World's best and worst airports for stopovers, food, shopping, hotels and lounges

AIRPORTS FOR THE PERFECT STOPOVERS

EASY ACCESS

- Best Bet: Hong Kong — Though Hong Kong's international airport is about 35 kilometres from the city centre, its high-speed rail access makes it a breeze for short stays. The Airport Express takes 24 minutes and costs $19 return. Departing passengers can check their luggage in at Central train station then spend the day wandering around the city bag-free – another huge bonus for those on a stopover.

AFFORDABILITY

- Best Bet: Bangkok – On a stopover you're there for a good time, not a long time, so ideally you want to do as much as possible in a short time, without blowing the holiday budget. Enter Bangkok, where a night in a four-star hotel will cost about $80, a belt-loosening extravaganza of a meal will cost about $6 (particularly if you're eating street food), and even transport is unlikely to set you back more than a few dollars a ride.

GREAT FOOD 

- Best Bet: Kuala Lumpur – Even a short stopover is time enough to fill yourself with many of Malaysia's tasty gastronomic delights. Kuala Lumpur is a city obsessed with food, the sort of place where hungry travellers can feast on roti chanai (flaky bread with curry sauce), or nasi lemak (rice with sambal, egg and fried fish), or mee goring (fried noodles), or just about any spicy, delicious dish you can think of at open-air hawker centres such as Jalan Alor.

ROUND-THE-CLOCK LIFESTYLE 

- Best Bet: Tokyo – There's no time to waste on a stopover – you want to get as much out of this experience as you can, which means using every hour of the day. And night. In Tokyo there's so much to do, even in the wee small hours. Drink whisky in a smoky bar. Hit baseballs at a batting cage. Flip through manga books at a comic store. Play arcade games. Eat great food at cozy izakayas. In fact the only thing you can't do in the middle of the night in Tokyo is catch a train.

MULTIPLE FLIGHTS 

- Best Bet: Dubai – The truly great stopover cities offer travellers a huge array of options for their onward flights. And Dubai, thanks to Emirates Airline's enormous coverage of the world, has exactly that. At this Middle Eastern hub you can take a break for a few days before flying to, say, one of six cities in the UK alone, or 30 more destinations in Europe, or even 24 cities in Africa. The world really is your oyster.

SLICE OF PARADISE 

- Best Bet: Honolulu – Though there are some that consider an Asian hawker centre and a whole lot of good bars as their idea of paradise, for others it's something more traditional: White-sand beaches, warm water, palm trees, cocktails in coconuts, and a sense that time just doesn't matter any more. For the latter group, there's only one place you need to be stopping over on your next trip to mainland US: Hawaii. The only downside is leaving.

SHOPPING OPTIONS 

- Best Bet: Singapore – Whatever it is you desire, there's a fairly good chance you can buy it in Singapore. This is a city that loves to shop, whether it's bargain-hunting at small local markets, or window-shopping for luxury brands at huge airconditioned malls. And you know, this being Singapore, that whenever your legs start to tire and your stomach starts grumbling, there will be some good food around to keep you going. 

THE REAL AIRBNBS: THE PERFECT AIRPORT HOTEL 

- LocatIon: The world's best airport hotels are right next to the airport, if not inside. We're talking no taxis, no shuttle buses – just a short walk. The Crowne Plaza at Changi, recently named the world's best airport hotel by Skytrax, certainly fits this description, with a walking bridge connecting it to the terminal. See crowneplaza.com/Singapore

- Price: It's nice not to have to spend too much money on your stopover, which is where the Pullman at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport comes in. The hotel, as well as offering plenty of comfort in five-star surrounds, has rooms starting from $145 a night. 

- Amenities: As well as being walking distance from the terminal, and reasonably priced, the Grand Hyatt at Dallas Fort Worth airport has an outdoor pool, a day spa, a fitness centre, and special access to DFW's Terminal D, meaning hotel guests can dine at any of the airport's restaurants, plus shop at the boutiques.

- Flexibility: There's nothing worse than having to pay for an entire night at a hotel when you're going to be there for only five or six hours. That's not an issue at Singapore Changi's Ambassador Transit Hotel, however, where travellers can rent a single room with ensuite in a six-hour block for $68.

- Comfort: After a long flight, all you really want is the comfort of your own bed. Failing that, however, an extremely comfy hotel bed will do, which is where the new Pullman Hotel at Sydney Airport shines. The fit-out is fancy and the staff are great – but really, it's all about that bed.

FIVE OF THE MOST IMPERFECT AIRPORTS

- London Luton, UK: The glaring issue with London Luton is that the airport is not in London at all – it's about an hour out of the city by train, a journey that will probably cost as much, and take the same amount of time, as the flight itself. The airport is also notorious for long queues and some particularly shameless price-gouging.

- Los Angeles International, US: The Tom Bradley Terminal is a shining beacon of modernity in this otherwise chaotic and largely substandard airport, where passengers have to walk miles to change terminals, and are forced to sit in cramped spaces with limited food and drink choices and patchy Wi-Fi

- Nadi International, Fiji: Fiji has designs on being a genuine stopover hub between the US and Australia, but will have to do far better with its airport if it hopes to achieve that aim. Nadi International has a couple of dodgy restaurants, a tiny duty free, and fairly questionable airconditioning. And that's about it.

- Guangzhou International, China: Nothing makes you want to get out of Guangzhou quite like Guangzhou International. This increasingly busy hub is becoming notorious for its overcrowding, disorganisation, and lack of anywhere to sit. Travellers can, however, pay extra to use the lounges, which is something.

- Laguardia International, New York: Though few US airports provide an experience that could be classed as enjoyable, New York's LaGuardia takes things to new lows, with constant overcrowding, a roof that routinely leaks, terrible food options, and the general feeling that you've suddenly been transported to a Third World country.