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The Best Airline Stopover Programs to Book in 2024

Many long-haul flights make pit stops in another city or country before reaching the final destination—so why not turn your layover into a mini vacation? Through offerings known as “stopover” programs, some international airlines allow passengers to add a free stop to their flight itinerary in order to do just that.

Essentially, a stopover is an extended layover that allows travelers to leave the airport and explore the city (typically where the airline heads its operations). Airline stopovers can span anywhere from 24 hours all the way up to 10 days, depending on the carrier, making them highly customizable to travelers’ schedules and needs.

Taking advantage of these free airline programs is one of the best ways to stretch your travel budget—but not all stopovers are created equal. The ones with the most value for travelers offer free or discounted hotel stays, as well as savings on tourist activities like city tours, admission to museums, and even restaurant bills.

We've rounded up nine of the best stopover programs available in 2024 that allow travelers to explore Madrid , Abu Dhabi , Dubai , Doha , Reykjavik , Istanbul , Panama City , Porto , and Lisbon for hardly any additional airfare costs.

TAP Air Portugal offers free stopovers in Porto and Lisbon with discounted hotel stays.

TAP Air Portugal

As the only airline to offer free stopovers in two cities (Porto and Lisbon), TAP Air Portugal has one of the most flexible programs out there. Plus, it allows travelers to stay in either city for up to 10 days. The stopover booking process is super simple, as TAP has integrated it into its standard booking field. All you need to do is choose your travel dates, departure city, and destination as usual, then click the “Add Stopover” button. This will open a pop-up window where you can input the details of your stopover, including whether you'd like to visit Porto or Lisbon and for how long.

When your flights are squared away, you can book a discounted hotel stay by browsing TAP's list of hotel partners . The list offers booking codes with average savings of 10-20% off your stay. You'll also have access to discounts for restaurants, museums, and walking tours. Browse the airline's stopover offers page to see the full list. And once you wrap up your stopover, you also get a 25% discount on airfare to a second destination in Portugal, like the Azores archipelago.

Turkish Airlines' stopover program includes a free hotel stay in Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines

Travelers on Turkish Airlines on any itinerary from the US with at least a 20-hour connection in Istanbul qualify for the carrier's Stopover in Istanbul offering. The program is one of the most generous when it comes to accommodations, giving all fliers a free hotel stay: Passengers flying from the US in economy class can stay two nights in a four-star hotel free of charge, and business class passengers get three free nights in a five-star hotel. There's also an option book additional nights at contracted hotels offering discounted stays starting at $49 USD per night.

Turkish Airlines has recently simplified its stopover booking process, making it easier than ever to take advantage of the program. There is now a “Stopover in Istanbul” button right on the airline's booking page.

Travelers can stay in Madrid for up to six nights with no extra airfare costs through Iberia's stopover program.

With its Stopover Hola Madrid program, Iberia allows travelers to stay in the Spanish capital for as little as 24 hours, all the way up to seven days and six nights at no extra cost in airfare. Passengers can add a stopover to either their outbound or return flight and select the length of their stay on the airline's booking page. Stopover customers are also afforded a host of discounts, including 20% off tickets to the Prado museum, a free public transportation card valid for two days that can be picked up at the airport, and reduced hotel stays through the airline's partners.

Icelandair offers free stopovers in Reykjavik.

If you're interested in adding a few days in Reykjavik to your next vacation, book with IcelandAir, which offers free Reykjavik stopovers from one to seven days for its transatlantic passengers. When booking your flights, simply click the “Stopover in Iceland” button and choose how many days you'd like to stay. While there's no additional airfare involved, IcelandAir's program does not include a free or discounted hotel stay, so passengers will need to factor that in as an extra cost. However, the airline's stopover page does offer suggestions for a wide range of affordable sightseeing tours, like an abbreviated tour of the Golden Circle (from $81), a Reykjavik walking tour (from $40), and a Blue Lagoon experience (from $172).

The low-cost carrier Play Airlines offers free stopovers in its home base of Reykjavik for up to 10 days.

Play Airlines

A second option for enjoying the natural wonders of Iceland on a budget is with Play Airlines ’ free stopover deal. The low-cost carrier offers free stopovers at its home base of Reykjavik for up to 10 days. Aside from that long window to stay in Iceland, the budget airline doesn’t offer too many extra perks—you’ll have to secure your own accommodations and tours. But given that Play’s airfares are so cheap, starting at $129 for a one-way flight from the US to Europe, you’ll have plenty of extra budget to put toward an affordable place to stay , like hybrid property Hlemmur Square , which offers both hostel-style rooms and traditional private hotel rooms. To book the stopover, go to Play’s booking page and select “Stopover in Iceland” from the ticket type dropdown menu (the button that says “Roundtrip”).

Qatar Airways' popular stopover program offers steep discounts on luxury hotels in Doha.

Qatar Airways

One of the best airline stopover programs is Qatar Airways ', which offers a valuable hotel bundle. The carrier offers stays of up to four days in Doha , with bundle rates for four-star hotels starting at just $14 USD per person per night. If you want to upgrade to a luxury five-star hotel, the fee starts at $23 USD per person per night, which is still a deep discount. And of course, the stopover will cost you nothing in terms of extra airfare fees.

To score the bundle, book your stopover through Qatar Airways' dedicated page , which allows you to select the leg of the journey you'd like to stop in Doha and for how many days. Once your flights are booked, visit the airline's stopover hotel booking page to browse options for your stay. Choose your hotel and input your flight information during the booking process to receive the discount.

Also available during your time in Doha are discounted tour packages that range from activities like kitesurfing lessons, a private Bedouin dinner in the desert, souq tours, and many more.

Etihad's stopover in Abu Dhabi includes a free stay at a three-star hotel, subject to availability.

With its “Stopover on Us” package, Etihad is offering free stopovers in Abu Dhabi . The one- or two-night packages include a free stay at a three-star hotel in the city, plus perks like 24-hour check-in and free in-room Wi-Fi. Among the hotel partners are the Centro Al Manhal, the Millennium Al Rawdah Hotel, and the Traders Hotel Al Maqta.

To add the stopover, you need to first book a flight connecting through Abu Dhabi in any cabin class. Then, select your stopover package and check hotel availability on the airline's stopover page . It's important to note that a flight reservation is required to check the program's hotel availability (which is not guaranteed) and bookings must be made at least 72 hours before travel.

Copa's free stopover program lets travelers stay in Panama City for up to one week.

Copa Airlines

Travelers can take up to seven days to explore Panama City with Copa Airlines’ stopover program . Copa passengers can add a stopover in the capital city—one of the best places to go in South America in 2024 —on either the outgoing or return leg of their journey. Travelers can stay in Panama for as little as 24 hours all the way up to one week without needing to pay extra airfare. (Copa also offers the option to add a second stopover to your flight itinerary for $250 USD.) To book the stopover, simply go to the booking page on Copa’s website and toggle to the “Multi-city/Stopover” tab. Although the stopover program does not include a free or discounted hotel stay, there are many exciting new hotels in Panama City that would be well-worth the splurge, like the boutique eight-room Amarla, located in the city’s Casco Viejo historic district, or the waterfront Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo.

Emirates offers two options for travelers looking to extend their layover in Dubai.

With its Dubai Connect program, Emirates offers travelers with extended layovers in Dubai an array of complimentary perks, including a one-night hotel stay, visa, meals, and transfers to and from the airport. Passengers in economy through first class are eligible for these perks. To qualify for the program, your layover must be between eight to 26 hours for economy and premium economy tickets or six and 26 hours for business and first class tickets. Your connection time must be the shortest available—meaning you have to depart Dubai on the next available flight to your destination or your itinerary won’t be eligible.

When passengers arrive in Dubai, they can head to the Dubai Connect desk in the arrivals terminal for their free car transfer to their hotel. The airline usually puts Dubai Connect passengers in the Copthorne Hotel Dubai, the Le Méridien Airport Hotel Dubai, or the JW Marriott Marquis , but it’s possible travelers will be booked at a different property at the carrier’s discretion. While at the hotel, all applicable meals will be included as part of the service. You can book Dubai Connect online at least 24 hours before your layover.

For a longer stopover experience, travelers can book a multi-city itinerary on the airline’s booking page. Toggle the “advanced search” feature and input Dubai International airport as an additional destination between your city of origin and final destination. When your flights are booked, you can add on Dubai hotels and experiences through Emirates’ Dubai stopover page , which offers discounts and extra perks like 24-hour hotel check-in.

This story has been updated with new information since its original publish date.

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21 Airlines with Free Stopover Programs in 2024

By: Author Zachary Friedman

Posted on Last updated: February 9, 2024

Categories Travel Destinations , Travel Tips

Home » Travel » Travel Tips » 21 Airlines with Free Stopover Programs in 2024

When taking an intercontinental flight, you’ll often have a layover. Many airlines allow you to schedule a free stopover in the city where they’re based. Scheduling a stopover is a great way to visit part of the world that you otherwise wouldn’t get to see. It’s like visiting two destinations for the price of one. In this guide, I outline 21 airlines with free stopovers. I’ll also outline how to schedule your own flight stopover. In addition, I’ll explain how to book stopovers and schedule them into your itinerary. Hopefully, this guide helps you add an additional destination to your next trip.

I’ve also made this YouTube video to outline the main points of the guide.

What is a Free Stopover?

When taking an intercontinental flight, you will often have a layover while in transit. Rather than spending your layover in an airport waiting for your next flight, you can schedule a couple of days between flights. This gives you time to explore a new city and have a bit of rest .

There are two ways to make a free airline stopover. You can take advantage of a free stopover program offered by an airline. You can also schedule your own stopover by booking two separate tickets with a couple of days in between.

Many airlines offer free stopovers in their hub city. Airlines often make deals with local hotels as well as the country’s tourism board. Sometimes you can get a free or deeply discounted room when you bundle a hotel stay with your stopover. There may be other perks as well. Sometimes airport transportation is included. You may get discounts on tours, meals, or entertainment options. All of these perks make stopovers extremely tempting.

Stopover programs are offered for a couple of reasons. First, airlines use these programs as an incentive for passengers to fly their airline. A free trip to a new city is a nice perk. These stopover offers also bring tourism to the country where the airline is based. Oftentimes national airlines offer stopovers for this reason. Sometimes, the airline partners with the country’s tourism board to make these stopovers possible.

You schedule an airline stopover when booking your flight. Some stopovers can be scheduled online. Sometimes you have to call the airline to schedule the stopover. Oftentimes, you can book a hotel with your flight. If you schedule your own stopover

Airlines with Free Stopovers

1. icelandair free stopover in reykjavik, iceland.

If you are flying Icelandair, you can make a stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland for 1-7 days at no additional cost when you’re connecting through Keflavik International Airport (KEF).  Icelandair makes it incredibly easy to schedule a stopover. When booking your ticket, simply select the free stopover option and choose the number of days you want to stop.

This stopover is most convenient when flying between North America and Europe. Icelandair offers some competitive rates between the two continents. This is a pretty economical stopover. I made this stopover when flying from Seattle to Helsinki in 2013 and highly recommend it.  

Icelandair pioneered the free airline stopover. In the early 1960s, Icelandair started offering stopovers in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. This program greatly increased tourism in Iceland. Hundreds of thousands of travelers take advantage of this stopover option every year.

