£20,000-a-night?

At least Sven Goran Eriksson should feel at home when he and the rest of the England football squad arrive tonight from Dubai on the South Korean island of Cheju, 15 days before their first World Cup game. The exclusive Paradise Hotel in the subtropical resort of Sogwipo, booked out at a cost of £20,000 a night, has 56 designer rooms based on six themes, including wood-panelled Scandinavian, promising "a totally Nordic experience". The rest of the squad can choose between "African" (with furniture imported from Kenya) and "Korean" (with an authentic heated floor), among the other styles.

The Paradise, which will be home to England before they fly to Japan late next week, is an exclusive residence, even by the standards of an island that panders to those with exclusive tastes. Located near the scenic Jungbang Falls at Sokuipo Beach, it offers "a stunning view of tall cliffs that fall steeply into the emerald sea". Among its attractions are a pool deck, sauna suite and karaoke bar.

Four restaurants will offer a welter of dining experiences, although a hotel spokeswoman could not confirm whether the infamous dog stew would be on the menu. "Anyway, England have their own chef," she said. "He's called Russell and he's just checked in."

Cheju is described in the brochures as a "land of fantasy, mystery and folk tales". It is home to 500,000 people (and 4 million temporary guests a year), and is reached by plane, helicopter or boat from the mainland port of Pusan. Sogwipo is particularly popular, not least for its beaches, casinos and views of the island's dominant natural feature, Mount Halla, a dormant volcano.

The island's new World Cup stadium, costing £60m, was designed, say the architects, "to symbolise one of Cheju's many secondary volcanoes". It features a roof supposedly representing a net flung from a fishing boat. That the "net" covers only half of the 42,256 seats is seen as a minor drawback. The venue, where England will meet South Korea in a warm-up match on Wednesday, will host two games in the World Cup itself, Brazil vs China on 8 June and Slovenia vs Paraguay on 12 June.

If Cheju has drawbacks, they should largely go unnoticed by the England party, at least if they stay away from the island's major settlement, Cheju City. "It is known as a playground (ie, whorehouse) for gangsters," wrote one Japanese journalist recently. The same writer's conclusions, England will be glad to know, were mostly positive. "[Cheju] is famous for the things it has in abundance (wind, rocks, women) and the things it doesn't have (thieves, beggars)."

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