Libya is so now, darling Call it the boutique theory of international relations: you know somewhere has reentered the family of nations when bijou townhouse hotels start cropping up. Syria has a couple, and now Libya gets in on the act with El Khan, a 16-room riad-style place in Tripoli’s old city, with courtyards, chandeliers and balustrades made from Roman columns recovered from the basement. It opens at the end of the month. Bales (www.balesworldwide.com ) has four nights from £725pp, including flights.

High temperature Saunas don’t usually have a great view, unless you’re a pine freak, but this one is different: it’s the world’s first sauna gondola. The good folk of Yllas, in Lapland, have suspended it from their ski lift, so you can parboil yourself on the way to the top station, at 2,355ft. If that doesn’t get you sweating, the price will: a sky-high £1,220 for two hours, shared between 12. Phew. Book on 00 358 40 544 7743. Inghams (www.inghams.co.uk ) will do you a week in Yllas from £393pp.

Dress code: casual Nakedness is breaking out all over. Just as two new surveys announce that nudist hols are on the rise, tourism chiefs in New Zealand have awarded one of their top gongs to the Katikati Naturist Park, a let-it-all-hang-out retreat on North Island. The owners, Kevin and Joan Sampson, received the award from the tourism minister as the PM, Helen Clark, looked on. Disappointingly, all were clothed. Did that mean the Sampsons were abandoning their principles? “We dowear clothes sometimes, you know,” Kevin said. “I mean,have you ever tried frying bacon in the nude?”

Drink it from a green welly Have hard times come to the Cotswold Range Rover belt? Perhaps, but they’re dealing with it in their own inimitable way. At Lords of the Manor, a boutiquey place in Upper Slaughter, standard doubles are usually £225 per night - but order a £160 bottle of Dom Pérignon in the restaurant and they’ll give you the room for nothing.

Flat beds for all Finally, a plane you really can get to sleep on, even in economy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go anywhere. The Jumbo Hostel (www.jumbohostel.com ) is just that - a converted 747, sitting on the tarmac next to Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. Opening in December, it’ll have 24 smart but basic dorm-style rooms (beds from £22). We’d shell out £171 for the luxury suite, though - it’s in the cockpit. They’re leaving the controls intact, so it’s perfect for indulging those pilot/stewardess fantasies we all have. No? Oh. Just me, then.

Stephen Bleach

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