Iceland is one of the most naturally beautiful countries on earth. Make sure you get out of the city to experience the breathtaking landscapes. If you plan your stopover between September and April, you may be lucky enough to see the northern lights.

For more info on this free stopover, check out Icelandair’s stopover page.

2. Turkish Airlines Free Stopover in Istanbul, Turkey

Turkish Airlines offers a stopover in Istanbul if you are taking a round trip flight to a qualifying destination. This is one of the most generous stopover programs available. Turkish Airlines also offers a free night of hotel accommodation in Istanbul if your layover is longer than 20 hours. Business class passengers will stay in a 5 star hotel for up to two nights. Economy class passengers will stay in a 4 star hotel for one night. The hotel stay is completely free. It is paid for by Turkish Airlines.

To take advantage of the Turkish Airlines stopover, you must send an email with your name, reservation code (PNR) ticket number, desired accommodation dates, preferred room type (single, double, triple), telephone number, and e-mail address. You must send the email to the Turkish Airlines email address that corresponds to the country you’re departing from. To make this stopover, you must send the email at least 72 hours before your first flight departs. You can find the email address on the Turkish Airlines stopover page.

If you have a layover lasting 6-24 hours, Turkish Airlines offers a free city tour of Istanbul. The tour includes transportation and meals. It is not necessary to reserve in advance. Simply visit the Touristanbul desk when you arrive at the airport to register for a tour.  

3. TAP Air Portugal Free Stopover in Lisbon or Porto, Portugal

TAP Air Portugal allows you to make a free stopover for one to five nights in Lisbon or Porto, Portugal. The only requirement is that you must purchase a round-trip intercontinental flight to qualify for this stopover. You can not make a free stopover on a one-way flight.

TAP Air Portugal allows you to choose whether you’d like to make your stopover during your inbound or outbound flight. You can also choose whether you’d like to stopover in Lisbon or Porto.

After booking your stopover in Portugal, check out TAP Air Portugal’s mobile app. Here, you can take advantage of discounts on hotels and attractions. You’ll also find travel guides and itinerary suggestions.

This stopover is most convenient for flights between North America and Europe or between Africa and Europe.

For more information on this stopover, visit the TAP Air Portugal stopover page.

4. Emirates Free Stopover in Dubai, U.A.E.

Emirates offers a free stopover in Dubai. To schedule the stopover, just use the multi city booking page  on the Emirates website. Simply add the desired duration of your stopover to your itinerary.

After making your booking, you can contact Emirates for help designing and reserving your stopover package. Emirates can help you arrange accommodation, meals, transportation, visas, and more. Emirates is partnered with over 100 hotels in Dubai.

All arrangements do come at a cost but Emirates does offer special rates and discounts for passengers who take advantage of the stopover program. The airline also makes it extremely easy and convenient to make bookings. They handle everything for you. They can even assist you with a visa if you need one. You can get visa assistance with both 96 hour and 30 day tourist visas.

5. Qatar Airways Free Stopover in Doha, Qatar

Qatar Airways free stopovers in Doha, Qatar when you transit through Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH). To take advantage of the offer, use the multi city booking page on the Qatar Airways website and schedule your desired length of stay in Doha. 

Qatar Airways offers generous discounts on stopover packages. You can score great deals on hotels, meals, activities, and tours. There are even some interesting themed packages available. For example, you can book a luxury beach vacation or a desert themed vacation that includes a desert safari.

One great reason to consider this stopover is because of the level of service that Qatar Airways offers. The airline is consistently ranked as one of the top in the industry. They offer excellent customer service and a superb safety record. They even serve decent food. When you fly Qatar Airways, you can expect a pleasant flight.

Citizens of 80 countries can enter Qatar visa-free. You can check the list here.  If your country isn’t on the list, you can learn about applying for a free transit visa here.

It’s important to note that there are some blackout dates when this offer isn’t available. You’ll need to check the calendar before booking to make sure this stopover is available during your trip.

6. Etihad Stopover in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

Etihad offers travelers a chance to have a free stopover in Abu Dhabi between flights on their itinerary. The stopover is available for Economy class, Business class, and first class passengers and allows them to explore the city of Abu Dhabi for up to four nights.

When you schedule a stopover, of at least 24 hours, you can use your flight booking number to reserve a hotel room at one of over 20 luxury properties in Abu Dhabi. Depending on where you book, you can receive a free night stay or a discount of up to 40%.

To be eligible, you must be connecting to and from an Etihad flight. You can not be traveling within the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) or some African destinations. You must also be eligible for a visa on arrival or have a visa for the U.A.E. In addition, you must be 21 years old or older. The free stopover can be booked up to 72 hours prior to your departing flight.

For more info, check the stopover in Abu Dhabi page on Ethiad website here .

7. Finnair Free Stopover in Helsinki, Finland

FinnAir offers free stopovers in Helsinki when you travel through Helsinki airport (HEL). You can stop for up to 5 nights on your way to your final destination. You can also stop on your way home.

This package doesn’t include any additional discounts. You have to book your own accommodation, transport, and activities. Finnair has partnered with Visit Finland. Here, you can find itineraries as well as restaurant, hotel, and activity suggestions.

8. Swiss International Air Lines Free Stopover in Switzerland

Swiss International Air Lines offers free stopovers in Switzerland for one to four nights with their Stopover Switzerland program. To make this stopover, first, you must book a multi-city itinerary through the Stopover Switzerland booking page. You can choose the number of days you wish to stay and book your stopover package.

A range of stopover packages are offered. The packages are bundled with accommodation, transportation, and sometimes activities and meals. There are bundles available for different cities and experiences. For example, there are bundles for Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, and Montreux. There are also nature bundles that include glacier tours, mountain tours, and lake tours. There are also luxury options that include 5 star accommodation. You can also book multi-city train tours.

You must book a tour bundle to take advantage of the stopover. Tours start at 180 Swiss franks for around $185. This includes the price of accommodation and public transportation across Switzerland. You’ll also receive a coupon pass with over 100 offers that can be used for discounts on meals, mountain trains, and attractions around Switzerland.

9. Oman Air Stopover in Muscat, Oman

Oman Air offers free stopovers in Muscat International Airport (MCT). You can book a stopover for 1-3 nights. There are a number of stopover packages to choose from. Most packages include discounted hotel rooms and free breakfast. You can choose from 3, 4, and 5 star hotels. There are also tours available.

If you have a long layover of 8 hours or more, you can take a full-day Muscat city tour. The tour is offered at a discounted rate. This tour also includes airport lounge access.

There are a few limitations to this stopover. In order to take advantage of this free stopover, you must book a round-trip flight that transits through Muscat. It’s important to note that Oman Air does not fly to the United States.

For more info, check out the Oman Air stopover page.

10. Aer Lingus Stopover in Dublin, Ireland

Aer Lingus is an Irish airline that is based in Dublin. They fly to over 20 countries. Passengers can use the multi-city booking page to schedule a stopover in Dublin for up to seven nights. You can also call the airline to schedule this stopover over the phone. There is no additional cost for booking a stopover in Dublin.

This is not a formal stopover program. Aer Lingus doesn’t offer any hotels, tours, or airport transportation. They simply allow you to make a stopover if you choose. You’ll have to make your own reservations for transportation, accommodation, and entertainment in Dublin.

11. Copa Airlines Free Stopover in Panama City, Panama

Copa Airlines offers stopovers in Panama City, Panama. Passengers can stop for 1-7 days. You can make this stopover on your departing flight or on your return flight.

This is an easy stopover to book. You can book it online or over the phone through Copa’s reservation center. While buying your ticket, you need to specify that you want to make a stopover. You can’t add a stopover later on.

You will need to cover your own hotel room when you make this stopover. Hotel discounts are available for stopover passengers. There are also discounts for tours. It’s possible to see the main sights in Panama City in just one day when you take a full-day tour.

A number of tour packages are also available. You can tour the Panama Canal, view wildlife in the rainforest, visit museums, enjoy the nightlife, and more.

Check out Copa’s stopover page for more info on this stopover and the tour packages that are available.

12. Iberia Free Stopover in Madrid, Spain

Iberia’s Hola Madrid free stopover program allows passengers to spend 1-6 nights in Spain’s capital, Madrid.

This stopover also comes with a number of perks. You can receive up to 40% off your stay at Meliá hotels, enjoy discounted airport transfers, visit popular museums like the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, enjoy guided tours of Toledo or Segovia, and receive a complimentary two-day transport card. There are also discounts available for rental cars, shopping, and other activities.

13. Ethiopian Airlines Stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

If you have a layover in Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (BOL) of 8-24 hours and there are no immediate connecting flights to your final destination, Ethiopian Airlines will facilitate hotel accommodation, airport transportation, and a transit visa. The hotel room, transportation, and transit visa are all provided for free. To take advantage of this deal, visit the Interline desk on the first floor of the airport. You don’t need to make any reservations in advance. Read more about this service on Ethiopian’s website .

You can’t really take advantage of this stopover voluntarily. It is only available if you have a layover of 8-24 hours. If you have a longer layover, you are not eligible. If there is an earlier flight available, you are not eligible. For more info, check out this guide.

14. Avianca Free Stopover in Bogota, Colombia

Avianca offers passengers the option to make a stopover in Bogota, Colombia at no additional cost. This stopover is a bit more restrictive than most others. Avianca only allows stopovers from 8-24 hours. In the past, Avianca offered stopovers up to 48 hours but they recently reduced it to 24.

To book this stopover, use the multiple-city or multidestinos option on Avianca.com. Enter your travel dates, origin, and final destination city with a stopover in Bogota. Make sure your stopover is at least 8 hours long so you can take advantage of one of the tours that are available.

There are tours available for 8, 12, and 24 hour stopovers. During your stopover, you can go on a city tour, climb Monserrat hill and enjoy views of the city, enjoy a night out, and more.

15. Japan Airlines Free Stopover in Tokyo or Osaka, Japan

Japan Airlines allows passengers to schedule a free stopover in Tokyo or Osaka, Japan. This is not really a formal stopover program. Japan Airlines does not advertise free stopovers on its website. To make a stopover, simply use the multi-city booking page or call the airline .  You can stop in Tokyo (NRT or HND) or Osaka (KIX) at no additional cost.

This stopover does not include any perks such as discounted hotel stays or tours. It’s just a stopover. You will have to arrange accommodation, transportation, and tours by yourself.

A stopover in Japan is convenient for flights between North America and Asia. Whether you stop over in Tokyo or Osaka depends on which airport you fly out of. Most Japan Airlines flights from North America to Asia will transit through Tokyo-Narita Airport. 

16. China Southern and Air China Free Stopover

China Southern and Air China both offer free stopovers . There is no need to worry about a visa for this stopover as long as you stop in one of the 32 open ports and stay for less than 144 hours. This stopover is available for citizens of 53 countries.

A few cities where you can make this free stopover include Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chongqing, Wenzhou, and Wuhan. The cities can vary. Sometimes promotions are offered. Be sure to check with Air China or China Southern before booking.

The only requirement is that you must have a confirmed ticket to a third country after your stopover. You can check the list of accepted nationalities on the Travel China Guide website . For more info, visit China Southern’s 144 hour transit page . Also, check out Air China’s layover page.

