Runway Hotel

Fed up with the usual airport hotels offering at best adequate comfort and service? Keen to avoid the 20 minute taxi ride to the airport for the first morning flight when the hotel appeared to be right beside the terminal? Those cunning Swedes have come up with the solution. Book into the Jumbo Hostel in Stockholm and you're sure to have only a short hop to the terminal, and you'll already be in the aviation mood.

At the end of the runway of Arlanda Airport (Stockholm's busiest) is an ex-Pan Am Boeing 747 which has been refurbished and converted into a hotel. Redolent of the glamorous heyday of flight, it's a monument to kitsch. The staff wear retro airline outfits, there's tinkling music in the top deck bar and you can even saunter out onto the wings with your coffee. Apparently the rooms aren't as cramped as you'd expect, which range from dormitory style beds (£29) to triples (£112) to the cockpit double with all cockpit controls (deactivated!) and en-suite for £275. Check out www.jumbohostel.com if you're ready for takeoff.