Various holographic approaches to QCD in five dimensions are explored using input both from the putative five-dimensional non-critical string theory as well as QCD. It is argued that a gravity theory in five dimensions coupled to a dilaton and an axion may capture the important qualitative features of pure YM theory. A part of the effects of higher α'-corrections is resummed into a dilaton potential. The potential is shown to be in one-to-one correspondence with the exact β-function of QCD, and its knowledge determines the full structure of the vacuum solution. The geometry near the UV boundary is that of AdS5 with logarithmic corrections reflecting the asymptotic freedom of QCD. We find that all relevant confining backgrounds have an IR singularity of the ''good" kind that allows unambiguous spectrum computations. Near the singularity the 't Hooft coupling is driven to infinity. Asymptotically linear glueball masses can also be achieved. The classification of all confining asymptotics, the associated glueball spectra and meson dynamics are addressed in a companion paper arXiv:0707.1349