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On my roadtrip through Central Europe, I had an issue I haven’t had to encounter much before. When I was booking my hotel, I had to filter the results for places that had parking available. After nearly making that mistake on my first night, I’ve made it clear to filter the results on booking.com since.
So when I filtered hotels in Graz for parking, there were limited results so I decided to book the only one that was affordable, had parking and was a in the direction I was headed the day after.
The NOVAPARK Flugzeug Hotel ticked all the boxes.
First thoughts of the NOVAPARK Flugzeug Hotel
The hotel is on the northern side of Graz, which as I had to leave early the next morning to go to Vienna, made perfect sense.
As I approached I could see a plane on the roof of the hotel. Wait, that’s actually TWO planes on the roof of the hotel!
From the outside, the yellow paint made it look like it hadn’t been updated in a long time.
The entrance to the hotelI parked my car, walked into reception and realised that I was correct as the reception and restaurant areas had the “not been updated since the 90s” vibe going on.
(Even the website has 90’s vibes…)
The room was nice but unremarkable, yes a bit dated but it kind of had everything you’d expect. And the standard Austrian toilet with a poop shelf. If you don’t know what that is then Google it.
There was a restaurant on the 7th floor so I headed up there to find out there are two restaurants in each of the planes.
One was a nicer table service restaurant inside an old Boeing 727 plane. Nearby was an old Ilushkin Russian jet that had an 80s disco bar inside.
It was all very surreal.
Another plane on the roofI took a seat in the outside bar area on the rooftop and a while later a rather extravegant waiter dressed in a pilots uniform came and took my order. I ordered a beer and a pizza. The beer was good, but the pizza tasted like they had just reheated a frozen pizza.
This was far from the best meal I have ever hadI stayed for another beer or two and then went back to my room. I wasn’t there long enough to check out the other facilities but I believe there is a gym and solarium (basically a rooftop area for people to sunbathe). They also hold events there and have a couple of large halls to hire.
It was a very strange experience because I wasn’t expecting it but also because everything I did experience, from the decor, styling and food to the general vibe of the place and age of the planes made it seem like I was in the 80’s.
I think only the pictures can do it justice.
With everything looking and feeling so dated, imagine my shock when there were robot waiters delivering food to some of the tables!
Summing up the NOVAPARK Flugzeug Hotel
The NOVAPARK Flugzeug Hotel was defintiely one of the weirdest hotels I’ve stayed at with dated decor, eccentric staff and the small fact that THERE ARE TWO PLANES ON THE ROOF!
I wouldn’t stay there again but as a one off experience just to see something odd, I think it was worth it. The location is a bit far from the centre of Graz for normal tourists to stay, but the quirk of eating and drinking inside a retired plane was quite cool
Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.
