They really ARE secret escapes

They are the inns, B&Bs and hotels around the world where all is not as it seems, with everything from hidden rooms behind bookcases and secret beaches to secret military bunkers and even an invisible 54th floor. 

For instance, in Warwickshire, guests at a country manor are given an extra treat when entering their room - because the bathroom is concealed behind a working bookcase.

At one Maldives resort, a secret beach only comes to light during certain times of the day and off the coast of England, guests can hole up in a hotel that is hidden in a 19th-century Victorian sea fort.

Read on to discover the best hidden hotel features around the world, for the traveller who likes the element of surprise on their holiday... 

Hidden underneath the opulent Waldorf Astoria hotel, the secluded 'Track 61' platform was one of many ways President Franklin D Roosevelt, stricken by polio and paralyzed from the waist down since 1921, would hide his affliction.

When visiting New York City, often from his childhood home in Hyde Park, upstate New York, the siding would allow him to make it to the Waldorf's Presidential suite without attracting public attention.

His private railway car - at that point still the luxury travel option of choice - was able to pull inside the station, at which point his limousine could drive straight off the carriage into an elevator connected directly to the hotel. 

According to Sam Roberts, the author of a book on Grand Central, whenever a President stays in the Waldorf, a fully-manned diesel train also waits underneath in case he needs to escape an attack.

If you ever wanted to push the boat out (literally) and stay at one of the most unusual hotels on the ocean, look no further than No Man's Land Fort, a Victorian sea fort in the middle of the Solent.

The spectacular isolated fort, one of three guarding the entrance to the Solent, just off the coast of the Isle of Wight, has been turned into a luxury impregnable haven complete with a rooftop hot tub, shops and even its own nightclub, thanks to a multi-million pound revamp.

From the outside, it is impossible to tell there is anything inside the bleak building - the unique hotel looks like it could be a fortress of a James Bond villain and can sleep 44 guests with a capacity of 200 for parties and events.  

The Fairmont hotel in San Francisco's 6,000 square foot Penthouse costs $15,000 (£9,700) per night and is one of the swankiest hotel rooms in the city. 

Understandably for that price, many of the guests booking the room, which in the past featured the likes of Mick Jagger and Prince Charles, have a high profile that means they prefer to avoid busy public spaces. 

Inside the suite's library is a secret passage that leads to the roof and in the past, important politicians used it to get to the helipad away from prying eyes.

Under the luxurious Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, is a secret bunker protected by 3-foot-thick concrete walls and an air-intake system designed to filter out dangerous radioactive fall-out.

Secretly constructed under the hotel five hours away from the capital by order of President Eisenhower from 1958 to 1962, the bunker was codenamed 'Project Greek Island' and was built as scions of America's political classes such as the Kennedy's and even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor vacationed above. 

Finally complete in 1962, the bunker was the size of a Walmart store and boasted rations for 30 years and 1,100 beds, assigned individually to a serving member of the United States government. 

There are also two smaller - one seating about 470 people, which was big enough to host the 435-member House of Representatives, while the smaller hall had a seating capacity of about 130, suitable as a temporary Senate chamber.

In addition to the huge bunker that had a a broadcast center, a dormitory to sleep 1,000 people, a kitchen and hospital stocked up with 30 years of supplies, there was also a huge 7,000-foot landing strip. 

(dailymail.co.uk)