How to turn a long layover into a free day in a city
A connection of ten hours or more, at the right airport and the right time of day, is a free day in a city you were flying through anyway: one ticket, bags checked through, and often the same fare as the quickest way to fly. The trick is finding those tickets, and knowing when the gap is long enough.
How long is long enough
The least time worth leaving the airport for: immigration, the trip into town and back, and security again with margin, but no sightseeing. Add the hours you want in the city on top. For an airport not listed, 8 hours is the careful minimum.
Singapore SIN · Changi4 hours
Amsterdam AMS · Schiphol5 hours
Copenhagen CPH · Kastrup5 hours
Doha DOH · Hamad5 hours
Dubai DXB5 hours
Frankfurt FRA5 hours
Helsinki HEL · Vantaa5 hours
Lisbon LIS · Humberto Delgado5 hours
Tokyo HND · Haneda5 hours
Vienna VIE5 hours
Zurich ZRH5 hours
Athens ATH6 hours
All 33 airports
Barcelona BCN · El Prat6 hours
Budapest BUD6 hours
Dublin DUB6 hours
London LHR · Heathrow6 hours
Madrid MAD · Barajas6 hours
Munich MUC6 hours
Paris ORY · Orly6 hours
Reykjavik KEF · Keflavik6 hours
Rome CIA · Ciampino6 hours
London LGW · Gatwick7 hours
London LTN · Luton7 hours
London STN · Stansted7 hours
Milan MXP · Malpensa7 hours
New York EWR · Newark7 hours
New York JFK · John F. Kennedy7 hours
Paris CDG · Charles de Gaulle7 hours
Rome FCO · Fiumicino7 hours
Istanbul IST8 hours
Istanbul SAW · Sabiha Gokcen8 hours
Tokyo NRT · Narita8 hours
Paris BVA · Beauvais9 hours
How to find a ticket with a long layover
1. Search with a minimum connection time
Most flight searches can filter by connection length, under stops or layovers, but they sort long connections to the bottom and hide the rest behind the fastest flights. Set the minimum to the hours in the table above for the airport you want to stop in, and the tickets that are left are the ones worth leaving the airport for.
2. Compare it with the cheapest fare and with two tickets
A one-stop ticket with a long connection is often within a few dollars of the quickest fare on the same leg, and much cheaper than flying to the layover city and on again as two separate tickets. If it costs a lot more than either, it is not a free day, it is a stopover you are paying for.
3. Or let the planner find them
Stopover searches every leg of your trip twice: the normal way, and again with the connection filter set to 10 hours (anything from 4 to 24 in Advanced). It keeps a long connection when it costs no more than $60, or 15% of the fare, above the cheapest way to fly that leg, and tells you whether the gap is long enough for that airport and how much of it is daylight.
An example the planner found: Dallas to London on one Iberia ticket with 25 hours in Madrid, $43 more than the cheapest fare on that leg and $199 less than flying Dallas to Madrid and Madrid to London as two tickets. How the free-city check works.
Can you enter the country? Leaving the airport means passing immigration, so a layover needs the same visa or electronic travel authorization a visit would. Some countries have a transit visa or a visa-free transit window; check the rule for your passport before you book.
Are your bags checked through? On one ticket they usually are. If not, you collect them, store them, and check them in again, and that eats the day.
When does it fall? Eleven hours from 10pm to 9am is a hotel night, not a day in the city. Count the daylight, not the hours.
How far is town? Count the time through the airport and into the center at both ends, and be back airside with the margin the airline asks for: usually two to three hours before an international departure.
Is it one ticket? On one ticket, a late first flight is the airline's problem. On two separate tickets it is yours, so leave a day rather than hours between them.
Airlines that give you a hotel or a tour on a long transit
Turkish AirlinesStopover in Istanbul: free hotel night(s) on qualifying long connections (economy 1 night, business 2), booked in advance through the airline. Touristanbul runs free city tours for 6 to 24h layovers.
EmiratesDubai Stopover packages (hotel, visa and transfers). Dubai Connect adds a free hotel, transfers and meals on transits of 6 to 26 hours.
Qatar AirwaysQatar Stopover: discounted hotel nights in Doha on transits of 12h or more, booked with the ticket through Discover Qatar.
Ethiopian AirlinesAddis Ababa Stopover: on a single-ticket connection of 8 to 24 hours, a free hotel night, transfers and meals, with transit-visa help; collect the voucher at check-in.
Each name links to the airline’s own page, and terms change, so that page is the one to trust. Want days rather than hours? How to book a flight with a stopover.
Questions people ask
How long does a layover have to be to leave the airport?
It depends on the airport. On the planner's table it runs from 4 hours at Singapore to 9 at Paris, counting immigration, the trip into town and back, and getting back through security with margin. For an airport nobody has measured, 8 hours is the careful minimum.
Can I leave the airport on a layover?
Usually, if you are allowed into the country. You pass immigration like any other arrival, so you need whatever visa or travel authorization your passport needs there. Your checked bags normally stay with the airline on a single ticket.
Is a ticket with a long layover cheaper?
Often it costs about the same as the quickest fare, and sometimes less, because long connections are less popular. It is almost always cheaper than two separate tickets through the same city, which is the other way to spend a day there.
What is the difference between a long layover and a stopover?
Length, as far as the airline is concerned. On an international ticket a connection of up to 24 hours is usually a layover, and anything longer is a stopover, which a fare may charge extra for. A layover of 10 to 24 hours is enough for a day in a city and still counts as a connection.
Or let it look for you
Give it your cities.
Stopover prices every order your cities could go in and checks each flight for a layover long enough to be a free city, measured against that airport. No account needed.