

According to the artist's impression - above, surely inspired by 90s cartoon George and the Jetsons - those staying under the sea will wake up to views of coral and turtles meandering past their windows.

Project planners Deep Ocean Technology (DOT) are not the first to take luxury vacationing underwater - but the scale of the Water Discus Hotel dwarfs previous efforts in America and the Maldives.

However, there's some stiff competition for the title of World's Wackiest Hotel:

* The Hobbit motel in New Zealand takes its inspiration from J.R. Tolkein's Shire, with circular windows and grassy roofs to entertain guests, hairy-footed and otherwise.

* Between December and April, ice sculptors in the Swedish village of Jukkasjarvi take 10,000 tons of ice and 30,000 of snow and turn them into a glacial resort.

* An astonishing feat of engineering allows the Marmara Antalya in Turkey, a vast 2,750 ton building, to float in a tank of water, meaning the structure rotates freely and guests have ever-changing views of the Mediterranean.

* The Gamirasu Cave Hotel offers travellers the chance to relax and unwind in a 1,000 year old cave, formerly a Byzantine monastic retreat. Not for sunshine lovers.