Bunker mentality

It’s an “innovative conceptual art installation”. It’s “the antithesis of luxury and megalomania”. Okay — it’s an old nuclear-fallout shelter, but, even so, people are queuing up to get into Switzerland’s Zero Star Hotel (zero-star-hotel.com), which opens on Friday in Teufen, 50 miles from Zurich.

It has two subterranean rooms with seven beds each, concrete floors and no heating (but you’re welcome to pick a hot-water bottle from the rack — see picture). Even at £15 a night, it doesn’t sound that tempting, but plenty of cold-war enthusiasts disagree. The hotel has 1,000 people on its waiting list. Moving mountains

Monaco moves

Opening officially on Thursday, Monaco’s art-deco Monte Carlo Beach (00 377 98 06 25 25, monte-carlo-beach.com; doubles from £700): sexy new Riviera-inspired interiors and furnishings conjured up by designer-architect India Mahdavi (she of New York’s Hotel on Rivington fame); sushi and swirly club sounds taking over the Sea Lounge; and grounds utterly resculpted with 400 cubic metres of soil. Mahdavi apparently wanted “the mountains brought as far as the beach” — a perfectly reasonable renovation request.

One Kitching, four bedrooms

Things are looking good for 21212, the new restaurant from Michelin-starred Paul Kitching, which has just opened in Edinburgh. The food’s been well received, as you’d expect — he ran Altrincham’s top-rated Juniper for 12 years — but the secret weapon is the four spacious bedrooms at the top of the four-storey Georgian townhouse on Royal Terrace. Perfect for collapsing into after the pimento-and-courgette confit, followed by champagne-and-carrot sorbet. Doubles from £250, B&B; 0845 22 21212.

Viceregal style in Anguilla

Gwyneth Paltrow likes Malliouhana, David Schwimmer favours Cap Juluca — but from July 1, Anguilla’s heavenly twin hotels will face new competition for the island’s A-list holidaymakers. That’s when Viceroy, the ultra-luxury American chain, launches the first phase of its 166-room resort at Meads Bay, Anguilla: three restaurants, two bars and one serious spa. Studios from £430; viceroyanguilla.com.

Don’t croc the boat

They’re taking bookings now for the Zambezi Queen, a swish 14-cabin boat that launches onto Namibia and Botswana’s crocodile-infested Chobe River in July. All cabins have private balconies, the food’s by top South African chef Pete Goffe-Wood, and there’s even a top-deck pool, so you can wallow without becoming a reptile’s lunch. Three nights cost from £695, without flights, with African Explorations (01993 822443).

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