With very small living spaces and unappealing food, prisons are not usually associated with the idea of a luxurious vacation.
But with heritage buildings being converted into hotels, ranked among the top travel trends for 2026, a select number of former prisons are finding new life as five-star structures.
Travelers will soon be able to stay in a former juvenile detention center in Japan. Scheduled to open in June of this year, this resort by Hoshino Resorts is located inside the former Nara Juvenile Detention Center.
First opened in 1908 during the Meiji period, the building functioned as a prison until 2017, when it was closed and declared a National Important Cultural Property.
As an all-suite hotel, between nine and 11 former cells have been joined together to create each of the 48 accommodation units, while the former detention wing will be transformed into a Japanese-French restaurant.
The Nara Prison Museum is also expected to open in April in the same complex, giving visitors the opportunity to learn more about the institution's history and architectural heritage.
In Istanbul, a prison for intellectual dissidents has been turned into a Four Seasons hotel. Designed by architect Kemaleddin Bey in the Turkish neoclassical style, the building was built in 1918 and served as a prison until 1969, holding mainly dissident writers and journalists.
After a brief period of use as a political prison in the 1980s, the building was completely renovated and reopened as a hotel in 1996. Today it has 65 spacious rooms and suites and includes a traditional spa with hammam, restaurants and bars.
The Hotel Liberty in Offenburg has a history that dates back to the 1840s, when the first "guests" were political prisoners from the Baden Revolution of 1848.
Reopened as a hotel in 2017, the building retains elements of its history, including cell doors and the Wasser&Brot restaurant, which refers to the prisoners' typical diet of water and bread.
In Boston, the infamous Charles Street Jail, opened in 1851, operated until 1990 and was converted into a hotel in 2007. The naturally lit lobby, wrought-iron windows, and a few preserved cells are still part of the hotel. The former exercise yard has been converted into a green courtyard.
In Australia, Pentridge Prison, which operated as a prison from 1851 to 1997, has gradually been transformed into a complex with restaurants, cinemas and event venues.
Part of it, The Interlude, is now a 19-suite boutique hotel, where several cells have been joined to create new spaces, preserving the original stonework and adding modern amenities.
The hotel is billed as "the world's first urban wellness retreat built in a converted prison", with an underground swimming pool as its centerpiece. / Euronews