Beijing and Shanghai are very convenient cities to make a stopover in if you are flying between East Asia or Oceania and North America. I made a stopover in Beijing on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. Two 12 hour flights back to back would have been exhausting. By making this stopover, I was able to break up the long journey and visit a really fascinating city. I was also able to take advantage of flying on a low-cost Chinese airline for the Beijing to Los Angeles leg. For more info, check out my guide: 144 Hours in Beijing Visa Free

17. KLM and Air France Free Stopover in Amsterdam, Netherlands or Paris, France

KLM and Air France offer passengers free stopovers for up to a year at no additional charge. You can stop over anywhere as long as you are connecting from KLM to KLM, Air France to Air France, KLM to Air France, or Air France to KLM. If you are connecting with another airline, this stopover isn’t available.

This stopover is possible at a number of different airports. The easiest places to make this stopover are Amsterdam and Paris, which are the hub cities of KLM and Air France respectively. It is also possible to make a Singapore stopover as well.

This is a new program. The details have not been released yet. It is unknown whether or not this stopover is available for one-way flights or flights within Europe. For more info on this stopover, check out this article.

18. Singapore Airlines Free Stopover in Singapore

Singapore Airlines offers passengers free stopovers in Singapore while transiting through Changi Airport. To book this stopover, you must use the multi city booking page on their website or give them a call. You must stay in Singapore for more than 24 hours to take advantage of this stopover offer.

The Singapore Airlines stopover isn’t always free. If you book a saver ticket or book with miles, you may have to pay an extra $100 to make this stopover. If you book a round-trip flight ticket or a higher priced ticket, the stopover is included.

A range of stopover packages are available. There are packages that focus on dining, history and culture, shopping, nightlife, nature, wellness, and more. Some packages include a hotel room and airport transportation. Booking a stopover package can save you up to $300. This makes a Singapore stopover a pretty great deal.

19. Air Canada Stopover in Toronto, Canada

Air Canada allows you to make a stopover in Toronto, Canada for up to 48 hours. This stopover is only available for passengers traveling between Canada or the U.S. and Europe or Asia. It is not available for flights within North America. Air Canada offers this stopover on both one-way and round trip tickets.

During your visit to Toronto, you can take a day trip to Niagra Falls, visit the CN Tower, visit the Royal Ontario Museum, and experience Toronto’s nightlife.

To book this stopover, use Air Canada’s multi-city booking page. For more information on qualifying routes, check Air Canada’s stopover page.  

20. Hawaiian Airlines Free Stopover in Hawaii

Hawaiian Airlines offers free stopovers in Hawaii on international flights between North America and Asia or the South Pacific. This isn’t a formal stopover that is offered on their website. Scheduling a stopover in Hawaii is easy. To book this stopover, use Hawaiian Airlines’ multi-city booking option.

Probably the biggest benefit of this stopover is that it can break up some really long flights. Instead of spending 20 hours in the air traveling from the East Coast to Asia or Oceania, you can break up the flights by stopping in Hawaii for a few days. Of course, Hawaii is also a beautiful place for a stopover.

21. Saudia or Flynas Free Stopover in Riyadh or Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

To help increase tourism, Saudia Arabia recently started offering free stopover visa. The visa is valid for up to 96 hours (4 days). As a perk, you’ll receive a free stay in a hotel for one night.

To take advantage of this stopover, you will have to fly one of the national carriers, Saudia or Flynas. You will have to apply for the stopover visa through the airline’s booking engine. According to the tourism board, you can apply for this visa in just 3 minutes. You must book this stopover through the airline. The process is very easy and streamlined.

How to Schedule Your Own Stopover while Flying

You don’t have to use airline stopover offers. Instead , y ou can schedule your own stopover by simply booking two separate one-way flights with a couple of days in between. You could book on two separate airlines or on the same airline.

For example, maybe you’re flying from New York to Barcelona. You could book a flight from New York to London. You could then book a second flight from London to Barcelona a few days later. This gives you a few days to sightsee in London. In my experience, 2-3 days is an ideal amount of time for a stopover. You can spend longer if you like.

By booking separate flights, you can search for the best price for each leg of your journey. You can take advantage of cheap flights between major airline hubs. You can also take advantage of budget airlines or regional airlines to make it to your final destination. Depending on where you are flying, you often save a nice chunk of money by doing this. Especially when you are flying between destinations that don’t offer a lot of connections.

This is my favorite way to make a stopover because the options are endless. You can stop over anywhere you want for however long you want. For researching flights, I recommend Skyscanner , Google Flights, and Kayak. These sites allow you to quickly and easily search flights from many airlines to find the cheapest and most convenient flight options.

Don’t Forget to Check Visa Requirements Before Booking a Stopover

It’s important to note that you still need to pass through immigration when making a stopover. For this reason, checking visa requirements before scheduling a stopover is essential. Depending on the country you are stopping in, you may need to apply for a visa in advance. You may need to pay a visa fee on arrival.

Some countries offer transit visas. Others allow travelers with a valid passport to enter without obtaining a visa. Researching entry requirements ahead of time will help ensure an easy transition when making a layover in another country.

If you find that you need a visa, the stopover may or may not be worth it depending on how difficult the visa is to obtain and how much the visa costs.

Read the Terms Carefully

In some cases, you can only take advantage of the stopover offer if you’re flying round trip. One way tickets may not be eligible for a stopover.

Sometimes only certain classes of passengers are eligible for stopovers. For example, if you bought a saver fare, you may not be eligible to make a stopover.

In some cases, you are required to book a stopover package through the airline. You can’t just schedule a stopover and do your own thing. This can get expensive. Particularly if you’re required to stay in a fancy hotel.

Stopovers may only be available on specific routes. Many airlines only offer stopovers on long intercontinental flights. You usually can’t make a stopover if you’re just flying regionally or while taking domestic flights.

You should also keep an eye out for hidden fees. Stopovers are usually free. Some airlines charge a fee.

My Experience With Free Stopover Programs

Over the years, I have taken advantage of several stopover offers. I made the Icelandair stopover in Reykjavik. I scheduled a stopover in Dubai while flying from Latvia to India. Also, I made a stopover in Beijing when flying home from Australia to Los Angeles.

I have also scheduled my own stopover flights. Last year I needed a flight from Cape Town to Seattle. This isn’t a common connection so instead of flying on one airline and having a long layover somewhere, I booked two separate flights on two different airlines and scheduled a stopover in between.

While searching for the best stopover for my route, I searched for stopover cities that had the best prices on both the flight from Cape Town and the flight to Seattle. I had several potential stopover options including Bangkok, Manila, and Tokyo.

After a bit of research and shopping around on multiple airlines, I ended up stopping in Bangkok for a week on my way to Seattle. I flew Kenyan Airways from Cape Town to Bangkok, then Korean Air from Bangkok to Seattle. I stopped for 14 hours in Seoul and took a quick tour of the city. This turned out to be cheaper than flying one airline all the way and I got to spend a few days in one of my favorite cities, Bangkok.

Final Thoughts

Scheduling a free stopover is a great way to explore a new city that you otherwise wouldn’t get to visit. It also helps to avoid those situations where you are forced to spend hours on end waiting for your next flight. Instead of spending 12 hours waiting around an airport, schedule a longer layover and take some time to enjoy the stopover city. A stopover is also a great way to break up a long journey. Instead of taking multiple long-haul international flights back to back, schedule yourself a few days to rest somewhere in the middle.

So far in my travels, I have made stopovers in London, Seoul, Reykjavik, Beijing, Dubai, and Bangkok. Visiting these exciting cities didn’t cost me any extra in airfare. In some cases, I even saved money on airfare by booking connecting flights on budget airlines.

Have you made any free stopovers that aren’t on the list? Comment below with your experience and recommendations. 

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Zachary Friedman is an accomplished travel writer and professional blogger. Since 2011, he has traveled to 66 countries and 6 continents. He founded ‘Where The Road Forks’ in 2017 to provide readers with information and insights based on his travel and outdoor recreation experience and expertise. Zachary is also an avid cyclist and hiker. Living as a digital nomad, Zachary balances his professional life with his passions for hiking, camping, cycling, and worldwide exploration. For a deeper dive into his journey and background, visit the About page. For inquiries and collaborations, please reach out through the Contact page. You can also follow him on Facebook.

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Monday 13th of June 2022

I want to travel one way MIA-TLV with stopover Lisbon, but you wrote must buy RT tickets w TAP Portuguese Airline, stopovers not allowed on 1 way itineraries ?

wheretheroadforks

Monday 20th of June 2022

I believe they only allow stopovers on round-trip flights but I'm not 100% sure. Sometimes you can book two separate flights and schedule a stopover in between for the same price.

Saturday 10th of April 2021

Great article. Just found your website and love the content over a lot other travel sites. You focus on useful information vs. just personal travel articles. Thank you!

I'm curious whether you recommend booking flights through consolidator sites like Booking, Expedia, etc., for these kinds of stopover flights or go directly to the main airline? I'm always confused as to when I should use either for saving $$.

Thanks for reading! I always try to book flights directly with the airline whenever possible. Usually, the airline can offer the best price because there is no middle man. It's also easier to change or cancel your flight if you have to when you book directly. That said, I always check the booking sites as well. Usually, I search for the flight I want in Kayak, Google Flights, Momondo, or Skyscanner. These sites gather prices from multiple airlines and multiple booking sites such as Orbitz, Expedia, etc. I'll look for the cheapest or best flight then search for the same flight on the airlines' website. I'll book whichever is better. Once in a while, the consolidator site offers a better rate. Also, sometimes I mix and match flights. Maybe I'll book one leg directly then with one airline then book the next leg with another airline. You can sometimes save money that way as well. Particularly when flying between major cities.

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Add a Vacation to Your Vacation: These 10 Airlines Have the Best Free Stopover Programs

Add a vacation to your vacation with these airline stopover programs..

On a recent Turkish Airlines flight from San Francisco to Istanbul, I noticed that a surprising number of people at the boarding gate and on the flight were looking at guidebooks for destinations far beyond Turkey. Their end points were varied: Greece, Rome, Dubai, and beyond. But as they chatted with other travelers, it seemed that what united all those people was an excitement to add a vacation to their vacation; a stop in Istanbul on the way as part of the airline’s stopover program.

Turkish isn’t alone in offering a stopover program—a long layover that provides the chance to add a stop in an airline’s hub city at no added flight charge. Icelandair , Iberia , and Emirates , among others, also have a similar stopover program.

Why Is a Stopover Program Worth Considering?

Stopovers tend to be offered on long-haul flights, which means there are actually two benefits to taking advantage of them. On the most practical level, booking a stopover is a chance to break up a long travel day on the way to your final destination, a pause to stretch your legs and sleep in a bed overnight. They’re also a way of adding a whole extra destination to your itinerary, an opportunity to see a place without planning an entire vacation there.

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What Costs Are Associated with Adding a Free Stopover?

There’s no additional cost for pausing (usually for one to four days) in the chosen city of an airline’s stopover program. Except in a few noteworthy cases, hotel costs (along with transportation, meals, and activities) are still your responsibility during the stopover.

Which Airlines Have Free Stopover Programs?

These are the airlines that offer free stopover programs. I’ve also dug into airlines that offer mini-stopover programs that give you the chance to sightsee (or rest) during a long layover, airlines that offer stopovers on award tickets, and airlines that give you all the tools you need to DIY your own stopover.

