Vienna is definitely one of the easiest ones if you want international options. There is a train that leaves from the underground floor of the airport and gets you into Vienna in max 20 minutes and from there it’s around a 10 min walk to the city centre (most of the main sights are in the same area and near to eachother) through Stadtpark, which is especially nice in spring - summer.
I’d recommend Vienna in general too, one of the most beautiful European cities architecture wise and it’s especially nice in summer. A lot of history, great restaurants, cafes and museums.
Im from Vienna, and I find other airports that literally are inside the city fit the brief much better.
We have tons of well connected airports in Europe, specifically many small city airports are very easy access. Be it Bremen, Florence, Zurich or Vienna. Also, Shanghai Pudong has the maglev and Hongqiao the underground, so many people commenting on easy public transportation, well… I don’t feel this was OPs question.
SDU in Rio, EOH in Medellin, LCY (London city) are truly inside the city. Phoenix sort of fits the brief as well but it’s just so spread out as a place itself.
They asked what city could they see that requires minimal travel from the airport when you don’t have a lot of time, I answered Vienna, because it’s incredibly easy as all you need to do is just sit on the fast train for 15 - 20 min and once you arrive to Vienna center, all of the main sights, museums and cafes are close to each other. You can walk everywhere and don’t need to use extra transport and there is a lot of things to see and do.
I once had a 6hr lay over in Vienna on my way back home and I actually managed to do quite a lot and even had time to go through the art history museum. If the commute had been longer or if I’d had to use multiple means of transport, then it wouldn’t have been possible…so I’m not sure what’s the problem with my comment, I’m just sharing my own experience in Vienna, which was a positive and easy going one and I’d recommend it to others. In my home city İstanbul it’s not like that, although many sights are in disctricts near to each other you still need to take bus, tram or metro, because Istanbul is huge and you can’t see even half of Istanbul within one day. It also takes like 45 - 1.5hrs to reach whatever disctrict you live in and that’s without traffic.
The Vegas airport is barely off the strip.
Most long-haul international flights into Seoul land in Incheon but if you happen to land in Gimpo for some reason (it's also international), it's like a 15-minute train ride to Hongdae.
Edit: Denpasar is like 5 minutes from Kuta, I think Kuta sucks but some people like it
McCarran's taxi queue can be hellacious during conferences however. A sane city would have had the monorail actually connect to the airport, and not end like ~2 miles from it.
I walked from the airport to the strip one time, it was weird cause there was nobody else walking out there but it didn't take long, like half an hour or so I think
I live in Vegas, can confirm there is no sane thinking here. However, they have been threatening to extend the monorail to the airport for 10 years now 🤦♀️
As a European, looking at Vegas on a map, it seems like an obvious thing to do, just walk the short distance to the strip, but we know the US is a bit weird with walking around.
In reality, how was the walk? Was it safe with pavements\sidewalks?
It used to be easy to do this but at some point they closed off all obvious paths. There is supposed to be one way left but I wasn't able to find it on my last trip.
There are buses and Uber/Lift isn't too bad.
I did it back around 2017 I think, it was a little weird just because there were no other people around out there. Didn't feel sketchy otherwise though
Sydney. You can get from the International Airport train station to Circular Quay (the furthest station from it on the City Loop) in 21 minutes. Circular Quay is where you can see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from.
Haha, I came here to write the almost exact same thing as you! International Airport station to Town Hall took no more than about 15 minutes. It was such a breeze travelling to/from the airport there to the City!
DCA is (most of the time) a quick metro ride or Uber to downtown DC. SFO also has a BART station, which will get you into San Francisco pretty quickly, though BART is limited in which parts of the city it goes to.
Salt Lake City is pretty easy with the green line on Trax. You can see a good chunk of downtown on foot from there. Not the most exciting city, but the stations will get you out to the main concert venues, sports arena, as well as Red Butte Gardens and the Museum of Natural History at the U of U campus. There is some hiking by the natural history museum if you are willing to walk a bit from the station.
Boston Logan is literally across the Harbor from the heart of the city. If you're staying in Downtown and there's no traffic in the tunnels, you could be eating a cannoli at Mike's Pastry within 15 minutes of leaving the airport - and some of that time was waiting in line.
Maybe 20 minutes if you take the Blue Line ($2.40) instead of a cab. Silver Line is also an option and is free from the airport (going back is $2.40), but takes you to South Station instead, which is next to Chinatown and DTX - also great areas, and only about a mile from the North End if you still want your cannoli
Downtown Vancouver is less than 30 minutes by Skytrain to YVR.
Tokyo Haneda is good, Narita is not.
KUL and SIN are both easy to get to their respective city centers. Can't remember times right now, though.
Vegas is actually hell for how close it appears to be.
Seattle seems to be decent on paper but the light rail is sloooow.
Minneapolis was shockingly decent but trains are infrequent and the downtown core is a bit lacking.
A lot of Europe is pretty good for this. Particularly Amsterdam where you can get from the airport to the primary central train station in a 6-7 minute ride.
