An airport layover is a connection point between two cities that can range from 30 minutes to 23 hours long. They can be viewed as annoying or an exciting way to have fun! With the right planning and attitude, you can use those bonus travel hours to get out and explore or even contribute towards your future travels.
Here is how to maximize your layover of any duration:
15-23 Hours
If your layover is anywhere between 15-23 hours, I recommend booking an accommodation in your connection city so you can have a good night sleep, relax, shower and then explore. Or, depending on your time of arrival, explore and then get a good night sleep.
Emirates Airlines offers a courtesy connection program where passengers who have a layover for more than 8 hours in Dubai are given accommodations, meals, ground transportation, and visa costs. And yes, this is offered to economy class customers too!
Prior to your arrival in your layover city, check:
– If your airline offers any courtesy connection benefits. Most of these connection programs require you to reserve your room at least 24 hours prior to the flight.
– Visa requirements and whether or not you can get one on arrivalOnce you arrive, head to the information booth to pick up maps and guides. This will give you a good idea of things you can see within the time you have available. Long layovers are also a perfect time to connect with old friends. On our way to Bangkok, my friends and I had a 13 hour layover in London. During that time, we took the tube to meet up with a college friend, enjoyed a traditional English breakfast, stopped at an H&M for a hat because it was colder than we’d anticipated, and walked around for a bit. On the way back home, we again had a 17 hour layover in London, although I unfortunately spent the majority of that time in urgent care because of an ATV accident I had in Krabi.
7- 14 Hours
Depending on your time of arrival, with a layover of 7-14 hours you may be ready to explore as soon as you get off the plane or you may need a little more rest. If you need rest, but don’t necessarily want to purchase a hotel room, I would look into the following options:
- See if there are reclining lounge chairs available.
- Airport lounges. You don’t have to be a member to get into these lounges; most offer a flat fee for non-members. Check to see if your credit card gives you lounge access. My Chase Sapphire card provides me with complimentary access to over 900+ airport lounges. You can read about the benefits of Chase credit cards here.
- Napping pods. Not all airports have these, but they are a great alternative way to catch some R&R and have some privacy.
Prior to leaving the airport, you should know:
-For international flights, you typically want to be at the airport for at least 2 hours before departure.
-Be generous with the amount of transportation time you give yourself. If you find out it should take 45 minutes to get from the city center to the airport, give yourself 1.5 hours. You don’t want to be at the mercy of unexpected transportation delays.
– In the likely event that you don’t want to drag your carry-on with you while you explore, drop your bag off at your airport’s luggage storage. For a small fee, you can store your bags and explore in peace. This should also be factored into your exploration time because luggage storage may not be in the same terminal as your departing flight.On my way to Cape Town, I had a 13 hour layover in Munich, during which my friend from Austria came to visit and explore with me! Cheers to great friends!
6 or Less Hours
I personally wouldn’t leave the airport for a layover that is 6 hours or less. I don’t think it’s worth the hassle to just be able to explore a city for 3 hours. However, many airports have a lot of things to do right there in their facilities. Make sure to visit the information booth to get an airport pamphlet. One of my favorite things to do is explore art exhibits in airports.
Some alternative ideas on maximizing your time during a short layover are to:
Build that travel fund!
- Depending on your job duties and flexibility, perhaps you can work remotely. In this case, you should ask your supervisor if you could work extra hours during your layover. That would be a great time to complete the mindless tasks that keep getting pushed back. I wouldn’t do any tasks that are stressful (because, after all, you are on vacation); however, earning paid time off while on vacation sounds like a win to me!
- Complete surveys! Devote an hour or two of your layover time to answering paid surveys. Here are some of my favorites.
Plan trip activities!
If you haven’t already done so, use this time to do some detailed trip planning. Some of my favorite websites for planning are Pinterest and Lonely Planet.Contact loved ones!
We all get busy and probably have a few people that we’ve been meaning to contact for a while. Use this time to reconnect and check in!There you have it – some conventional and unconventional ways to maximize your layover of any duration! What are your favorite things to do during a layover?
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This Post Has 36 Comments
Great ideas, I had no idea about the lounge and nap areas. If I ever get stuck on an extended layover, I’m looking into that!