1) Stopovers with Turkish Airlines

After putting its standout stopover program on hiatus during the pandemic, Turkish Airlines has relaunched it, and is sweetening the deal with longer free hotel stays in Istanbul. Passengers who are connecting through Istanbul and have a connection period of at least 20 hours can take advantage of the Stopover in Istanbul  program .

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Through the program, economy-class passengers coming from the U.S. can stay up to two nights free in a four-star hotel (after booking, the airline provides a hotel voucher that can be redeemed on the airline’s website after the ticket purchase). Business-class passengers coming from the U.S. can stay three nights free in a five-star hotel.

2) Stopovers with Icelandair

Icelandair’s Stopover in Iceland program offers transatlantic passengers the option to add a one- to seven-day stopover in Reykjavik (and the rest of the country) for no additional cost. To inspire layovers and simplify planning, the airline has ready-made stopover itineraries arranged by number of days you stay .

3) Stopovers with Emirates

Emirates’ Dubai Stopover programs add appeal to a Dubai layover. With its Dubai Connect program, passengers with a Dubai layover of between six (for first or business class tickets) or eight (for economy and premium economy) and 26 hours receive complimentary hotel stays and meals. 

For longer stopovers (there’s no maximum stay with the stopover program), the airline can arrange a 48-hour visa and travel planning help in Dubai, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah, or Abu Dhabi. 

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For short layovers that don’t offer enough time to leave the airport, the airline’s Dubai Stopover Airport Services offers lounge access and six- or 12-hour hotel room packages at Dubai International Hotel directly inside Terminal 3. 

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To book a stopover package, reach out to the airline or a travel agent after booking a flight and select the package and hotel you want. Bookings can be made up to 48 hours in advance, though it’s a much better idea to book well in advance for better hotel availability.

4) Stopovers with Etihad Airways

Etihad has two (previously three) stopover options for flights connecting through Abu Dhabi. Its Amazing Stopover program offers discounted stays at three-star hotels for one or two nights plus complimentary WiFi (and 24 hour check-in). The Premium Stopover discounts stays at four- and five-star hotels for stopovers of two to four nights and includes daily breakfast and free WiFi.

5) Stopovers with TAP Air Portugal

TAP’s Portugal Stopover program allows passengers to add a one- to 10-day stopover in either Lisbon or Porto at no additional charge. As an extension of this offer, passengers who want to visit other destinations in Portugal (and its islands) can book domestic airfare at a 25 percent discount. There are also other discounts on hotels, restaurants, and things like sightseeing passes.  

6) Stopovers with Iberia

Iberia’s Stopover Hola Madrid program allows Iberia passengers to book a layover in Madrid without additional charges. Stays can range from 24 hours up to six nights, and while Iberia doesn’t cover the cost of hotel stays, it does offer discounts on hotel stays, transportation, activities, and restaurants in Madrid.

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7) Stopovers with Air Canada

Air Canada has a Toronto stopover program that gives passengers the option to pause in Toronto for up to 48 hours as a layover between two destinations.

8) Stopovers with Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways’ Qatar Stopover program allow passengers flying through Doha to add a one- to four-night stopover on either the outbound or return flight. The package includes extremely discounted hotel stays (one night at a standard hotel starts at $14 per person or $81 per person at a luxury hotel). Tours and excursions like city tours and whale shark expeditions are also bookable for stays.

9) Stopovers with Copa Airlines

Copa’s stopover program gives passengers in transit the option to extend a layover in Panama City for up to seven days. And of note, while most of these stopover programs allow passengers to take advantage of the stopover program only going one way, Copa gives travelers the options to do a stopover on both the outbound and return trip for a fee of $250 for the second stopover.

10) Stopovers with Qantas

Qantas takes a the-more-the-merrier approach to its stopover program , allowing one or more stopovers at no extra cost on eligible Qantas flights and oneworld partner airline flights.

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To book, passengers use the multi-city booking tool on the airline’s website—a similar approach to the airlines listed in the DIY stopover below. What sets this program apart is the assurance that the stopovers are allowed at no additional charge on eligible flights.

Which Airlines Have Free Mini Stopover Programs?

Airlines that have mini stopover programs include Finnair (which has short-visit ideas for layovers of six to 24 hours), Air China (which offers free hotel stays for passengers with long layovers in Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Hangzhou, and Shanghai), and Ethiopian Airlines (the airline offers connecting passengers with layovers between eight and 24 hours hotel stays).

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Royal Jordanian has a Zuwar Stopover Program , which offers a huge selection of guided tours for passengers with layovers of six hours or longer (there are also traditional food experiences for shorter layovers).

Award Travel Stopover Programs

There’s one more approach to finding no-cost multi-day layovers in airlines’ hub cities. Certain frequent flyer programs offer free stopovers on award travel. Programs that offer reward tickets with stopovers include Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue program, Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program, Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan , and Air Canada’s Aeroplan .

Using Airlines’ Multi-City Booking Tool to DIY a Stopover

Even if an airline doesn’t have a formal stopover program, it may have a multi-city booking option that will allow you to create a gap between your flights in your layover city. While this option doesn’t score you the perks of a true stopover program—like free hotel stays, discounts on activities, and no additional airfare costs—it does offer the chance to add a few days in a destination.

Airlines that have multi-city booking tools include British Airways , Cathay Pacific , Hawaiian Airlines , and Japan Airlines .

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How To Maximize Stopovers and Open-jaws [Ultimate Guide]

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Table of Contents

An introduction to stopovers and open-jaws, the 9 best programs to maximize stopovers and open-jaws, final thoughts.

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In the award travel world, stopovers and open-jaws are topics that get a ton of attention. They can be difficult to plan and overwhelming to visualize, but can allow you to visit 2 or more places for the price of 1 !

With revenue tickets, these routes are normally not allowed — so, in this sense, award tickets are sometimes objectively better than revenue tickets.

But there are several frequent flyer programs that have incredibly generous award routing rules: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles immediately come to mind.

In this guide, we’ll provide you an overview of award routing rules with specific airlines, and discuss the planning side of stopovers and open-jaws.

Lastly, we will show you some amazing example itineraries you can build with each frequent flyer program that can be worth tens of thousands of dollars in added value, for free!

Let’s first define what a stopover and open-jaw are, exactly.

A stopover is the act of stopping and staying in a city for longer than 24 hours . Here’s an example of a stopover:

An open-jaw is named that because of how the flight trajectory physically looks. Here’s what we mean.

Let’s say you were in New York, and you wanted to fly to Hong Kong — but then return to NYC from Tokyo. Basically, you’re flying from Point A to Point B, and then going to Point C for your return journey to Point A.

The map would look like this:

The last term we’ll talk about is a  double open-jaw . This might be tremendously beneficial if you’re visiting multiple cities!

Here’s an example of what we mean:

Before we go in-depth into each rewards program, it’s important to note that airlines can change their award routing rules at any time without notice .

In the past, airlines such as American, Delta, and United have had very generous award routing rules. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Here, we’ve compiled what we think are the best programs you can use to work in stopovers and open-jaws to your vacation.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan wins so many awards in the hearts of frequent flyers.

It has an easy-to-use online award search engine (with the exception of Cathay Pacific and LATAM), and it also has generous “beginner” routing rules!

What do we mean by beginner routing rules? Well, these routing rules are very generous, but also extremely simple to understand and use .

Basically, here are Alaska’s routing rules:

• You may only fly 1 partner airline and Alaska Airlines on an award ticket.
• The terms and conditions state that the stopover must occur in a hub city (i.e. Hong Kong when flying Cathay Pacific), but you might have luck calling in and requesting another stopover.
• There are no close-in booking fees, and the partner booking fee is $12.50 plus a $15 phone booking fee.
• Changes and cancellations are free until 60 days before departure. After that, you must pay $125.
• You can transit via a third region.
• You  may be able to backtrack , but this is unconfirmed and generally not allowed.

Now that you have an idea of the routing rules, let’s see how we can put this in practice.

Keep in mind that each airline has its own award chart with Alaska Airlines — so this might be hard to keep track of, but it will be totally worth it!

There are some ways to eke out extra value without paying more miles, particularly from Air Tahiti Nui, Cathay Pacific, Fiji Airways, Hainan Airlines, Japan Airlines, and Qantas.

Let’s put some numbers to routes now. Here are some great example routes you can take:

• Boston (BOS) – Beijing (PEK) – Urumqi (URC)  one-way for 50,000 Alaska miles in  Hainan Airlines business class
• Chicago (ORD ) – Hong Kong (HKG) – Johannesburg (JNB)  one-way for 70,000 Alaska miles in Cathay Pacific first class (or 50,000 in business class )
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE) – Perth (PER) one-way for 70,000 Alaska miles in Qantas first class (or 55,000 in business class )
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Nadi (NAN) – Adelaide (ADL)  one-way for 55,000 Alaska miles in Fiji Airways business class
• New York (JFK) – Tokyo (HND) – Bangkok (BKK) one-way for 75,000 Alaska miles in Japan Airlines first class (or 65,000 in business class )

These are just a few examples of ways you can build in additional value into your trip!

Take the ORD-HKG-JNB itinerary, for instance. You are literally adding 13 hours of first or business class flying time and ~$10,000 worth of first-class flights for no additional miles.

Let that sink in for a moment … you will get $10,000 in free plane tickets, just for knowing about Alaska’s award routing rules !

Hot Tip: Want some more inspiration for using Alaska miles? See our guide on the best ways to redeem Alaska miles.

Air Canada Aeroplan

We love Air Canada Aeroplan ‘s generous routing rules when traveling round-trip with any long-haul itinerary on different continents.

Right now, you can pay just 5,000 additional Aeroplan points to add a stopover on flights, even one-way flights! You can add up to 2 stopovers on round-trip tickets.

Stopovers are not permitted on travel wholly within North America (including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America).

With such a diverse network of partners in the Star Alliance, it’s easy to build awesome vacations. Keep in mind that Aeroplan uses a hybrid region-based and distance-based award chart.

Here are some great example routes you can take:

• Chicago (ORD) –  Seoul (ICN) – Singapore (SIN) for 90,000 Aeroplan points on Asiana Airlines business class
• Los Angeles (LAX) –  London (LHR) – Athens (ATH) for 80,000 Aeroplan points on United Polaris business class and Aegean Airlines business class
• New York (JFK) –  Taipei (TPE) – Bangkok (BKK) for 90,000 Aeroplan points on EVA Air Royal Laurel business class
• Seattle (SEA) – Auckland (AKL) – Tokyo (HND)  for 90,000 Aeroplan points on ANA business class and Air New Zealand business class

Overall, Aeroplan offers a simple way to book stopovers. You can get tons of extra value from it!

Hot Tip: Want to know some better ways to redeem Aeroplan points? Look at our best ways to use Aeroplan points !

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club

Let’s call ANA Mileage Club ‘s routing rules as they are: generous for simple travelers.

You might be wondering what differentiates Alaska Airlines from ANA since we used the same “generous for simple travelers” above? Well, ANA allows 1 stopover and 1 open-jaw, but it only allows round-trip flights. Basically, Alaska has generous routing rules on one-ways, while ANA requires round-trip travel.

ANA also has very generous fares for  round-trip business class awards . Combining these routing rules with the best-in-class award prices, ANA becomes a powerful asset that we can use.