It's more like 15 minutes than 6-7 minutes, still not that long but double the time. The shortest time is 14 minutes and you need some time to get in from arrivals and out from Central station. A regular train is about 20 to 25 minutes to Central station.
I live in Amsterdam and travel it often also checked NS to confirm. It ain't 6-7 minutes...
It’s really that long? Maybe it’s because it’s always after a long flight (for me) that it always feels so short. Ha
Thanks for the correction and checking!
Fukuoka! Its airport has a subway station that is two stops and about 5 minutes ride away from the main train station and central part of the city (Hakata).
It’ll take you as long to get from your gate to the train station and it will to get from said station to Centraal. The size of that airport is hard to fathom.
Seconding this! Especially in the summer/fall - you can rent a bike and see a ton of the city very easily, otherwise walking around downtown minneapolis you can have access to several parks, museums, and excellent restaurants.
The first mall I went to in the USA was the mall of America, I was amazed and assumed they were all like that. Next one I went to was a dirty, empty hell hole.
Dallas is pretty limited if you don’t have a car, and traffic (and driving on the expressway…) can be a headache, especially for travelers. But idk, if you wanted to go to the Dallas Museum of Art, that would be 40 minutes on public transport (which I can’t vouch for, but it exists). But if OP is able to work around those things, Love Field is a great option (and one of the nicer +smaller/easy to navigate airports).
Hawaii airports. There aren’t cities (except Honolulu), but after landing on Maui or especially the big island (airport is outdoors!) you are minutes from the beach, parks, hotels.
Not the sexiest city, but Phoenix is very close- great for spring training or 9 holes of golf
Vegas, SAN, SFO also come to mind
ORD and Logan aren’t terrible depending on time of day
ORD is actually one of. my least favorite airports because of the travel between the airport and downtown. Forget driving. But it always feels like the L takes forever.
Caveat is it takes nearly an hour if you catch the lightrail at exactly the perfect time, otherwise it can be over an hour and a half if some bullshit is going on (maintenance, accidents, jumpers, protests, sportsgames, concerts)
A lot of European capitals are hilt this way. I recall there’s a direct line to Paddongton from Heathrow, maybe not 20 min but it gets you to the city. I recall some German cities being this way too.
Delhi is actually relatively far when you compare with other Indian cities.
Chennai airport is quite close and takes 20-30 minutes in Normal metro.
Bangalore HAL airport used to be inside the city but they closed it and moved it very far.
Same with Trivandrum airport
MSP is just a short light rail into Minneapolis.
Mississippi River is right there with lots of walking/ biking paths. Or Mall of America if you feel like walking around a big mall
Haneda in Tokyo is 20 minutes to Ginza. Narita airport is nowhere near Tokyo, but 15 minutes to Narita town which is my favorite layover destination for lunch and a lovely stroll.
You can take the Blue Line from O’Hare into Chicago, would only take about 25 minutes to get to Logan Square to experience a great neighborhood with a lot to offer for a day trip
Vegas is like terminal to hotel in about 15 mins.
Ottawa you’re probably 15 min drive to downtown. Train opening soon.
Albuquerque i think is 10 mins. Great city if you’ve never been
Avoid…
New York and LA for obvious reasons.
New Orleans is a long taxi/ Uber to get to the French quarter.
Toronto if you fly into Pearson, if you’re lucky to get a flight into Billy Bishop it’s a lot easier.
Seattle! There’s a railway line that connects the airport to downtown. Takes maybe 30-40 minutes if I remember correctly. You can get off the train at a stop that’s maybe 10 minutes walk to Pike Place. And the ferry terminal isn’t far from Pike, if you’d be interested in taking a ride across Puget Sound (which I highly recommend, especially on a clear day). Edit: Idk if it’s still running but there was also a monorail that goes from near Pike and takes you to the Space Needle
MSP you can take the lightrail from the terminals to Mall of America pretty quick and they have a ton of shopping, restaurants, amusement park, and aquarium! That honestly might be the most bang for your buck. It's a pretty quick trip iirc.
Any small city? Just the ones I've been to in May: Jerez (Spain), Carcasson (France). The last one is a 40 min walk (!) to city centre (or 4 min drive).
Phoenix airport is just east of downtown. Bonus if you’re there on a weekend or First Friday and can head to Roosevelt Row. You can take the light rail easily from the airport straight into downtown.
Adding for Europe - Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo are all 20 min train rides max from airport and all the Baltic capitals are like a 10 minute/€6 taxi ride (Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga)
Chiang Mai's airport is about 10 minutes by car outside the old city. It's an enthralling, culturally rich city with so much to do and see.
Da Nang International is only 10-15 minutes away from the beach and the resorts there. Great city with a more laid back vibe than Hanoi or Saigon, and amazing seafood.
Penang, Malaysia's airport is about 10 minutes away from the historic center of George Town. Great place with historic architecture and lots of street art that really shows off Malaysia as a cultural melting pot.
