LAX, JFK, Singapore Changi... These are some of the most well-known aviation hubs in the world. But what about the little guys? Amazing airports don't have to be huge. From the world's southernmost and northernmost airports to terminals with cosy log fires and freshly cooked lobster to take away, here we explore some of the coolest and quirkiest lesser-known airports around the world.

With its futuristic design, the international terminal at the airport just outside of Azerbaijan's capital Baku is a pretty cool space to find yourself in transit. Designed by Turkish architect studio Autoban in 2015, the triangular building features glass bubbles that lead into a check-in area scattered with trees and full of natural light.

The striking wooden cocoons on the top floor of the terminal are one of its many distinctive design features. The spacious structures house cafés, bars, shopping kiosks, a children's play area and luggage storage space among other things. Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport, typically the busiest airport in the country and the Caucasus, is the home base for national carrier Azerbaijan Airlines and was ranked 55 in Skytrax’s list of the world’s top 100 airports in 2020.

Unless you’ve flown in to visit Yellowstone National Park, it’s unlikely you’ll be familiar with this small airport in Montana’s Gallatin County. But with direct flights to 31 destinations in the US, it’s actually the state’s busiest airport, and it handled 2.3 million passengers in 2022. It prides itself on providing services for two of Yellowstone National Park's entrances as well as some of Montana's ski resorts.

Its cosy interior is the perfect introduction to the region's rugged flora and fauna, with natural wood and stone design. In fact, it feels more like a log cabin than an airport – there are wooden animal sculptures and a crackling open fire in winter. Pair that with views of the snow-capped mountains in the distance and this is one airport that might be difficult to leave. There’s also local works of art on display throughout the terminal, chosen to represent the character of southwest Montana.

Less of a runway and more of a beach, this airport on the island of Barra in Scotland has one of the most exciting landings in the world. Sitting in the shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr in the Outer Hebrides, the tiny aviation centre has flights to and from Glasgow with Loganair. But it's not as simple as setting a departure time and taking to the skies here.

The beach is tidal, meaning the runways are underwater at certain times of day. Schedules are dictated by the tides, runways are marked by wooden poles at each end, and the baggage reclaim looks more like a bus stop than an arrivals hall. Its facilities are minimal, but when arriving onto the soft white sand of the Isle of Barra, none of that really matters – it's all about the scenery here.

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Chile's Easter Island sits more than 2,300 miles (3,700m) from the mainland capital, and with just one town and only 3,000 residents, it's a beautifully remote and quiet place. The airport here is no exception – there's no duty free and not a single hotel. With just one parking space marked out for its governor and a minibus to ferry passengers to the town, it's got to be one of the quietest airports in the world. 

Designed in a traditional style, with thatched roofing and wooden beams, it sets the scene perfectly for any visit to Easter Island. Its runway was initially intended as an emergency landing strip for the US Space Shuttle program, but has since been used to welcome visitors from South America, typically seeing around 100,000 passengers a year.

The largest airport in Uruguay – 11 miles east of capital Montevideo – was given a shiny new facelift by Uruguayan-born architect Rafael Vinoly in 2009 and still looks pretty snazzy over a decade later. One of its best features is the landscaped terrace on the second floor, where passengers can while away the hours gazing at the runway or public concourse.

The terminal was designed to let in lots of natural light and has a distinctive 1,200-foot (366m) curved roof, reminiscent of the rolling dunes along Uruguay's coastline. Typically, Carrasco has connections to the US, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Panama and Paraguay.

With the promise of no queues and non-stop flights to Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Orlando, Tampa and Washington DC, this small airport near downtown Chattanooga in southeastern Tennessee is a smart choice. But it’s also blazing the way for sustainable travel. It's the first airport in the US to run fully on solar power, with its own 2.64 megawatt solar farm.

Chattanooga's terminal was the first in the world to earn a LEED Platinum rating – a green building certification system – and its on-site solar farm, which is located on the southwest corner of the airfield, powers all its operations, making the airport building completely carbon neutral and self-sufficient.

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Some airports have artworks on display, others have gardens or waterfalls. This airport, though, has a life-size replica sequoia forest in the central lobby. As the gateway airport to California’s Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, the airport’s leafy installation certainly sets the tone for exploring the region’s bountiful natural beauty. The giant trunks appear to grow through the roof of the building.

The airport in California’s Central Valley has regular flights to Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, plus Guadalajara, Leon and and Morelia in Mexico. It also typically entertains passengers with regular 'Art at the Airport' exhibitions that feature the work of local artists.

No, you’re not imagining it: that is a train you see chugging across the runway of this little regional airport in New Zealand. In fact, it’s the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line, which crosses straight through Gisborne Airport on the east coast of North Island, making it the only airport in the Southern Hemisphere with a railway line crossing the main runway. Air New Zealand operates direct flights here from Wellington and Auckland.

The largest airport in China’s Hainan Province, an island that lies 14 miles (22.5km) off the mainland in the South China Sea, Haikou Meilan International Airport was the first Skytrax five-star regional airport in China and was rated number 38 on Skytrax’s list of the world’s top 100 airports in 2020. It typically operates domestic routes to cities across China, as well as routes around Southeast Asia like Bangkok and Singapore.

One of the reasons the airport achieved its five-star rating is its excellent facilities. As well as high-end shopping, passengers in transit can enjoy culinary Hainanese specialities, including Wenchang chicken, a dish using hens whose skin has turned yellow from eating banyan seeds. A brand new terminal was completed at the airport in summer 2020.