To be specific, ANA has its regular routing rules and round-the-world award routing rules (the latter is generally going to be out of scope of this guide, so we’ll focus on adding value from the regular routing rules).

Remember that ANA-operated flights are subject to seasonality rules, so keep that in mind when planning trips.

Let’s get into some example redemptions you can make:

• Miami (MIA) – Zurich (ZRH) – Dubai (DXB) – Miami (MIA) for 104,000 ANA miles in SWISS Air business class ( high fuel surcharges )
• New York (JFK) – Tokyo (HND) – Jakarta (CGK) – New York (JFK)  for 100,000 ANA miles during the low season in ANA business class
• San Francisco (SFO) – London (LHR) – Istanbul (IST) – San Francisco (SFO)  for 88,000 ANA miles in United Polaris business class and  Turkish Airlines business class
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Brussels (BRU) – Accra (FRA) – Washington, D.C. (IAD) for 104,000 ANA miles in Brussels Airlines business class and South African Airways business class

Overall, using ANA miles is an excellent way to add some value to your trip.

Hot Tip: Be careful of huge fuel surcharges and avoid them by trying to fly on United (preferably its brand-new Polaris class ), Air Canada, LOT Polish, or Turkish Airlines. Otherwise, you’ll be paying upwards of $1,000 in total taxes and fees.

Asiana Airlines Mileage Club

Asiana Airlines Asiana Club employs 2 region-based award charts: 1 for Asiana flights, and 1 for partner flights.

Additionally, Asiana Airlines-operated flights are subject to seasonality, so in a sense, its award redemption scheme is very similar to ANA.

Asiana Airlines allows up to 7 stopovers, but they cost extra miles (no additional value added). This is overall a pretty weak offering, but it can still provide some value flying to places like Europe , Korea , and South America .

We won’t go over some stopovers with the airline since this always costs extra miles, but here’s an idea of how to use an open-jaw for convenience purposes (and also using a well-known sweet spot to Europe):

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Frankfurt (FRA), Munich (MUC) – Los Angeles (LAX) for 100,000 Asiana miles in Lufthansa first class

Since they’re in the same region, you’ll be charged for 2 U.S.-Europe one-way awards, which price out at 50,000 miles each way.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles continues to be one of the most underrated loyalty programs out there.

There are tons of optimization to be had using Asia Miles , but the program is a bit complex. For this reason, we think Asia Miles is for “advanced award travelers.” Let’s get into the routing rules.

Basically, you can fall into 3 sets of award redemption buckets:

• Asia Miles Awards Chart (only flying Cathay Pacific)
• Airline Partners Award Chart  (only flying 1 partner the entire way)
• Oneworld Multi-carrier Award Chart  (flying 3+ partners if part of your itinerary includes Cathay Pacific; otherwise, up to 2 partners  without Cathay Pacific)

Each of these is distance-based, and they are subject to different open-jaw and stopover rules. We will focus on Oneworld multi-carrier awards, as they are the most complex and can provide the most value .

Here are the rules when using the multi-carrier award chart, as well as what they mean for you:

• If your travel includes Cathay Pacific, you may fly on 3 or more Oneworld airlines. Otherwise, you may fly up to 2 partners. Basically, you should add Cathay Pacific, if not for its amazing inflight product, because it allows you to fly more partners!
• The maximum distance you can fly in 1 itinerary is 50,000 miles ( 50,000 miles is an extremely long distance — 99.99% of travelers will be under this all the time ).
• The total mileage is determined by the sum of the distances from each of the segments (airport A to airport B). For example, if you’re flying from New York to Hong Kong to New Delhi, you must add the total distances between the 2 segments as opposed to taking the distance between New York and Delhi without considering Hong Kong.
• You are allowed a maximum of 5 stopovers, 2 transfers (layovers), and 2 open-jaws per itinerary.
• Mixed cabin awards will be charged the highest class mileage price for the entire itinerary. Don’t book mixed cabins unless you don’t have a choice.
• You can’t book premium economy.

These might be confusing, but if you take the time to really understand what you could be booking, you can get some outsized value from using Asia Miles’ generous routing rules.

Here’s an extreme example of a trip you could take, illustrating the value you can get with these routing rules:

• New York (JFK) – Tokyo (HND)  [Japan Airlines]
• Tokyo (HND) – Hong Kong (HKG) [Cathay Pacific]
• Hong Kong (HKG) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL) [Malaysia Airlines]
• Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Sydney (SYD) [Malaysia Airlines]
• Sydney (SYD) – Doha (DOH) [Qatar Airways]
• Doha (DOH) – Colombo (CMB) [SriLankan Airlines]
• Chennai (MAA) – London (LHR) [British Airways]
• Madrid (MAD) – New York (JFK) [Iberia]

How long is this itinerary? You’d be flying 32,975 miles and over 71 hours on 8 different airlines across 9 countries.

How complex is this itinerary? It has 5 stopovers and 2 open-jaws between Doha/Dubai and London/Madrid.

If this doesn’t have you drooling yet, just wait. This amazingly complex itinerary will cost 130,000 miles in economy, 210,000 miles in business class, and 300,000 miles in first class! Using the Asia Miles award calculator will help price out your itinerary.

Just 210,000 Asia Miles in business class?!

So, for 40,000 miles more than a round-trip JFK-HKG ticket in Cathay Pacific business class, you can visit 7 more countries, try 8 different business class products (including Malaysia Airlines’ A330 and A350 business class), and fly more than  double the distance?

Yes, please!

We can’t overstate just how amazing using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for Oneworld multi-carrier award tickets truly is.

The biggest challenge will be finding award availability for all flights. If you can pull off a huge, round-the-world trip using Asia Miles, you’ll have the opportunity to try loads of amazing airlines and visit tons of countries!

Emirates Skywards

Emirates has 3 reward tiers for redemptions: Saver, Flex, and Flex Plus.

We’ll focus on Saver awards for economy and business class because they are the cheapest options for its cabin classes. Also, Emirates eliminated Flex first class awards a while ago, so those are no longer possible.

The stopover allowance is 1 free stopover on round-trip saver tickets (business/economy).

In practice, you can always add stopovers to Flex Plus tickets, though these are considerably more expensive than Saver and Flex tickets.

Also, open-jaws are allowed if they are in the same zone.

Emirates doesn’t publish the zone definitions, so the best way to find out if 2 places are in the same zone is to compare the mileage costs using the Emirates Skywards Miles Calculator. To find out, follow these steps:

• Visit the Emirates Skywards Miles Calculator .
• Type in your route (e.g., Los Angeles – Dubai).
• Note the award costs (e.g., Business Saver on LAX – DXB = 165,000 miles round-trip).
• Type in another route with one different city (e.g., New York City – Dubai).
• Note the award costs (e.g., Business Saver on JFK – DXB = 145,000 miles round-trip).
• Compare the award costs (165,000 ≠ 145,000).
• If they’re the same, you can be pretty certain that the 2 cities are in the same zone; if not, they are not in the same region.

Of course, you will still need to pay for fuel surcharges , which can be upwards of $1,500 for round-trip tickets.

Here are some great example routes you can take to maximize open-jaws and stopovers:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Dubai (DXB) – Johannesburg (JNB) round-trip for 200,000 Emirates Skywards miles in Emirates A380 business class
• New York (JFK) – Milan (MXP) – Dubai (DXB) round-trip with a stopover in Milan for 90,000 Emirates Skywards miles in Emirates A380 business class
• Newark (EWR) – Athens (ATH) – Dubai (DXB) round-trip for 145,000 Emirates Skywards miles in Emirates business class
• San Francisco (SFO) – Dubai (DXB) – Malé (MLE) round-trip for 180,000 Emirates Skywards miles in Emirates business class

In all examples, Business Saver allows for 1 stopover.

Bottom Line: Overall, Emirates has a decent stopover policy for round-trip flights, but because of its hub-and-spoke model of airline networks, it’s very difficult to add open-jaws since Emirates only allows them for “cities in the same zone.”

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is similar to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: it employs a region-based award chart for JAL flights and 2 distance-based award charts for partners.

We’ll focus on the distance-based award charts for partners since there’s more opportunity to optimize using the partner award chart.

The 2 award charts are for travel on:

• Oneworld partners
• Non-alliance partners (including Air France, Korean Air, Emirates, etc.)

Here are the routing rules for partner airlines:

• One-way itineraries are allowed.
• Itineraries cannot backtrack to the point of origin in order to continue onwards to a final destination.
• Itineraries cannot backtrack to the country of origin in order to continue onwards to a final destination.
• Departure and arrival cities may be different but must be in the same country.
• You’re allowed a total of 6 segments, excluding an open-jaw.
• You are allowed 3 stopovers or 2 stopovers and 1 open-jaw.
• The distance of the open-jaw is counted in the total itinerary distance.
• You cannot mix non-alliance partners and Oneworld partners.

Here is a great example redemption you can make with Japan Airlines while maximizing stopovers and open-jaws:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Paris (CDG) [Air France]
• Paris (CDG) – Dubai (DXB) [Emirates]
• Dubai (DXB) – Sydney (SYD) [Emirates]
• Sydney (SYD) – Hangzhou (HGH) [China Eastern]
• Shanghai (PVG) – New York (JFK) [China Eastern]

The total trip distance is 28,639 miles (according to JAL’s Total Mileage Calculator), which would cost 110,000 miles in economy or 160,000 miles in business class.

A minor caveat to consider is that Air France, Emirates, Malaysia Airlines, and Korean Air don’t allow first class award bookings , so you’ll have to plan another itinerary that allows you to fly first class the whole way. We think 160,000 miles in business class is the best redemption for this particular itinerary.

This is a great way to optimize Japan Airlines’ distance-based award chart!

Hot Tip: Using Oneworld partners is an  easier way to book complex itineraries, but it is quite a bit more expensive in terms of mileage costs.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is generally very strict with award routing rules. These are the following:

• Round-trip saver awards are allowed 1 stopover and 1 open-jaw.
• One-way  advantage (more expensive!)  awards are allowed 1 stopover.
• Stopovers are only allowed up to 30 days.

Here are some other itineraries where you can take advantage of the routing rules provided by Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Tokyo (NRT) – Singapore (SIN) 
• Houston (IAH) – Manchester (MAN) – Singapore (SIN) 

If you book an Advantage award, you would be entitled to a free stopover in either Tokyo (NRT) or Manchester (MAN). That said, the price for itinerary #1 is 128,500 miles, while the price for itinerary #2 is 143,500 miles.

United Airlines

United Airlines has something peculiar called the  Excursionist Perk .

According to United, here are the rules to use it:

• For example, if your journey begins in North America, you will only receive the Excursionist Perk if travel is within a region outside of North America.
• Travel must end in the same MileagePlus defined region where travel originates.
• The origin and destination of the Excursionist Perk are within a single MileagePlus defined region.
• The cabin of service and award type of the free one-way award is the same or lower than the one-way award preceding it.
• If 2 or more one-way awards qualify for this benefit, only the first occurrence will be free.

Here’s an example that qualifies:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – London (LHR) – Frankfurt (FRA) – Los Angeles (LAX)

There’s not much else to talk about, besides the fact that you basically get a free intra-region award flight. Because United has so many regions, it’s not super useful to extract extra value.