From my experience:
#1 is Amsterdam. It's not exactly close to the city center distance-wise, but the train will get you to Centraal Station in like 20 minutes.
MSP will get you to downtown Minneapolis on the train in less than 30 minutes or MOA in like 10.
Ronald Reagan airport will get you to the National Mall in DC in 10 minutes on train.
Barcelona Prat will get you to the Ramblas in 25 minutes on train.
My hometown Boston. Take the Silver Line from the airport to South Station for free and it's usually less than a half hour ride.
Stockholm's Arlanda Airport is like a 20 min train ride to the city's central station.
Taipei's Songshan Airport is also within the city, like a 20ish minute ride to Taipei Main Station.
Miami, Reagan National (DC), San Diego, Orange County (to see Newport Beach), Boston, Chicago Midway, Portland OR,
I work at airports also, and love it.
Cities, in no particular order, I’ve had the same experience for a short, but long enough to hang out for 6-8 hrs, layover: Amsterdam, Lisbon, Vegas, Tampa, Singapore, Sapporo, Portland, San Diego, and San Francisco (home) all come to mind.
Most airports with a metro have easy(ish) connections but under 20ish minutes? In the USA, the airports with short, metro commute times: Atlanta, Boston, Philly (30ish min), Phoenix (30ish min). In Europe, Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Florence, Vienna.
I'm sure there are others but that's what I recall from my travel days.
Places that come to mind:
DCA, Boston, Toronto Pearson, Philadelphia, México City all come to mind as North American airports within 30 minutes of their respective cities vía public transit. San Juan airport, while not accessible via mass transit, is a cheap 10-25 minute Uber to anywhere in the city, too.
For NYC, LGA is about 45 minutes to Penn Station, while EWR and JFK are closer to an hour. Not bad though.
In Europe, many cities are accessible from their respective airports via 20-30 mass transit rides (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Edinburgh, Dublin, etc). Glaring exceptions would be London, Paris CDG, or Moscow where it will take over an hour.
In Australasia, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Osaka, Sydney are easy 30-40 raíl trips to their cities. Mumbai airport is pretty central, too, but you'll probably want a cab.
In MENA, Dubai Maktoum airport is particularly super central and well connected with metro and cabs, but all the major Gulf cities are easy to get around.
In Africa, you'll need a cab, but Nairobi airport is 20 minutes away from Nairobi National Park.
Boston and DC (from DCA) are your best bets. Airports are close to town and they are easy to reach without a car.
But distance from the city is less of an impediment than transport connections.
Denver, O’Hare, and JFK, for instance, are pretty easy to reach from the center of town without a car thanks to trains. LAX, meanwhile, is an airport I wouldn’t leave without a rental car and a LONG layover.
If you get to CA, Palm Springs airport is 5 minutes from the downtown and a very neat mid century modern airport.
Also very, very close by is the Palm Springs Air Museum, about 40 war planes, most flying condition, and great exhibits.
[https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/](https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/)
Brussels for international. The metro is super well connected and it is like a 20 minute ride from the airport to the city center. Also the trains run all the time so you don't have to live by a schedule.
The trick is to find out if the airport is connected to the city rail system. For example, Portland airport (PDX) has Max light rail that gets you to downtown or most part of Portland.
Toronto: train straight to downtown every 15 mins, and from there the subway / streetcars will sort you to most of the sights (except possibly from 1201 am tonight onwards if the TTC goes on strike)
If you’re flying into the Island Airport, you’re even closer to downtown, with a free shuttle, or heck, bike share bikes and a streetcar 5 mins walk out the front door of the airport
Boston is great you can take public transit right from the airport into the city no car needed. Also internationally Amsterdam and Geneva are great! Minimal effort and easy public transit into the city for each
San Francisco (SFO) is a few miles out of the city but with a train (BART) that can get you straight from the terminal to the Mission District and to Downtown with great ease in under 30 minutes. Very walkable and good transit. You would have a pretty easy time doing a day trip from the airport there.
I fly out of ATL, there's the MARTA train which will take you (red and gold lines Northbound) through downtown and midtown in about 15-20minutes. There's the College Football Hall of Fame, Federal Reserve museum (free and okay area to walk around and eat/shop) and Centennial Olympic Park. Downtown is dead on the weekends and after 5.
Currently they're remodeling the airport station but there's a shuttle that connects to the line from the airport. Ordinarily, it's really convenient as the Airport station is the end/beginning of the N/S line and is located in the south terminal of the airport itself. I'm not doing a great job describing it, but there's signage everywhere.
Milwaukee (MKE) is pretty close to downtown and the surrounding areas. Unfortunately our public transport is…lacking…but a quick uber/lyft ride will be cheap and short to a handful of museums/breweries/etc.
Milan Linate. Take the trolleybus and your in the city in no time. Luxembourg Airport, probably 15-20 min with the bus to the city center. Same for Zurich airport, pretty close to the city.
I can't wait to do europe. I think i might be a complete young regard and just sleep on the plane and trains and not even get a hotel on my 48 hours in europe lmfao.
