Addis Ababa is one of the most enticing cities in Africa. It has museums, galleries, religious and historical sights to rival any other African city as well as fabulous restaurants and nightlife options. All of this means that it’s a very rewarding place to spend time. However, most foreign tourists, having just a couple of weeks in Ethiopia, fly straight to the castles and churches of the north and the lakes and tribes of the south and Addis becomes merely an overnight transit stop.

For such people traipsing all the way into the city centre to find a hotel for the night can be a traffic-jam inspired feat of endurance. A decent, well-priced transit hotel close to the airport, ring roads and smooth new highways leading to adventures outside of Addis would be ideal. In the past there was something of a gap in this market but now the Arequ Guesthouse has done a good job of plugging that gap and it’s done it with country cottage charm.

Country cottage charm? But from the outside this multi-storey pinkish block, squirreled away down some quiet cobbled streets a few minutes from the airport and not far from the memorable (for all the wrong reasons!) statue of a wailing Bob Marley, looks decidedly un-country cottage like. Step inside though and you’re in for a treat. It’s all polished, wooden floors that squeak under foot, carefully selected arts, crafts and knick-knacks on the walls, thick red woven rugs, sofas, armchairs, pots of dried flowers and a breakfast spread of thick crust breads, local honey, eggs and freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee.

The whole package comes with an affordable price, helpful staff and a quick and easy run to the airport or out of town roads the following morning. Of course, on the flip side, as a base for exploring Addis properly it’s kind of far away — if there’s no traffic then you can get into the city centre in 20 minutes or so, but most of the time there is traffic and the same journey can take much, much longer.