In the example above, the only added value you’re getting is the London-Frankfurt flight, which isn’t great because intra-Europe business class is horrible anyway.

Nevertheless, using the Excursionist Perk will get you a tiny bit of extra value, though it’s really only useful for convenience purposes.

Whew, what a guide! Between reading crazy legal documents, obscure terms and conditions, and confusing award charts, we’ve definitely scrutinized the fine print in this guide to maximizing open-jaws and stopovers.

Of course, there are tons more airline programs out there, but we covered most of our bases here. There are also some outdated resources out there, so we made sure to show you award maximization opportunities based on up-to-date rules!

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What Are Layover, Stopover and Open-Jaw Flights?

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Table of Contents

What is a layover?

Stopover meaning in airlines, open-jaw flights: how they work.

Many times in the world of air travel you might hear the words “layover,” “stopover” and “open-jaw” flight but not be quite sure what they mean.

The main difference between a stopover and layover is length of time. Stopover rules vary by airline, but are essentially longer layovers — at least 24 hours in length. Layovers, meanwhile, are connections less than a day in length depending on if you’re flying domestically or internationally.

Open-jaw flights are a whole different beast. Follow this quick guide and we’ll help you arrive at an understanding of stopover, layover and open-jaw flights.

A layover is the technical term for what you might think of as a simple connecting flight. For example, earlier this year, I flew from Cincinnati to Boston on American Airlines. Because there are no direct flights between Cincinnati and Boston on American, I had to make a connection. There were several options for my connection, mostly in American hub airports like New York LaGuardia, Washington National or Philadelphia. I chose one in Washington (DCA).

In this case, I had only a 31-minute layover, which made me a bit nervous. Layovers this short are great when everything goes right, since you walk right off of one flight and on to the next, but they don’t have a lot of room for error. Thankfully, my first flight arrived about 15 minutes early, so I had plenty of time to make it to my next flight.

» Learn more: 5 tips for long airport layovers

Another note about layovers: While they usually involve changing gates and planes, that is not always the case. Southwest, for example, will often have layovers that involve no plane change.

In a case like this, you would arrive in Kansas City and wait for all the departing passengers to deplane. Then you could move to a better seat (this IS Southwest after all) and await the passengers going from Kansas City to Los Angeles.

At its simplest, a stopover is simply a longer layover. Most airlines define a layover as any connection of less than 4 hours on a domestic flight or less than 24 hours on an international flight. Rules about when stopovers are allowed varies by airline, and it will often depend on whether the ticket is an award ticket or a paid ticket.

Here are two examples of stopovers I have personally taken:

Using Alaska Airlines miles to fly Emirates, I booked a ticket from Singapore to Dubai (2-day stopover) to New York City.

On a paid ticket, I flew Newark to Lisbon (3-day stopover) before continuing on to Barcelona.

Most airlines that offered free stopovers on award tickets have eliminated that perk. There are a few (but dwindling) number of airlines that offer stopovers on award tickets:

Singapore Airlines offers two complimentary stopovers on a round-trip ticket using KrisFlyer miles.

Alaska Airlines even offers a free stopover on ONE-WAY award tickets (see my Dubai example above).

United Airlines doesn’t allow stopovers per se, but it does have a similar program called the Excursionist Perk .

Even if the airline whose miles you are using does not allow stopovers on award flights, you can still get a lot of value from including a layover of up to 23 hours 59 minutes. As an example, on the same Singapore trip I mentioned earlier, I used American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book the outbound portion of the trip, which included a 20-hour layover in Hong Kong at no additional charge.

While that wasn’t enough time to see much of Hong Kong, it was at least enough to take a brief city tour, have some street food and get a taste of the city before returning to the airport and boarding the connecting flight to Singapore.

» Learn more: The best airlines for free stopovers

An open-jaw flight is two or more flights in an itinerary with an “open” segment in the middle. The open “V” shape formed by the outbound and return lines of travel is similar to the profile of an open mouth or jaw. A simple example would be a round-trip itinerary as follows:

New York to Paris.

Frankfurt to New York.

You start and end your itinerary in New York, but your European itinerary has an open-jaw between Paris and Frankfurt. This itinerary does not cover your travel between those two European cities. Of course you will have to physically get yourself from Paris to Frankfurt, but you are on your own for that transportation. It could be by car, train, a separately booked flight or any other mode of travel.

Open-jaw itineraries don’t have to start and end in the same location and aren’t limited to only 2 flights. Here is another example of an open-jaw itinerary:

Chicago to London.

London to Stockholm.

Copenhagen to Los Angeles.

In this itinerary you have an open-jaw between your origin and return (Chicago to Los Angeles) as well as an open-jaw on your destination (Stockholm to Copenhagen). In both of those cases you would need to arrange your own transportation between the two cities. You also have a connection (either a layover or stopover) in London.

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The best programs for maximizing stopovers and open jaws on award tickets

Editor's Note

Understanding the complexities of stopovers and open jaws on award tickets can be overwhelming, but they can be a great way to visit two or more destinations for the price of one.

Some airline programs have lenient routing rules that you can leverage to create a tour of Europe or Asia and sometimes even a mini-round-the-world itinerary. Today, we'll explore the stopover and open-jaw rules of some of the most popular airlines to help you make the most informed decision on how you could transfer your points and subsequently maximize your rewards.

Let's dive in.

What are stopovers and open jaws?

If you're unfamiliar with stopovers and open jaws, start here .

At a high level, a stopover is a long stop in a city en route to your final destination where you leave the airport. That differs from a layover, which is generally a short connection during which you stay in the airport. The definition of a stopover vs. a layover can vary depending on the route, but for international award tickets, it's usually any connection lasting at least 24 hours.

Meanwhile, an open jaw means flying into one city and then departing out of another to fly home. For example, if you want to fly from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Dublin Airport (DUB) and then return from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Orlando, that is an open jaw.

You could book each leg as a separate one-way ticket, but it may result in extra fees if you need to change your plans. In almost all open jaws, you're responsible for your own transportation between arrival and departure airports (Dublin and Paris in the above example). You could buy a one-way ticket on a low-cost airline or use a different mode of transportation, like a train or bus, to fill the open jaw.

Related: What are stopovers and open jaws on award tickets?

Can't you create open jaws with multiple one-way tickets?

Generally, yes. Most airline programs allow you to book one-way awards. You can create your own open jaw if your desired airline does not allow open jaws. Using the previous example would mean booking a one-way ticket from Orlando to Dublin and then another one-way ticket from Paris to Orlando.

But here are some reasons you might not want to do that.

You could be turning down a 'free' flight

As you'll see, some programs allow stopovers, enabling you to use a city as a stopover before continuing to your destination.

So you could use Dublin as a multi-day stopover before continuing to Paris. The flight from Dublin to Paris could be available for little to no extra points. One example is the United MileagePlus excursionist perk , where the inter-region flight on most long-haul round-trip or multi-city itineraries is no extra miles — you'd only need to pay the taxes and fees from Dublin to Paris.

Changes can get messy

Although the major U.S. airlines no longer charge redeposit and change fees on most award tickets, having two one-way tickets often means double the fees and double the headache when changes occur.

Some programs are also known for long hold times , so if you have a ticket booked with two programs, more effort will be required.

You may pay more in surcharges

Some carriers add on surcharges when you begin your trip in certain regions. For example, Delta SkyMiles generally adds a "carrier-imposed international surcharge" when you start an award itinerary in Europe. On a round-trip, economy-class ticket from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Brussels Airport (BRU), you'll need to pay just $66 in taxes and fees (plus the required number of miles). However, booking a one-way ticket that starts in Brussels tacks on 120 euros (around $130) per person.

An infant-in-arms could be a lot more expensive

If you're traveling with an infant-in-arms (also known as a lap child), some carriers require you to pay 10% of the adult fare on international flights. One-way tickets are often exorbitantly expensive , so booking a ticket as a round-trip or multi-city could save you money when it comes to this fee.

Related: 25 airlines that allow families to pool miles

The best programs for stopovers and open jaws

The U.S. legacy carriers once offered generous routing rules for award tickets, but that's no longer true. Remember that airlines can modify their award routing rules without warning.

Here's a list of the best programs for stopovers and open jaws in your travel plans.

Air Canada Aeroplan

We've written a lot about the Aeroplan stopover .

For 5,000 points, you can add a stopover to any one-way ticket, and you can add up to two stopovers to a round-trip ticket (for 5,000 points apiece). You can also have an open jaw on your ticket, but only between one-way flights and not between connecting cities or stopovers.

In addition to Air Canada metal, you can use the Aeroplan stopover on Star Alliance partners like United, Lufthansa and ANA. The Aeroplan stopover also works with non-alliance partners like Emirates, Gulf Air, Oman Air and Vistara. Between all of Aeroplan's partners, you can book plenty of creative flights.

Here are some of our favorite Aeroplan stopovers in business class:

• Stopover in Oman : Amman's Queen Alia International Airport (AMM) to Muscat International Airport (MCT) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) for 25,000 points.
• Stopover in Japan : Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo's Narita International Airport (NRT) to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) for 90,000 points.
• Stopover in Switzerland : Miami to Zurich Airport (ZRH) to Naples International Airport (NAP) for 75,000 points.
• Stopover in Turkey : Washington's Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Istanbul Airport (IST) to Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) for 92,500 points.

Just keep in mind that stopovers are not allowed for trips entirely within North America, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.

You can book Aeroplan stopovers using the multi-city search function on aircanada.com .

Related: Complete guide to Aeroplan's stopover and routing rules

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue is one of the most recent programs to start offering stopovers . Best of all, Flying Blue stopovers don't require any extra miles.

You can add a stopover for up to one year on Flying Blue award tickets that are wholly operated by Air France and/or KLM. For most travelers, that means you can stop in Paris or Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) for a few days before continuing to your final destination.

To book Flying Blue stopovers, you'll need to call Flying Blue at 1 (800) 375-8723.

Related: The ultimate guide to earning and redeeming with Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers attractive premium cabin award rates , particularly for travel to Asia. It also provides generous rules for stopovers and open jaws.

You can have one stopover per one-way flight and use an open jaw for international award tickets. However, when using the Alaska stopover , you can only use one partner airline per award ticket, plus Alaska. To avoid this restriction, you can book two one-way tickets on round-trip itineraries and use different partners on the outbound and inbound flights.

Generally, Alaska stopovers are only allowed on long-haul international flights in the hub of your partner airline. For Cathay Pacific, this would be Hong Kong International Airport (HKG). Meanwhile, Japan Airlines would allow stopovers in either Tokyo airport — Narita International Airport (NRT) or Haneda Airport (HND).

Here are some of our favorite Mileage Plan stopovers in business class:

• Stopover in Finland : LAX to Helsinki Airport (HEL) to Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) for 70,000 miles.
• Stopover in England : Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Edinburgh Airport (EDI) for 65,000 miles.
• Stopover in Fiji : LAX to Nadi International Airport (NAN) to Sydney Airport (SYD) for 55,000 miles.

You can book Alaska Airlines stopovers using the multi-city search on alaskaair.com .

Related: 6 things to know about the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program

ANA Mileage Club

ANA Mileage Club has a stopover program that works much like Alaska's by allowing one stopover and one open jaw, but it only works on round-trip award tickets. Luckily, ANA has some of the lowest award rates out there.