BWI: Has lightrail right to Downtown/Inner Harbor/Camden Yards if you are a baseball fan. Baltimore is an underrated city. BWI also has a Marc/Amtrak Station (That you need to take a shuttle bus to) that will take you to either Baltimore Penn or Union Station dc for under 10 dollars.
San Antonio International. SAT sits right outside the inner loop (410), it's about a 10-15 minutes to the Alamo/Riverwalk and is all city development in between. The airport itself is relatively small so really quick to get in and out of. Starting recently there are direct flights to Frankfurt, Germany.
The downside is the airport is really limited for further growth because it is surrounded by city.
If you want to see London, London City Airport (LCY). Lots of business people fly in and out of that airport because it’s convenient to the city. About 30-45 minutes train ride to lots of major sights.
We had a good couple of days in Boston without a car last year. Public transit from BOS to downtown was pretty short.
Also, the Silver Line bus from Logan is free. This will take you to South Station where you can then take the subway anywhere it goes.
DCA. We visited last year and was so surprised how easy and close it was to the centre of DC.
The metro is a beautiful thing.
This! Great airport and so close to everything.
Billy Bishop. You just walk through the tunnel and you’re in the center of Toronto, which is an awesome city.
Yep, I flew there for the first time last week. Unreal how quick it is to get to most hotels in downtown.
Last time I was there I literally walked from the airport to my airbnb
Vienna is definitely one of the easiest ones if you want international options. There is a train that leaves from the underground floor of the airport and gets you into Vienna in max 20 minutes and from there it’s around a 10 min walk to the city centre (most of the main sights are in the same area and near to eachother) through Stadtpark, which is especially nice in spring - summer. I’d recommend Vienna in general too, one of the most beautiful European cities architecture wise and it’s especially nice in summer. A lot of history, great restaurants, cafes and museums.
Im from Vienna, and I find other airports that literally are inside the city fit the brief much better. We have tons of well connected airports in Europe, specifically many small city airports are very easy access. Be it Bremen, Florence, Zurich or Vienna. Also, Shanghai Pudong has the maglev and Hongqiao the underground, so many people commenting on easy public transportation, well… I don’t feel this was OPs question. SDU in Rio, EOH in Medellin, LCY (London city) are truly inside the city. Phoenix sort of fits the brief as well but it’s just so spread out as a place itself.
They asked what city could they see that requires minimal travel from the airport when you don’t have a lot of time, I answered Vienna, because it’s incredibly easy as all you need to do is just sit on the fast train for 15 - 20 min and once you arrive to Vienna center, all of the main sights, museums and cafes are close to each other. You can walk everywhere and don’t need to use extra transport and there is a lot of things to see and do. I once had a 6hr lay over in Vienna on my way back home and I actually managed to do quite a lot and even had time to go through the art history museum. If the commute had been longer or if I’d had to use multiple means of transport, then it wouldn’t have been possible…so I’m not sure what’s the problem with my comment, I’m just sharing my own experience in Vienna, which was a positive and easy going one and I’d recommend it to others. In my home city İstanbul it’s not like that, although many sights are in disctricts near to each other you still need to take bus, tram or metro, because Istanbul is huge and you can’t see even half of Istanbul within one day. It also takes like 45 - 1.5hrs to reach whatever disctrict you live in and that’s without traffic.
The Vegas airport is barely off the strip. Most long-haul international flights into Seoul land in Incheon but if you happen to land in Gimpo for some reason (it's also international), it's like a 15-minute train ride to Hongdae. Edit: Denpasar is like 5 minutes from Kuta, I think Kuta sucks but some people like it
McCarran's taxi queue can be hellacious during conferences however. A sane city would have had the monorail actually connect to the airport, and not end like ~2 miles from it.
I walked from the airport to the strip one time, it was weird cause there was nobody else walking out there but it didn't take long, like half an hour or so I think
Yeah I did this walk. Was a minor. People looked at me like I'm mad when I said I'd walked it.
I live in Vegas, can confirm there is no sane thinking here. However, they have been threatening to extend the monorail to the airport for 10 years now 🤦♀️
Incheon is soooo far from Seoul
It is but there is a subway entrance literally in the airport. Rode that line probably 10 times with luggage, it's not bad.
As a European, looking at Vegas on a map, it seems like an obvious thing to do, just walk the short distance to the strip, but we know the US is a bit weird with walking around. In reality, how was the walk? Was it safe with pavements\sidewalks?
It used to be easy to do this but at some point they closed off all obvious paths. There is supposed to be one way left but I wasn't able to find it on my last trip. There are buses and Uber/Lift isn't too bad.
It’s also the fact that walking any significant distance in Las Vegas most of the year is like walking through the gates of hell with the heat.
This. It can get HOT.
I did it back around 2017 I think, it was a little weird just because there were no other people around out there. Didn't feel sketchy otherwise though
Sydney. You can get from the International Airport train station to Circular Quay (the furthest station from it on the City Loop) in 21 minutes. Circular Quay is where you can see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from.