This international transit hub in Nova Scotia might be small but it welcomed more than 3 million passengers in 2022. It’s Canada’s sixth busiest airport and the main hub for Air Canada Express, and has been ferrying Canadians around the continent since 1960.

Nova Scotia is renowned for its lobster, and passengers arriving or departing at Halifax Stanfield needn't go far to get some of this meaty, delicious shellfish. The airport has its own seafood shop – Clearwater Seafoods – that sells local catch including live and cooked lobsters. They package it for travel, and if you’re in a rush you can even have your order packed up and brought to you after you go through security. Now that's service.

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Formally known as Bob Hope Airport and renamed Hollywood Burbank Airport in 2017, this terminal on North Hollywood Way is just 17 miles (27km) away from downtown LA. Served by nine commercial airlines (Alaska, American, Avelo, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United), it is far less busy than Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), typically serving around 6 million passengers annually compared with LAX's more than 60 million.

Hollywood Burbank is also a military airport servicing 372 operations per year. In its 91-year history, the airport has gone through a long series of name changes, including United Airport (1930-1934), Union Air Terminal (1934-1940), Lockheed Air Terminal (1940-1967), Hollywood-Burbank Airport (1967-1978), Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (1978-2003) and the aforementioned Bob Hope Airport.

Named after former president and poet Jose Joaquin de Olmedo, whose image presides over the entrance, the airport in Ecuador’s largest city Guayaquil was rated the "best regional airport in South America" in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2014 and ranked 74 in Skytrax’s list of the world’s top 100 airports in 2020.

Most airports tend to be concrete jungles but not Guayaquil’s verdant building, which brings some of Ecuador’s lush flora to passengers in transit. The terminal has a tranquil botanical garden area, complete with trickling water features, pools full of fish, and a variety of native plants and flowers. It's a zen place to get in the zone before a long-haul flight.

The main airport on the tiny Caribbean island of Saba, Juancho E. Yrausquin is notorious for its scary runway – at only 1,312 feet (400m) long it's the shortest commercial runway in the world. Not only that, the airstrip is flanked by precipitous cliff drops at both ends.

However, those that dare board a helicopter or turboprop plane (the only aircraft allowed to land here) from sister isle St Maarten will be wowed with incredible views of the volcanic island rising out of the startlingly blue Caribbean Sea. The flight is only 12 minutes but they'll be some of the most memorable of your life.

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With the looming cone-shaped Concepcion volcano at the end of its runway, this tiny airport on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua also has a pretty spectacular setting. The airport opened on the island in 2014 and provides a gateway to the gorgeous beaches, walking trails and towering volcanoes.

Passengers arrive on a 20-minute flight from Managua to the mile-long airstrip, which is currently only served by Nicaragua's national carrier La Costeña twice a week. Ometepe is made of two volcanoes: the active Concepcion and the extinct Maderas, which dominates the southern side. The latter is swathed in a cloud forest with a lake deep in its crater.

Where else but Sydney could visitors graze on a platter of oysters or enjoy a mango pavlova, cocktail in hand, before boarding a flight? The Rose Bay Water Airport in the city's affluent eastern suburbs is where Sydney Seaplanes depart for their scenic flights over Sydney Harbour and up to Palm Beach in the north.

The Empire Lounge, which opened in 2017, is a fantastic waterside cocktail bar and restaurant that doubles as the terminal. It’s also popular with non-passengers who enjoy a drink as they watch the seaplanes come and go. There's also a little museum charting the history of the city's 'flying boats', which first took to the skies here in 1938 and played a key role in the Second World War.

Surrounded by the icy wilderness of the Svalbard archipelago, this airport is the northernmost commercial airport in the world. Building a runway here was no mean feat – it was constructed on a layer of permafrost and fluctuating temperatures meant frequent repaving was needed. However, insulation has been added to keep the runway stable.

Most travellers arrive on this remote airstrip in Longyearbyen on direct flights from Oslo and Tromsø to go polar bear spotting – the animals outnumber humans on these far-flung islands that lie between Norway and the North Pole. Arctic expeditions get off to a promising start here, as visitors are greeted by a gigantic stuffed polar bear prowling around the baggage carousel in the arrivals area.

This avant-garde airport near the medieval UNESCO World Heritage town of Mestia might be small but it’s certainly memorable. It was designed by architect Jürgen Mayer, who was inspired by the ancient watchtowers of Mestia. The monochrome airport, which opened in 2010 and connects the remote region with capital Tbilisi, is named after Queen Tamar of Georgia, who ruled the country from 1184 to 1213.

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The short flight from Tbilisi to Mestia, in the Upper Svaneti region in the northwest of Georgia, takes passengers over some of the country's most incredible mountain scenery and medieval villages. Visible from the air are some of the old stone watchtowers that are typical of the region and which inspired the airport’s design.

As the southernmost international airport in the world serving the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia International Airport is a pretty special place. The airport sits right by the Beagle Channel, the strait in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the southern tip of South America. From the air, the simple but striking timber-framed terminal building blends in seamlessly with its dramatic surrounds.

Its facilities might not be anything to write home about but it’s all about the setting. Arriving into Ushuaia by plane offers a taster of the breathtaking views that are yet to come on a trip in this spectacular part of Argentina’s Patagonia, or on a cruise over to the Falkland Islands or the Antarctic.

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