You're allowed one stopover on ANA tickets, except for itineraries wholly in Japan. Likewise, you're only allowed a stopover on ANA flights if your itinerary originates outside Japan. Stopovers can either be on your ticket's outbound or inbound leg, and you're allowed an open jaw on both the inbound and outbound leg.

When you opt for an open jaw at your destination, the cities you choose must belong to the same "Area" designated by ANA. ANA divides the world into three areas, so as long as you finish your ticket in the same general area, this shouldn't be a problem.

To book an ANA stopover or open jaw, sign in to your Mileage Club account, select "book a flight," then "award reservation" and then "multiple cities/mixed classes." You can enter your city pairs and desired travel dates here.

Call ANA Mileage Club at 1 (800) 235-9262 if you face issues or are trying to book a partner that doesn't appear online — like Philippine Airlines.

Related: Everything you need to know about ANA Mileage Club

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Despite devaluations to its KrisFlyer program , Singapore Airlines continues to offer exceptional premium-class products. On Singapore Airlines-operated award tickets, KrisFlyer members can book stopovers and open jaws on award tickets. One-way Advantage awards allow for one stopover, while round-trip Advantage awards permit two. Saver awards only allow one stopover on a round-trip ticket and none on a one-way ticket.

In all of these cases, there's no charge to add stopovers to an award ticket booked through Singapore KrisFlyer.

For U.S.-based flyers, the best use of the KrisFlyer stopover may be on fifth freedom Singapore Airlines flights, where you can stop for a few days in a city before terminating your journey in Singapore. Singapore Airlines operates these U.S. fifth freedom flights:

• LAX to Tokyo Narita.
• Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Manchester Airport (MAN).
• JFK to Frankfurt Airport (FRA).

To book KrisFlyer stopovers, go to singaporeair.com and select "redeem flights." Enter your travel criteria with your origin and final destination — for example, LAX to SIN. You'll see a place to add a stopover on the next page.

Related: Deal: Book discounted Singapore Airlines awards with KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes

United MileagePlus

United MileagePlus doesn't explicitly permit stopovers or open jaws but offers the Excursionist Perk . You should refer to our guide on the Excursionist Perk if you're unfamiliar with it, but here's the basic principle:

The first route wholly within a single MileagePlus-defined region different from the region where your itinerary begins and ends is free.

You can use this to create several stopovers and/or open jaws, and there's room to get very creative here, given how few rules United has about the perk. However, the most common use would be something like this:

• Flight one: Newark to Frankfurt on United or Lufthansa.
• Flight two: Frankfurt to Brussels on Lufthansa or Brussels Airlines.
• Flight three: Brussels to Newark on United.

As you can see, the intra-Europe flight prices out at 0 miles (the taxes and fees are part of the overall award ticket, not an added cost for the stopover).

To book the MileagePlus Excursionist Perk, go to united.com , click "advanced search," "miles" and then "multi-city." Enter your travel details. The first sector wholly within a single MileagePlus-defined region different from the region where your itinerary begins and ends is no extra miles.

Related: How to get maximum value from the United MileagePlus program

Other programs that allow stopovers and open jaws

Asiana Club , Japan Airlines Mileage Bank and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles are three other programs that either allow open jaws or stopovers. That said, Asiana and Japan Airlines miles are difficult for U.S.-based travelers to earn, as the programs aren't transfer partners of the major credit card currencies . That said, you can transfer Marriott points to Asiana and Japan Airlines.

Asia Miles, on the other hand, is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards , Bilt Rewards , Capital One and Citi ThankYou Rewards — though the program has a number of complexities that can make these challenging to book.

Meanwhile, British Airways calculates award tickets based on the distance of each leg. So if you book a flight from JFK to Vienna Airport (VIE) with a stop in London, it's the same number of miles as a flight from JFK to London (with a stopover in London) and then London to Vienna.

Lastly, Emirates Skywards generally allows one free stopover on round-trip saver tickets in business and economy class, but Skywards is known for outrageously high fuel surcharges .

Related: These airline and hotel programs offer free points when you sign up

How to maximize stopovers and open jaws

Now that you know how to make the most of stopovers and open jaws on award tickets, here are a few extra tips to consider while planning your next trip.

• Consider a connection of ~23.5 hours . When traveling internationally, you can generally connect within 24 hours of your arrival without it counting as a stopover. If you can schedule an overnight layover close to 24 hours, you can add another city to your itinerary without using up your stopover.
• Add a "free" side trip . If you plan to use your miles for a trip, consider adding a free side trip with a stopover and/or open jaw. For example, say you want to vacation in Canada but also have a wedding to attend in New York around the same time. Instead of booking two separate trips from your home airport, you can fly from your home to New York (stop for a wedding) and then continue to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL). After a week of vacation, you can return to your home airport from Montreal.
• Diversify your rewards . Diversification is the key to having more options when booking award tickets and filling in open jaws. Transferable point currencies are excellent for this. You can wait to transfer points until you know your redemption needs, giving you greater flexibility.

Related: How to plan a free stopover on your next trip abroad

Bottom line

Adding stopovers and open jaws to your award tickets is an excellent way to maximize your rewards and potentially visit another city without incurring additional award expenses.

You can even leverage some program restrictions, such as Alaska Airlines, to have a stopover in the partner's hub city. Now, you have the skills to begin utilizing stopovers on your next award trip.

Additional reporting by Nick Ewen and Andrew Kunesh.

Winter is here! Check out the winter wonderlands at these 5 amazing winter destinations in Montana

• Plan Your Trip

What Is A Stopover Flight?

Published: December 16, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Jacquetta Dickinson

• Travel Guide

Introduction

When it comes to air travel, most people are accustomed to booking direct flights from point A to point B. However, there is another option that can add a unique twist to your journey: the stopover flight. A stopover flight allows you to break up your trip and spend some time exploring a different city or country before reaching your final destination.

While the concept of a stopover flight may seem unfamiliar to some, it can be a fantastic way to make the most out of your travel experience. Rather than rushing through airports and spending countless hours on layovers, you have the opportunity to turn your layover into a mini-vacation, giving you a chance to discover new places and cultures along the way.

A stopover flight can be an excellent option for travelers who love to explore and are not in a hurry to reach their final destination. Not only does it allow you to visit an additional city or country, but it can also save you money on airfare. So, whether you’re a seasoned traveler looking for a new adventure or a budget-conscious explorer, a stopover flight might be the perfect choice for you.

In this article, we will delve into the world of stopover flights and explore everything you need to know about this unique air travel option. We will discuss what exactly a stopover flight is, the different types of stopover flights available, the benefits of choosing a stopover flight, how to plan your stopover, popular airlines and airports for stopover flights, as well as tips to ensure a smooth stopover experience.

So, if you’re ready to embark on a journey filled with excitement and exploration, let’s dive into the world of stopover flights and discover how you can enhance your air travel experience.

Definition of a Stopover Flight

A stopover flight refers to a layover that extends beyond a specific duration, allowing travelers to spend a considerable amount of time in the layover city before continuing their journey to the final destination. Unlike a regular layover, which is typically just a few hours, a stopover provides an opportunity to explore and experience a new destination.

The duration of a stopover flight can vary depending on the airline’s policies and the traveler’s preferences. It can range from a few hours to several days, giving you ample time to immerse yourself in the local culture, discover popular attractions, or simply relax and rejuvenate before continuing your trip.

It’s important to note that a stopover flight differs from a connecting flight. A connecting flight is a flight with a layover that is usually less than 24 hours and is intended solely to transfer you from one flight to another. In contrast, a stopover flight offers flexibility in terms of how long you can stay in the layover city and explore its offerings.

For example, let’s say you’re traveling from New York to Bangkok, and your flight has a layover in Dubai for 20 hours. If you choose to take advantage of this layover and explore Dubai during those 20 hours, it would be considered a stopover flight. However, if your layover in Dubai was less than 24 hours and you remained in the airport without leaving, it would be classified as a connecting flight.

A stopover flight allows you to add an extra destination to your itinerary, making your journey more dynamic and exciting. It’s an excellent opportunity to see parts of the world that you might not have had the chance to visit otherwise.

Now that we understand the basic definition of a stopover flight, let’s explore the different types of stopover flights and how they can enhance your travel experience.

Types of Stopover Flights

Stopover flights come in different variations, offering travelers various options to customize their travel experience. Let’s explore the different types of stopover flights:

• Planned Stopover: This is the most common type of stopover flight, where you intentionally plan a layover in a specific city or country. It allows you to explore the layover destination and break up your journey. This type of stopover gives you the freedom to choose the duration of your layover and make the most of your time in the city.
• Scheduled Stopover: Some airlines have specific layover cities built into their routes. This is known as a scheduled stopover. While you don’t have the flexibility to choose the layover city, it provides an opportunity to explore a destination that you might not have considered visiting otherwise. Airlines often highlight these stopover cities as an added perk to attract travelers.
• Involuntary Stopover: Sometimes, due to circumstances beyond your control, such as weather conditions or mechanical issues, your flight may be rerouted and you end up with an involuntary stopover. While these unplanned stopovers can be inconvenient, they can also present unexpected opportunities to discover a new city.
• Open-Jaw Stopover: An open-jaw stopover involves flying into one city and departing from another, with a stopover in between. This allows you to explore multiple destinations in one trip. For example, you could fly from Los Angeles to Beijing, then have a stopover in Tokyo before returning to Los Angeles. Open-jaw stopovers provide maximum flexibility and the chance to visit different regions or even continents.
• Free Stopover: Some airlines offer free stopovers as part of their promotional offers or loyalty programs. These free stopovers allow you to stay in the layover city for a specific duration without incurring any additional airfare costs. It’s an excellent opportunity to add an extra destination to your trip without breaking the bank.

Each type of stopover flight offers its own unique advantages and allows you to tailor your travel experience to suit your preferences. Whether you want to explore a specific destination, visit multiple cities, or take advantage of a promotion, there’s a stopover flight option for everyone.

Next, let’s uncover the benefits of choosing a stopover flight and how it can enhance your overall travel experience.

Benefits of Choosing a Stopover Flight

Opting for a stopover flight can offer a range of benefits that can enhance your travel experience. Here are some compelling reasons to consider choosing a stopover flight:

• Explore a New Destination: One of the primary advantages of a stopover flight is the opportunity to explore a new city or country. Instead of spending hours stuck in an airport, you can venture out and experience the local culture, cuisine, and attractions. It’s a chance to add an extra destination to your itinerary and make your journey more rewarding.
• Break Up a Long Journey: Long-haul flights can be tiring and overwhelming. A stopover flight allows you to break up your journey, giving you time to rest and rejuvenate before continuing to your final destination. It can help reduce jet lag and make the overall travel experience less exhausting.
• Save Money: In some cases, choosing a stopover flight can be more cost-effective than a direct flight. Airlines often offer lower fares for flights with a layover, as they may want to promote specific destinations or attract more travelers. Additionally, with a stopover, you can split your long-haul journey into two shorter flights, potentially saving on airline expenses.
• Discover Hidden Gems: Stopover destinations are often less explored by tourists, which means you have the opportunity to discover hidden gems and experience a more authentic local culture. You might stumble upon charming neighborhoods, local markets, or unique traditions that are off the beaten path. It’s a chance to create lasting memories and gain a deeper understanding of different cultures.
• Extend Your Vacation: By incorporating a stopover into your travel plans, you effectively extend your vacation. You can add a few extra days in the layover city, allowing you to relax, explore, and make the most of your time away from home. It’s like having a bonus vacation within your main trip.
• Upgrade Your Travel Experience: Stopover flights can provide an opportunity to upgrade your travel experience. Some airlines offer premium services, such as complimentary hotel stays, city tours, or access to exclusive lounges, for travelers on stopover flights. This added level of comfort and luxury can make your journey even more enjoyable.

