Travel budget
maximize your adventure with stopovers
Exploring the Best Stopovers: Discover Hidden Gems on Your Travels
For travelers with a keen eye on their travel budget, the often-overlooked magic of stopovers can be a game-changer. Discovering the advantages of strategically planned layovers not only saves you money but transforms your journey into an exciting adventure. Buckle up as we explore how to unlock the full potential of stopovers, turning them into a family-friendly travel hack. In a travel world where nothing is free, this must be the only freebie that's left!
Stopovers: Two for the price of one
What is a stopover exactly? A stopover is a break in your journey that lasts over 24 hours, permitting an overnight or multi-day stay at your connection place. So this is in fact a layover that lasts more than 24 hours.
Instead of waiting serveral hours at the airport or running to your connecting flight, several airlines offer you the possibility of spending a few days at their home country to boost local tourism. Not all airlines offer this huge advantage and for the ones who do, the booking process is not a walk in the park! And when you do your homework on this you will even discover free citytours that some of the airlines are offering!
We already tried a few of these stopovers. You'll find the most common and easy to book stopovers in this article.
TAP Portugal - Lisbon or Porto
With TAP Portugal, you may spend up to five nights in Lisbon or Porto en route to your final destination at no extra cost. This airline flies to several destinations in Brazil, America, Morocco and Senegal, but also Madeira or the Azores.
​Booking a stopover with TAP is probably the easiest of all the airlines that offer this option. When you book your flights online you are offered the stopover and can choose between Lisbon or Porto while the price of your ticket does not change.
Icelandair - Reykjavik
Planning to go to the United States or Canada? Then Icelandair is a very good option to look at. They fly to New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal, and a lot of other destinations. You will make a stop in Iceland en route and may stay there for up to seven nights without paying extra for your plane ticket. Icelandair is one of the airlines that offers this option very clearly. By the way, it doesn't matter if you plan the free stopover on the outward or return flight. Icelandair even provides a handy adventure guide on how to make the most of your time on the island according to stopover length!
Need more inspiration on Iceland?
Turkish Airlines - Istanbul
Turkish Airlines doesn't officially promote its stopover as 'free', so you have to use a multi-city tool to book the flight with stopover. You can do this on the website of Turkish Airlines of a booking tool like the one on the Connections website. Turkish Airlines already offers free city tours for transfers of 6 to 24 hours. And you can even get a free hotel room if you stay longer than 20 hours.Turkish Airlines is highly recommended as an airline: not only do they fly to as many as 110 different countries worldwide, but they are invariably ranked high in several best airline lists.
Qatar Airways - Doha
This airline is especially interesting if you're flying toward Australia or Asia, as you make relatively few extra miles when compared to a direct flight. If you stay less than 96 hours (i.e. 4 days), your visa is also for free. The easiest way to book a free stopover is bij visting het Qatar Airways website and follow the guided instructions. The stopover may occur on either the onward or returning flight of the roundtrip ticket.
Emirates - Dubai
Emirates, another airline with a great reputation. Not only because of the service on board, but also because of the free stopover they offer. Here it is just a bit more complicated, because they also offer a 'stopover package', but that's not for free. But fortunately you can get skip this by booking your stay in Dubai manually. Just book a return flight by using the multi-city tool (under "Advanced Search" to add a stopover of a few days in Dubai.
Singapore Airlines - Singapore
Singapore is also absolutely worth making a free stopover. Again, book your stopover through the multi-city tool (under 'Multiple destinations/stopovers': indicate Singapore at the second stop). Should you get a different price than for a regular return, it's best to contact customer service. They will make sure that you do not have to pay anything extra.
Finnair - Helsinki
When you fly with Finnair you can book a stopover in Helsinki up to 5 days. A stopover is easy to book on the website of Finnair and you have the choice on whether your'd like your stopover on the outbound or the return flight. Finnair also provides a helpful list of excursion booking benefits.
Find more travel budget tips here!
Hi! We are Bart, Kris, Lore and Ruben. We are a family of 5, yes, we also have a dog named Spike.
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