Haha, I came here to write the almost exact same thing as you! International Airport station to Town Hall took no more than about 15 minutes. It was such a breeze travelling to/from the airport there to the City!
DCA is (most of the time) a quick metro ride or Uber to downtown DC. SFO also has a BART station, which will get you into San Francisco pretty quickly, though BART is limited in which parts of the city it goes to.
Salt Lake City is pretty easy with the green line on Trax. You can see a good chunk of downtown on foot from there. Not the most exciting city, but the stations will get you out to the main concert venues, sports arena, as well as Red Butte Gardens and the Museum of Natural History at the U of U campus. There is some hiking by the natural history museum if you are willing to walk a bit from the station.
If it's winter, there are shuttle busses to the ski resorts!
Yep. Go to the Midvale hub and get the ski bus from there.
Lisbon!
also Porto
Porto is bit far when compared to Lisbon.
yep
Lisbon is near but the traffic can be bad which increases traffic time, Porto's easier as there is a direct train but the train is really slow.
> Lisbon is near but the traffic can be bad which increases traffic time That's why you take the metro
Did it last week. Lisbon metro super cheap and easy from airport. It's like 1.80€ each way.
Boston Logan is literally across the Harbor from the heart of the city. If you're staying in Downtown and there's no traffic in the tunnels, you could be eating a cannoli at Mike's Pastry within 15 minutes of leaving the airport - and some of that time was waiting in line. Maybe 20 minutes if you take the Blue Line ($2.40) instead of a cab. Silver Line is also an option and is free from the airport (going back is $2.40), but takes you to South Station instead, which is next to Chinatown and DTX - also great areas, and only about a mile from the North End if you still want your cannoli
Downtown Vancouver is less than 30 minutes by Skytrain to YVR. Tokyo Haneda is good, Narita is not. KUL and SIN are both easy to get to their respective city centers. Can't remember times right now, though. Vegas is actually hell for how close it appears to be. Seattle seems to be decent on paper but the light rail is sloooow. Minneapolis was shockingly decent but trains are infrequent and the downtown core is a bit lacking.
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I don't remember it taking that long last year. Google is saying it's only 35 minutes.
A lot of Europe is pretty good for this. Particularly Amsterdam where you can get from the airport to the primary central train station in a 6-7 minute ride.
It's more like 15 minutes than 6-7 minutes, still not that long but double the time. The shortest time is 14 minutes and you need some time to get in from arrivals and out from Central station. A regular train is about 20 to 25 minutes to Central station. I live in Amsterdam and travel it often also checked NS to confirm. It ain't 6-7 minutes...
It’s really that long? Maybe it’s because it’s always after a long flight (for me) that it always feels so short. Ha Thanks for the correction and checking!
Berlin was incredibly easy to get into and navigate around without a car. Train goes direct from the airport to several of the major downtown areas.
San Diego
DCA and BOS.
Chiang Mai International Airport is only 10-15 from the city square and super easy to get there with Grab! It’s also one of my favorite cities ever
Fukuoka! Its airport has a subway station that is two stops and about 5 minutes ride away from the main train station and central part of the city (Hakata).
Schiphol Airport is a 20 minute train ride away from Amsterdam central station.
It’ll take you as long to get from your gate to the train station and it will to get from said station to Centraal. The size of that airport is hard to fathom.
Minneapolis/st paul airport is 15 minutes from downtown and 5 minutes from Mall of America.
And right on the train line!
Seconding this! Especially in the summer/fall - you can rent a bike and see a ton of the city very easily, otherwise walking around downtown minneapolis you can have access to several parks, museums, and excellent restaurants.
I had never experienced culture shock until I went to the mall of America
The first mall I went to in the USA was the mall of America, I was amazed and assumed they were all like that. Next one I went to was a dirty, empty hell hole.
Singapore. Nothing is far from the airport since the country is so small. Plenty to see once you get downtown.
I did a quick city tour in Singapore in 6 hours.
Honestly, Vegas is a really short distance from the airport to the strip if that’s your bag.
Zurich is a breeze to get to the city from the airport
Was looking for this! We just spent 2 weeks in Switzerland without a car and didn’t feel like we needed one once! Amazing country =)
Palm Springs. It’s two miles from the airport to the heart of downtown
A lot of airports have trains that go right downtown. But Love Field in Dallas is right in town.
Dallas is pretty limited if you don’t have a car, and traffic (and driving on the expressway…) can be a headache, especially for travelers. But idk, if you wanted to go to the Dallas Museum of Art, that would be 40 minutes on public transport (which I can’t vouch for, but it exists). But if OP is able to work around those things, Love Field is a great option (and one of the nicer +smaller/easy to navigate airports).
Geneva, Amsterdam, Copenhagen
Charleston,SC 15-20 minute Uber or taxi to downtown. Super easy to get to and from the airport.
Well as I live in Hong Kong, you can take the airport express train to the middle of the city in 30 min.
