A friend recently had a madcap adventure in New York City after leaving Newark airport during a layover. Since her stopover was about nine hours, I encouraged her to leave the airport and check out New York City. She managed to take a train to the city without too much trouble. She had a great time checking out the Empire State Building, Times Square and Central Park. But she missed her train back to the airport and nearly missed her international flight too!
Her experience made me wonder: Was I wrong in encouraging her to leave the airport during a layover?
In this post we’ll look at whether it’s ever OK to leave the airport between flights, the pluses and minuses of leaving the airport during layovers, and best practices for stopover tourism. We’ll also look at what my friend could have done differently on her New York City stopover adventure.
Yes, you can leave the airport during a layover
One of my favorite travelers on TikTok, Charissa Enget, recently shared some stories about fun mini-vacations she’s taken on long layovers. She even purposely schedules long layovers in order to get out and explore the stopover destinations. She was surprised to get comments from people who thought it was actually illegal to leave the airport between flights.
So the first thing you need to know about layover tourism is that it’s perfectly legal to leave an airport during a layover — as long as you have a visa to visit the country you’ve landed in.
But should you ever leave the airport between flights?
So you are allowed to exit the airport during a layover. But is it a bad idea? Some things you should consider:
- How much time you have. Remember that many airlines recommend arriving at the airport 2 hours before a domestic flight and 3 hours before an international one. You’ll have to account for time getting from the airport to the city you want to explore and back, and time to get through security and to your gate. If you’re traveling internationally, don’t forget to account for time to go through immigration and customs.
- What you’ll do with your luggage. If you’re traveling with a rolling carryon or a heavy backpack, you might not want to tow it around the city with you. And while traveling internationally, some stopover airports will require you to pick up your checked bags and check them back in again. Before you travel, research where you might be able to store your bags during your layover adventure.
- Do you have cell phone service? If you’re traveling internationally, make sure you’ll be able to use your phone in your stopover location to check schedules, hail a ride, get directions, receive airline updates, etc.
- Your temperament. Honestly, this is the most important factor. Be honest with yourself: Are you the type of person who can enjoy the day knowing that you’re running even a tiny risk of missing your next flight? My husband is a nervous flier who I would never drag on a stopover tour. But if I was traveling alone or with a friend, I’d love it.
How to figure out if you have enough time to leave the airport
This is basically a math story problem. To figure out if you have time to leave the airport between flights, you need to add (time from airport to destination) + (time to store luggage) + (time to enjoy destination) + (time to retrieve luggage) + (time to return to airport) + (time to get through security/immigration and to gate) + (2-3 hours).
Let’s say you’re an American flying domestically, and you just landed at Chicago O’Hare airport. It’s 9 a.m., and your next flight departs at 3 p.m. You would like to go downtown and see the Bean and tour the Art Institute of Chicago. These are the steps you’d need to take:
- Take the Hilton airport shuttle from your terminal to the on-airport Hilton and stow your bags at the bell desk. 30 minutes
- Ride the L from below the Hilton to the Bean. 1 hour.
- Check out the Bean. 20 minutes.
- Walk to the Art Institute. 5 minutes.
- Enter and tour the Art Institute. 2 hours.
- Take the L back to O’Hare. 1 hour.
- Retrieve your luggage and take the shuttle back to your terminal. 30 minutes.
- Go through security and walk to your gate. 1 hour.
All this would take you up to 6.5 hours. (I’m not saying going through security would definitely take an hour at O’Hare, but there’s a chance it could be backed up, and you’d need to account for that possibility). So you could not achieve this itinerary between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and get back 2 hours before your connecting flight.
Now, if you wanted to go downtown and only do one hour of sightseeing, you could probably manage it with a 6-hour layover. Or maybe you don’t bringing your hand luggage with you, and you hop in a cab from the terminal and take a cab back, and make the round trip in less time. But you’d have to ask yourself if it’s worth it to travel for so long to only spend a short time in Chicago.
On the other hand, say you have the same length of time and you’ve just landed at San Francisco airport. You’d like to check out Fisherman’s Wharf. You can store your bags right at the airport, and a taxi from the airport should only take you about half an hour each way, if the traffic isn’t bad. So visting Fisherman’s Wharf during a six-hour stopover at SFO should be pretty safe.
The advantages of leaving the airport during a long layover
If you’re taking even a tiny risk of messing up your trip, why do people even leave the airport between flights?
- Seeing a new destination. For adventure seekers (like me), the siren song of an unexplored city or beach may be too strong to ignore. Stopover adventures can be a budget-friendly way to check out a destination you may never get to in your life, or to scope out a potential future vacation spot.
- Rest. Sometimes long layovers include an overnight. Personally, I don’t want to sleep on the airport floor! I’d rather go to a hotel and come back in the morning.
- Avoiding boredom. Even if what’s out there is no great shakes, I’d personally rather walk around and get some fresh air than while away many long hours inside a noisy, stuffy airport terminal.