Thank you!!! 🙂
Love all you ideas. So much better over just sitting around reading a book or wasting time on phone, laptop.
Agreed! Get out and explore (if doable)
Super helpful tips! I’ve never had a super long layover on a trip before, but if I ever do, this will help!
Thank you!!
I need to check whether any of my credit cards offer access to lounges. Great idea. I agree that it doesn’t seem worth it to leave the airport for only a couple of hours. Some airports have yoga rooms, which is nice!
Good idea to check! A lot of cards have great benefits that most people know about. I’ve seen yoga rooms and shower rooms!
This was very helpful! My favorite airport to have a layover in is Singapore because there’s so much exciting FREE things to do!
Nice! I have to keep that in mind for my future trips!
I have a long layover in Chicago when I’m flying from.Birmingham Alabama to Delaware. I will book mark this post for the next time I fly out there and give some of your ideas a try.
Awesome! Happy Trip planning 🙂
I hate layovers though if you want to go someplace exciting, sometimes they are necessary and so, what I did was, I read, I walked around the airport and checked out the bars and lounges, shops and other cool places. I also spent sometime using their free wifi to surf the web and answer emails.
That’s a good use of your layovers! Answering emails can take forever!
These are great tips! I’ve never had a layover long enough to do anything, but if I do, will definitely keep these in mind!
Thank you! Happy Travel Planning!
Great ideas! The layover option for airlines like you mentioned for Emirates Air or as Icelandair is doing for stopovers in Iceland are great options to get a mini-holiday in before the real thing. I like finding airports that have lots of room to explore, especially for those shorter layovers too. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for reading 🙂
This is such a thoughtful guide, I absolutely love it!
In some cities, like Copenhagen, Hong Kong, etc, airports are almost in the city so you can easily explore given the option of 7-14 hours. I’ve done that on my long layover in Hong Kong and it was like an additional travel destination.
Also, I am trying to discipline myself to work while I am killing time in the airport and it works so well. You have wifi almost all the time and you do not get distracted.
That’s good to know about the Copenhagen & Hong Kong airports! Working in the airport is a great way to kill time.
I recently got to discover Beijing on a 12 hour layover. It was so much better than sitting in the airport and made the next flight a lot more bearable. These are great ideas for making the most of what is usually an annoyingly long wait.
12 hours in Beijing sounds fun!!!
I loved this post..so informative! I never heard of "Courtesy connection service" this is awesome! Probably because I have never traveled overseas..Pinning this for later..thank you much!
I’m glad this was helpful for you! Thanks for reading!
There are some great suggestions here! I don’t fly often and when I do, I try to book direct flights because I hate layovers. However, I’ve only traveled within the U.S. and I’m sure it’s different internationally.
Thank you! I definitely try to book direct flights domestically, unless it’s an extended layover in NYC and I can visit my family.
Loved the post and the great advice. I’ve never experienced a layover longer than 2 hours, but this is great for those just in case instances. Loved the photos as well. Happy travels girl!
It’s always great to be prepared :-)! Happy Travels to you too!
This is super handy! I only recently found out that tons of airlines have courtesy connection services with free hotel rooms/airport transfers if you have a long layover. I try to avoid long layovers when booking flights but will keep these tips in mind if I get stuck in an airport somewhere!
Thank you! I also recently found out. Airlines should do a better job of advertising that service.
I don’t usually book flights with long layovers unless I don’t have any choice. Yeah leaving the airport and exploring the city is a good idea. But if visa is an issue then duty-free shopping and sleeping pod is a way to kill the time. 🙂
Agreed! Time spent in duty-free and in a sleeping pod is time well spent 🙂
I recognize that blue and yellow train! Hello Netherlands operator NS! Nice tips, unique post, haven’t seen something this laid out before, super informative. X
Yup Yup that’s the Netherlands operator NS! Thank you for reading! I’m glad it was helpful!
I love these tips! Airport layovers are fun when you get to do something, but not when they are extended because you missed a flight. That happened to me last year on my way back from Romania, and the layover was miserable because all we wanted was to get back home haha. I’d love to travel more, and I’m pinning this to refer back to later!
You are absolutely right, they are more fun when they are planned! 🙂