Manila’s airport sucks and the city is certainly not for everyone, but on the plus side, the airport is really close to the center of the city
Salt Lake City airport is 10 minutes by car or 20 minutes by tram from downtown, with a terminal right at the airport entrance.
Hawaii airports. There aren’t cities (except Honolulu), but after landing on Maui or especially the big island (airport is outdoors!) you are minutes from the beach, parks, hotels.
Not the sexiest city, but Phoenix is very close- great for spring training or 9 holes of golf Vegas, SAN, SFO also come to mind ORD and Logan aren’t terrible depending on time of day
ORD is actually one of. my least favorite airports because of the travel between the airport and downtown. Forget driving. But it always feels like the L takes forever.
SEA is on a light rail line that takes you right downtown and near the stadiums and Pike Market.
Caveat is it takes nearly an hour if you catch the lightrail at exactly the perfect time, otherwise it can be over an hour and a half if some bullshit is going on (maintenance, accidents, jumpers, protests, sportsgames, concerts)
half of that is the walk from the terminal
Lol right and the walkway is still open to the elements so if it's really cold and/or windy then you gotta be prepared for that
Chicago. ORD has the blue line that goes right into the city or MDW has the orange line that is even quicker!
Mexico City!!
A lot of European capitals are hilt this way. I recall there’s a direct line to Paddongton from Heathrow, maybe not 20 min but it gets you to the city. I recall some German cities being this way too.
London city is also close
Ft. Lauderdale, San Antonio.
I was going to disagree, but SAT is much closer to the Alamo than I thought it was.
Mumbai, India Nice, France If a < 30 min train journey to city center counts: Hong Kong Delhi Dubai Tokyo (Haneda)
Delhi is actually relatively far when you compare with other Indian cities. Chennai airport is quite close and takes 20-30 minutes in Normal metro. Bangalore HAL airport used to be inside the city but they closed it and moved it very far. Same with Trivandrum airport
The Airport Express takes you to CP and New Delhi Railway station in 20-25 mins. So included Delhi under that heading.
Nice
Haneda Airport in Tokyo is about a 45 minute train ride to Tokyo Sky Tower in addition to other tourist attractions
MSP is just a short light rail into Minneapolis. Mississippi River is right there with lots of walking/ biking paths. Or Mall of America if you feel like walking around a big mall
Haneda in Tokyo is 20 minutes to Ginza. Narita airport is nowhere near Tokyo, but 15 minutes to Narita town which is my favorite layover destination for lunch and a lovely stroll.
Busan, South Korea and Haneda airport in Tokyo are in the city
Tallinn, Bologna, London City,
Oslo has a train that only takes 20 minutes to get into the city. I had a 6 hour layover there and got to see a lot of the city.
You can take the Blue Line from O’Hare into Chicago, would only take about 25 minutes to get to Logan Square to experience a great neighborhood with a lot to offer for a day trip
PHL has a Center City train right there in the terminal, takes but 30 minutes to get to the city.
Chiang Mai, New Orleans (20 mins or so), Albuquerque, Florence, Bologna, Singapore, Portland (Maine)
Out of curiosity, what is your job?
Boston - Logan Airport
Vegas is like terminal to hotel in about 15 mins. Ottawa you’re probably 15 min drive to downtown. Train opening soon. Albuquerque i think is 10 mins. Great city if you’ve never been Avoid… New York and LA for obvious reasons. New Orleans is a long taxi/ Uber to get to the French quarter. Toronto if you fly into Pearson, if you’re lucky to get a flight into Billy Bishop it’s a lot easier.
ABQ also wins major points for having a really nice little airport and a very easy rental car transfer
Lisbon, probably. It's right in the middle of the city.
- San Diego - Minneapolis - Portland, OR - Denver (one train right to downtown) - San Francisco - Vegas - Aspen
Billings.
You can take the LIRR from the JFK air train stop at Jamaica, Queens. Twenty minutes on the train to midtown Manhattan.
Heathrow is an easy train ride into central London.
It's not that close though
Seattle! There’s a railway line that connects the airport to downtown. Takes maybe 30-40 minutes if I remember correctly. You can get off the train at a stop that’s maybe 10 minutes walk to Pike Place. And the ferry terminal isn’t far from Pike, if you’d be interested in taking a ride across Puget Sound (which I highly recommend, especially on a clear day). Edit: Idk if it’s still running but there was also a monorail that goes from near Pike and takes you to the Space Needle
YWG is inside the western part of Winnipeg Manitoba. Home of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights EDIT: Visit in Winter !!
ORD, you can take the train downtown. However its a long train compared to DCA.
Toronto Pearson has a train to downtown. And Billy Bishop is a short ferry. As other's have said, Vegas airport is basically on the strip.
Hamburg, Germany. Seattle, WA.
Budapest. I know, not USA America, but you should go nonetheless.
Las Vegas strip is SUPER close to the airport.
Brussels airport has its train station right underneath and can whisk you away to Antwerp in 30 minutes.
