For fans who wish to get up close and personal with their idols, there may be no better way than to book a stay at their home. While not many of our favourite celebrity homes will likely ever be open to the public, you can in fact drift off to sleep in the tiny pink bed aboard Dolly Parton’s tour bus or rustle up one of Elvis Presley’s favourite fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches at his childhood house. These and the other famous homes below are open for visitors, but be sure to follow the rental rulebook, as one of these A-list properties also comes with a superstar landlord attached. Here’s where to check in for the ultimate VIP vacation.
Sleep On Dolly Parton’s Coach Of Many Colours
For over a decade, this 45-foot tour bus, decked out with folksy murals and a cabinet for her sky-high wigs, was the Queen of Country’s beloved home-on-wheels. Having clocked an impressive 360,000 miles on the dashboard touring Parton around the country, the coach finally retired in 2022 and is now available for overnight visits at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
Guests can awake in Parton’s diminutive bed, cloaked under a fuchsia velvet throw, before preparing for the day at the star’s vanity table, surrounded by cases of her razzle-dazzle sequined costumes. All has been left as it once was, including a threadbare hole in the carpet: the exact spot where Parton would twirl before the mirror in her spiked Louboutin heels.
The Dolly Suite 1986 experience costs $10,000 for a two-night stay with all profits going to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library charity.
Walk In Fields Of Gold At Sting’s Italian Estate
The English multi-award-winning musician Sting still resides at this 16th-century villa, using it as his palatial retreat during the summer months and renting it out during the rest of the year.
Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, have owned the sprawling estate near Florence, which can comfortably sleep up to 50 guests, for over 15 years. Surrounded by rolling olive groves, which the couple personally had a hand in restoring, the property also boasts a serene lake, high-tech recording studio, and a zen yoga centre.
Plan A Great Escape At Harry Houdini’s House
Ever wondered how the legendary escape artist Harry Houdini mastered some of the greatest illusions of all time, such as making a 10,000-pound elephant disappear or freeing himself from inside a large milk can while submerged in water? These secrets and more might just be revealed to guests at his Los Angeles mansion, complete with mysterious caves and the deep-water tank that the magician used as a testing ground for his thrilling tricks.
Gems of cinematic history are displayed throughout the four-bedroom Houdini estate—which features five acres of whimsical gardens—including props from his death-defying stunts and the iron box that made an appearance in the 1953 biopic Houdini.
A stay here starts at $1,750 per night.
Relive The Roaring Twenties At The Fitzgeralds’ Home
F. Scott Fitzgerald may have set his novel Tender Is the Night in the glamorous palm-lined French Riviera, but he actually wrote the bulk of this Jazz Age classic from a charming 1910 Craftsman-style house in Montgomery, Alabama, occasionally glancing out of the window at the elegant magnolia tree rooted in the front yard.
Bibliophiles can now stay in the home where Scott and his wife, Zelda, who was drafting her semi-autobiographical book Save the Waltz at the time, lived from 1931 until 1932. In the upstairs apartment, the original peeling Art Deco leaf wallpaper still hangs, while the ground floor has been converted into a small museum dedicated to the fabled writers.
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald suites cost from $90 and $150 per night.
Shake A Leg At Elvis Presley’s Teenage Apartment
Fans can now stay in an apartment that changed the course of pop culture by visiting the only Elvis Presley residence in the world to offer sleepovers. The King of Rock and Roll lived at Lauderdale Courts in Memphis between the formative ages of 13 to 17, when the pioneering complex was one of the first social housing projects in the US.
This game-changing home offered an impressionable young Presley easy access to the city’s hottest recording studios, music venues, and all-night gospel church services—all of which he soaked up like a thirsty sponge. Narrowly avoiding the wrecking ball in the 1990s, this two-bedroom apartment has since been restored to its mid-century glory, including a vintage record player console and a cast-iron skillet to recreate the rockabilly’s favourite fried sandwiches.
This place costs $250 per night.