- Saving money. Airport food is expensive (and often not very good). You’ll have to include the cost of getting to and from the airport in your calculations, but in some places, you might save money by leaving the airport to eat at a restaurant or visit a grocery store.
The disadvantages of leaving the airport during a stopover
Really, there’s just one big disadvantage: You could miss your next flight. You may have planned everything out perfectly, but what if?
- What if you get lost?
- What if there’s a transit strike or other shutdown and the airport train stops operating?
- What if you get robbed, or lose your passport or other ID?
- What if you get injured and end up at the hospital?
- What if you get stopped at security or immigration returning to the airport?
- What if you store your bags and come back to find the storage place closed?
How to leave the airport between flights without problems
If you’ve decided you want to try layover tourism, here are some best practices to help you pull off your stopover vacation:
- Plan it in advance. Where do you want to go when you leave the airport? Where will you store your bags? How will you get there? What time will you start returning to the airport? What’s the local transit schedule? How much padding time do you need? What’s your backup plan if your aiport return transportation doesn’t work out? What hoops do you need to jump through to get to your gate upon return? If you don’t know the answers to all these questions, stay at the aiport.
- Ask questions. Even though you’ve researched it online, it’s a great idea to quiz airport staff when you land. How soon do I really need to be back here for my flight? What’s a good place near the airport to explore? How long do I need to get through security?
- Be conservative. If you have five hours to explore Paris, don’t try to do the Eiffel Tower and Versailles and the Louvre. Pick something and leave yourself buffer time on the return.
- Be prepared to spend extra money if anything goes wrong. You might plan to take public transit from the airport and back, but what if you end up having to take a taxi? Know what the emergency scenario will cost before you go.
- Look for organized stopover tours. Some locations have tour operators that will pick you up at the aiport, take you out for sightseeing, and then get you back to the airport in time for you flight. Some of these tours are even offered free of charge by airports, like in Seoul. Ideal!
Where to store your luggage
Even if your airline keeps your checked bags, you might have a carryon that you don’t want to schlep around all day. If your airport doesn’t offer storage lockers, look for baggage storage at train stations and hotels. My family was recently able to check our bags at the on-airport Hilton at Chicago O’Hare airport. Officially, the policy is that luggage storage is for guests only, but the bell desk didn’t ask us if we were staying there.
There are also nationwide chains of luggage storage companies that may have a location in the city you’re visiting. Check out Bounce and Stasher.
Alternatives to leaving the airport during a long stopover
The city is too far from the airport, or you just don’t want to risk it? Other ideas for whiling away the hours between flights:
- Explore the whole airport. Get on the air train and check out the other terminals. Look for opportunities to get fresh air, like San Francisco’s SkyTerrace.
- Get a massage or pedicure. To be frank, my experiences with in-airport spas have not been great. But still. If you didn’t have time to get your nails done before departure, you have time now.
- Find a place to sleep. Maybe it’s a banquette in Oakland Airport’s long walkway between terminals. Or even one of those pay-by-the-hour pods. Just make sure you set an alarm so you don’t miss your flight!
- Check out airport hotels. You may have to go through security again, but you won’t need a taxi or commuter rail ride to visit at-terminal hotels like Chicago O’Hare’s Hilton.
- Visit airport museums. If you’re really lucky, you’ll land at an airport with something to see, like the Mitchell Gallery of Flight in Milwaukee.
- Check out a lounge. If I was flying First or Business Class and had access to a premium airline lounge, I probably wouldn’t be tempted to leave the airport! Some lounges allow you to buy a day pass. Also check your credit card perks to see if that might get you into any lounges for free or at a reduced rate.
So what went wrong with my friend’s layover adventure?
My friend’s day of tourism went great. Things only went south when she missed the train that she was supposed to take to get back to the airport in time for her flight. I’m not sure if she strayed too far from that train station to get there on time, or got lost, or had trouble retrieving her stored luggage. All I know is that once she missed the train, she hailed a taxi. The driver warned her that with rush hour traffic, he might not be able to get her to the airport on time.
When they pulled up to the airport less than an hour before takeoff, my cousin ran to the check-in desk to ask what she should do. This is where she got really lucky. The staff escorted her through security to get her onto the plane before the door closed. I have no idea why they were so kind. To be honest, I’ve traveled through Newark airport myself and the staff I interacted with were kind of salty.
When I heard about my friend’s near miss, I felt a little responsible. After all, I was the one who’d encouraged her to go into NYC.
On the other hand, she probably could made her flight comfortably if she’d planned her day more conservatively. She later told me she’d had trouble checking the train schedule because she didn’t have cell phone coverage in New York that day. If I ever attempt a NYC layover tour myself, I’ll make sure to take an extra early return train.
Oh well! She made it, didn’t she? And she has a fun story to share for the rest of her life.
Have you ever tried a layover mini-vacation? Would you?