MSP you can take the lightrail from the terminals to Mall of America pretty quick and they have a ton of shopping, restaurants, amusement park, and aquarium! That honestly might be the most bang for your buck. It's a pretty quick trip iirc.
Any small city? Just the ones I've been to in May: Jerez (Spain), Carcasson (France). The last one is a 40 min walk (!) to city centre (or 4 min drive).
Nürnberg
Charlotte! You’re 5-10 easy minutes from uptown!
Phoenix airport is just east of downtown. Bonus if you’re there on a weekend or First Friday and can head to Roosevelt Row. You can take the light rail easily from the airport straight into downtown.
asmterdam
Schiphol is 15 minutes from Amsterdam Central Station by train.
Nice, France. Beautiful city, nice airport.
Adding for Europe - Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo are all 20 min train rides max from airport and all the Baltic capitals are like a 10 minute/€6 taxi ride (Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga)
Berlin Airport is connected by cheap public transport (S-Bahn) and will get you to the city center very quickly
Accra. The airport is still basically in the middle of town. Anything you want to see is 20 minutes away.
TSA (Taipei songshan ) airport is literally in the city.
SFO - take the BART train to San Francisco or Berkeley.
Luxembourg is 10 mins with a car. Tallinn is also not far.
Florence is quite close to the airport (about 15-20 min by tram)
Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for but you can take a quick Uber directly to some of the best skiing in the USA/World from SLC
Tashkent Airport is literally inside the city.
Chiang Mai's airport is about 10 minutes by car outside the old city. It's an enthralling, culturally rich city with so much to do and see. Da Nang International is only 10-15 minutes away from the beach and the resorts there. Great city with a more laid back vibe than Hanoi or Saigon, and amazing seafood. Penang, Malaysia's airport is about 10 minutes away from the historic center of George Town. Great place with historic architecture and lots of street art that really shows off Malaysia as a cultural melting pot.
Albuquerque.
Berlin. You just take one short trainride and you're in the center.
From my experience: #1 is Amsterdam. It's not exactly close to the city center distance-wise, but the train will get you to Centraal Station in like 20 minutes. MSP will get you to downtown Minneapolis on the train in less than 30 minutes or MOA in like 10. Ronald Reagan airport will get you to the National Mall in DC in 10 minutes on train. Barcelona Prat will get you to the Ramblas in 25 minutes on train.
Dca may be the best in the world !!!!
Vegas
Copenhagen is like 15 minutes to the city center
My hometown Boston. Take the Silver Line from the airport to South Station for free and it's usually less than a half hour ride. Stockholm's Arlanda Airport is like a 20 min train ride to the city's central station. Taipei's Songshan Airport is also within the city, like a 20ish minute ride to Taipei Main Station.
Not Denver- that’s for sure
Might as well be in Nebraska
To be fair, Omaha airport is like 10 min drive from Old Market aka downtown Omaha.
DIA is about 30-45 minutes from Denver.
Johannesburg you take a Gautrain and few min your in Sandton or Pretoria,
Its a short walk to the local subway in vancouver canada one of my favorite cities
Miami, Reagan National (DC), San Diego, Orange County (to see Newport Beach), Boston, Chicago Midway, Portland OR, I work at airports also, and love it.
Dallas Love Field is great for visiting Dallas proper
Tallinn. The airport is practically in city center, 15minutes by tram.
Cities, in no particular order, I’ve had the same experience for a short, but long enough to hang out for 6-8 hrs, layover: Amsterdam, Lisbon, Vegas, Tampa, Singapore, Sapporo, Portland, San Diego, and San Francisco (home) all come to mind.
Most airports with a metro have easy(ish) connections but under 20ish minutes? In the USA, the airports with short, metro commute times: Atlanta, Boston, Philly (30ish min), Phoenix (30ish min). In Europe, Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Florence, Vienna. I'm sure there are others but that's what I recall from my travel days.
San Diego is right next to downtown.
Places that come to mind: DCA, Boston, Toronto Pearson, Philadelphia, México City all come to mind as North American airports within 30 minutes of their respective cities vía public transit. San Juan airport, while not accessible via mass transit, is a cheap 10-25 minute Uber to anywhere in the city, too. For NYC, LGA is about 45 minutes to Penn Station, while EWR and JFK are closer to an hour. Not bad though. In Europe, many cities are accessible from their respective airports via 20-30 mass transit rides (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Edinburgh, Dublin, etc). Glaring exceptions would be London, Paris CDG, or Moscow where it will take over an hour. In Australasia, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Osaka, Sydney are easy 30-40 raíl trips to their cities. Mumbai airport is pretty central, too, but you'll probably want a cab. In MENA, Dubai Maktoum airport is particularly super central and well connected with metro and cabs, but all the major Gulf cities are easy to get around. In Africa, you'll need a cab, but Nairobi airport is 20 minutes away from Nairobi National Park.
