Should You Visit a City in Less than 24 hours?

You’re flying someplace far and find yourself on a stopover in a really cool city- London, Paris, NYC- but only have a few hours to visit the city. What do you do? Do you hang out in the airport for a few hours or do you check in your luggage and visit the city?

On my way to spend New Year’s Eve in Nice (France) a few years ago, I found myself  in London for a about 8 hours. I was traveling with two other friends and there was no way we were going to hang out in Heathrow that day. We paid a few pounds (a lot actually!) to leave our luggage in the airport and got on the tube… Destination: London! As none of us really knew London, we studied the map of the tube, got a map of the city, and off we were on some adventure. We spent an awesome day walking around the city and visiting some main touristic sites such as Picadilly Circus, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace.

Regardless of the city you are on a stopover, the first thing you need is a wide timeframe to get to the city center and enjoy your visit there. If the airport is over an hour away, it may not be worth all that traveling to get into town. Otherwise, all you need is a good pair of shoes, a map and a watch to make sure to catch your flight on-time for your final destination. Go for it!