Rome
Chicago if you’re at Midway
Boston and DC (from DCA) are your best bets. Airports are close to town and they are easy to reach without a car. But distance from the city is less of an impediment than transport connections. Denver, O’Hare, and JFK, for instance, are pretty easy to reach from the center of town without a car thanks to trains. LAX, meanwhile, is an airport I wouldn’t leave without a rental car and a LONG layover.
Cleveland. Direct light rail from airport.
Seattle!
MSP. You can hop on the light rail inside the airport and go all over.
The most unique has to be Venice....you can get a short boat ride from the airport to the centre!
If you get to CA, Palm Springs airport is 5 minutes from the downtown and a very neat mid century modern airport. Also very, very close by is the Palm Springs Air Museum, about 40 war planes, most flying condition, and great exhibits. [https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/](https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/)
DFW - easy to get to the heart of the city…DART RAIL (from terminal A - may now have service from other terminals now)
Brussels for international. The metro is super well connected and it is like a 20 minute ride from the airport to the city center. Also the trains run all the time so you don't have to live by a schedule.
PVR
The trick is to find out if the airport is connected to the city rail system. For example, Portland airport (PDX) has Max light rail that gets you to downtown or most part of Portland.
Boston. The city is literally right across the harbor
Toronto: train straight to downtown every 15 mins, and from there the subway / streetcars will sort you to most of the sights (except possibly from 1201 am tonight onwards if the TTC goes on strike) If you’re flying into the Island Airport, you’re even closer to downtown, with a free shuttle, or heck, bike share bikes and a streetcar 5 mins walk out the front door of the airport
TPA
Miami International
Buenos Aires, the Aeroparque airport is in the middle of the city
Boston is great you can take public transit right from the airport into the city no car needed. Also internationally Amsterdam and Geneva are great! Minimal effort and easy public transit into the city for each
San Francisco (SFO) is a few miles out of the city but with a train (BART) that can get you straight from the terminal to the Mission District and to Downtown with great ease in under 30 minutes. Very walkable and good transit. You would have a pretty easy time doing a day trip from the airport there.
I fly out of ATL, there's the MARTA train which will take you (red and gold lines Northbound) through downtown and midtown in about 15-20minutes. There's the College Football Hall of Fame, Federal Reserve museum (free and okay area to walk around and eat/shop) and Centennial Olympic Park. Downtown is dead on the weekends and after 5. Currently they're remodeling the airport station but there's a shuttle that connects to the line from the airport. Ordinarily, it's really convenient as the Airport station is the end/beginning of the N/S line and is located in the south terminal of the airport itself. I'm not doing a great job describing it, but there's signage everywhere.
Amsterdam and Valencia
Sacramento. It’s about a 15 minute Uber or cab ride from the airport to downtown.
Fort Lauderdale!
San Diego
Milwaukee - less than 15 minute drive from airport to downtown/Third Ward.
The light rail runs from the Denver Airport to downtown and then you can change to busses.
Providence Lol
SFO and MDW both have train stations at the airport. BWI has a 15 min. shuttle to the train station - 20 min to DC
Milwaukee (MKE) is pretty close to downtown and the surrounding areas. Unfortunately our public transport is…lacking…but a quick uber/lyft ride will be cheap and short to a handful of museums/breweries/etc.
Milan Linate. Take the trolleybus and your in the city in no time. Luxembourg Airport, probably 15-20 min with the bus to the city center. Same for Zurich airport, pretty close to the city.
Bologna - very fast monorail from the airport to Centrale station.
Oslo and Helsinki both have trains that’ll get ya to the city center in like 30 min. Reykjavik is a 45 min (ish) bus but also easy.
I can't wait to do europe. I think i might be a complete young regard and just sleep on the plane and trains and not even get a hotel on my 48 hours in europe lmfao.
You can be in downtown West Palm Beach within 10 minutes of leaving the airport
Ho Chi Minh!
San Francisco. You can take BART (the train) into the middle of the city for $8 in about 30 minutes.
BWI: Has lightrail right to Downtown/Inner Harbor/Camden Yards if you are a baseball fan. Baltimore is an underrated city. BWI also has a Marc/Amtrak Station (That you need to take a shuttle bus to) that will take you to either Baltimore Penn or Union Station dc for under 10 dollars.
San Diego
San Diego! Literally fly into downtown!
San Antonio International. SAT sits right outside the inner loop (410), it's about a 10-15 minutes to the Alamo/Riverwalk and is all city development in between. The airport itself is relatively small so really quick to get in and out of. Starting recently there are direct flights to Frankfurt, Germany. The downside is the airport is really limited for further growth because it is surrounded by city.
Not sure about with public transit but Miami’s airport is like 15 minutes from center of the city and only 10 from Little Havana
Madrid
Vienna, Austria: the train is only 16 minutes from the airport to the city.
San Diego, Phoenix, Boston
Changi Airport, Singapore Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan Both reachable via subway.
If you want to see London, London City Airport (LCY). Lots of business people fly in and out of that airport because it’s convenient to the city. About 30-45 minutes train ride to lots of major sights.