With these benefits in mind, it’s clear that choosing a stopover flight can offer numerous advantages. It allows you to go beyond the typical travel experience and enrich your journey with new destinations, cost savings, and unique cultural encounters.

Now that you understand the benefits, let’s explore how to plan a stopover flight and make the most of this exciting travel opportunity.

How to Plan a Stopover Flight

Planning a stopover flight requires a bit of research and careful consideration to ensure a smooth and enjoyable travel experience. Here are some steps to help you plan your stopover flight:

• Choose Your Stopover Destination: The first step is to decide which city or country you’d like to explore during your layover. Consider your interests, the duration of your layover, and any visa requirements for the layover destination. Research the attractions, culture, and local transportation options to determine if it aligns with your travel preferences.
• Find Airlines with Stopover Programs: Many airlines offer stopover programs that provide added benefits and services to travelers. Research airlines that have stopover programs and see if they offer attractive perks such as free hotel stays, discounted tours, or extra baggage allowances. Compare the programs and choose the one that best suits your needs.
• Check Visa Requirements: Before finalizing your stopover destination, ensure that you are aware of the visa requirements for that particular country. Some countries may require you to obtain a transit visa or a visitor visa, depending on the duration of your layover. Check the official government websites or consult with the airline to confirm the visa requirements.
• Consider Flight Durations: Take into account the duration of your stopover and the overall flight time. Consider how much time you would like to spend in the stopover city and make sure the layover is long enough for your desired activities. Keep in mind that longer layovers provide more opportunities for exploration, but they may also require additional planning and accommodation arrangements.
• Book Your Stopover Flight: Once you have decided on the stopover destination, search for flights that allow for a layover in that city. Use online travel platforms or consult with travel agents to find the best options. Consider factors such as cost, flight duration, and departure times to select the most suitable stopover flight for your needs.
• Plan Your Itinerary: Once your stopover flight is booked, start planning your itinerary for the layover destination. Research popular attractions, dining options, and cultural activities. Create a flexible schedule that allows you to make the most of your time while also leaving room for relaxation and exploration.
• Arrange Accommodation: If your stopover is an overnight stay, you will need to arrange accommodation. Check if the airline offers complimentary hotel stays as part of their stopover program. If not, explore different accommodation options that suit your budget and preferences. Consider staying near the airport for convenience or in a central location to easily access the city’s attractions.
• Prepare for Transit: Make sure you have all the necessary documents, such as passports, visas, and flight tickets, readily accessible. Familiarize yourself with the airport layout and terminal, ensuring a smooth transition between flights. Consider any specific requirements for security checks and customs procedures at your stopover airport.

By following these steps and planning ahead, you can make the most of your stopover flight and create a memorable travel experience. Now that you know how to plan your stopover flight, let’s explore popular airlines and airports that offer excellent options for stopovers.

Popular Airlines and Airports for Stopover Flights

Several airlines and airports around the world cater to travelers looking to embark on stopover flights. These destinations often offer excellent services, attractive amenities, and exciting opportunities for exploration during layovers. Here are some popular airlines and airports renowned for their stopover options:

• Singapore Airlines: Singapore Airlines is well-known for its stopover program, “Singapore Stopover Holiday.” It offers discounted hotel stays, airport transfers, and complimentary access to over 20 attractions in Singapore for passengers with layovers of at least 24 hours. This program allows travelers to experience the vibrant city-state of Singapore, from its futuristic architecture to its diverse culinary scene.
• Emirates: Emirates Airlines offers a “Dubai Stopover” program for passengers with layovers in Dubai. This program provides discounted hotel rates, visa assistance, and complimentary entry to popular attractions in Dubai, such as the Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall. Passengers can also take advantage of Emirates’ complimentary stopover tours to explore the city’s iconic sights.
• Icelandair: Icelandair’s “Stopover Buddy” program allows travelers to experience the beauty of Iceland during their layovers. Passengers can choose to have an Icelandair staff member as their personal local guide, showcasing the country’s stunning landscapes, geothermal spas, and unique cultural experiences. This program is a fantastic way to explore the enchanting natural wonders of Iceland.
• Qatar Airways: Qatar Airways offers a stopover program called “Discover Qatar” for passengers with layovers in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. With this program, travelers can access discounted hotel rates, city tours, and exclusive transit visas. Doha is known for its modern architecture, traditional Souq Waqif market, and the impressive Museum of Islamic Art.
• Turkish Airlines: Turkish Airlines provides a “Touristanbul” program for passengers with layovers in Istanbul. This program offers complimentary tours to explore the historical and cultural attractions of Istanbul, including iconic landmarks such as the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace. Passengers can take advantage of these tours to discover the unique blend of East and West in this vibrant city.
• Changi Airport (Singapore): Changi Airport in Singapore is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best airports. It offers a wide array of entertainment options and facilities for travelers, including gardens, movie theaters, and even a rooftop swimming pool. With its convenient location and efficient transportation options, Changi Airport is an excellent choice for a stopover.
• Incheon International Airport (Seoul, South Korea): Incheon International Airport is renowned for its modern design and impressive amenities. The airport features a Korean Culture Museum, a spa, an ice-skating rink, and a casino. Incheon’s central location makes it an ideal hub for exploring the vibrant city of Seoul and its rich cultural heritage.
• Hamad International Airport (Doha, Qatar): Hamad International Airport in Doha offers an exceptional travel experience with its stunning architecture and luxurious facilities. The airport includes a range of world-class amenities, such as a swimming pool, art installations, and numerous shopping and dining options. Passengers can take advantage of their stopover to explore the vibrant city of Doha.
• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Amsterdam, Netherlands): Schiphol Airport is known for its efficient operations and extensive flight connectivity. The airport offers a variety of services, including a casino, a museum, and a rooftop terrace with panoramic views. Located just a short train ride away from Amsterdam’s city center, it provides easy access to the cultural and historical wonders of the Dutch capital.
• Dubai International Airport (Dubai, United Arab Emirates): Dubai International Airport is the world’s busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic. It boasts luxurious lounges, high-end shopping, and various dining options. With a wide range of facilities and convenient connections to the city, Dubai Airport is an ideal choice for a stopover in the Middle East.

These popular airlines and airports offer outstanding stopover options, allowing travelers to make the most of their layovers by offering unique experiences, attractive amenities, and convenient connections to fascinating destinations. Now, let’s move on to the next section to discover some essential tips for a smooth stopover experience.

Tips for a Smooth Stopover Experience

Planning a stopover flight requires careful consideration and preparation to ensure a seamless and enjoyable travel experience. Here are some essential tips to help you make the most of your stopover:

• Check Visa Requirements: Before planning your stopover, research the visa requirements for the layover destination. Ensure that you have the necessary visas or transit permits to enter the country. It’s essential to check the latest visa regulations and any restrictions or exemptions that may apply.
• Plan Your Time Wisely: Make a list of the attractions, sites, or experiences you would like to explore during your stopover. Consider the duration of your layover and prioritize the activities that interest you the most. Create a flexible itinerary that allows you to make the most of your time while accounting for unforeseen circumstances.
• Consider Airport Transfer Options: Research the transportation options available at the stopover airport. Find out if there are efficient public transportation systems, reliable taxis, or shuttle services that can take you to and from the city center or major attractions. Having a plan for airport transfers will save you time and ensure a smooth transition.
• Pack Essentials in Your Carry-On: When packing for your stopover flight, make sure to include essential items in your carry-on bag. Pack a change of clothes, toiletries, medications, and any necessary electronic devices or chargers. Having these essentials with you will ensure that you are prepared and comfortable during your layover.
• Stay Hydrated and Rested: Long-haul flights and layovers can be tiring, so make sure to stay hydrated and get proper rest. Drink plenty of water, avoid excessive alcohol and caffeine, and consider bringing a neck pillow or eye mask to help you relax during the flight. Resting well will help you stay energized and make the most of your stopover experience.
• Be Mindful of Time: Keep track of the local time and the time difference between your departure and arrival destinations. Adjust your schedule accordingly to avoid missing connecting flights or experiencing jet lag. Set reminders or alarms on your phone to ensure you stay on schedule and don’t miss any important flights or activities.
• Take Advantage of Airport Amenities: Many airports offer a wide range of amenities and services to make your layover more enjoyable. Explore the airport facilities, such as lounges, spas, shopping areas, or even fitness centers. Take a stroll, relax, or pamper yourself during your layover to make the most of your time in the airport.
• Stay Connected: Make sure you have a reliable means of communication during your stopover. Check if your mobile phone plan covers international roaming or consider purchasing a local SIM card for data and calls. Having internet access will allow you to navigate, research, and stay connected with loved ones during your layover.
• Stay Safe and Secure: Like any other travel experience, it’s crucial to prioritize your safety and security during your stopover. Be mindful of your belongings, avoid displaying valuable items, and stay vigilant in crowded areas. Familiarize yourself with local customs and cultural norms to ensure respectful behavior throughout your stay.

By following these tips, you can have a smooth and memorable stopover experience. Planning ahead, staying organized, and embracing the opportunities that your stopover presents will make your journey more enjoyable and rewarding.

Now that you know how to have a smooth stopover experience, let’s conclude our exploration of stopover flights.

Choosing a stopover flight is an excellent way to break up long journeys, explore new destinations, and add a touch of excitement to your travel experience. By opting for a stopover, you have the opportunity to transform a layover into a mini-vacation, allowing you to immerse yourself in the culture, cuisine, and attractions of a new city or country.

In this article, we have explored the definition of a stopover flight and the various types available, from planned stopovers to scheduled and open-jaw stopovers. We discussed the benefits of choosing a stopover flight, such as the chance to explore new destinations, save money, and extend your vacation. Additionally, we provided helpful tips on how to plan, including choosing your stopover destination, checking visa requirements, and making the most of your time during the layover.

We also highlighted popular airlines and airports that offer excellent stopover options, such as Singapore Airlines with its “Singapore Stopover Holiday” and Changi Airport, renowned for its outstanding amenities. Finally, we provided essential tips for a smooth stopover experience, emphasizing the importance of planning, staying hydrated and rested, taking advantage of airport amenities, and prioritizing your safety and security.

So, whether you’re a seasoned traveler looking for a new adventure or a budget-conscious explorer seeking to save money on airfare, consider the unique option of a stopover flight. It allows you to add an extra destination to your itinerary, savor new experiences, and make your journey more rewarding.

Embrace the opportunity to explore the world beyond the airport terminal and uncover hidden gems along the way. With careful planning and a sense of adventure, your stopover flight can become a remarkable and enriching part of your travel memories.

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Orenburg city, Russia

The capital city of Orenburg oblast .

Orenburg - Overview

Orenburg is a city in Russia located in the Southern Urals, at the junction of Europe and Asia, about 1,455 km south-east of Moscow. This city is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast.

The population of Orenburg is about 572,300 (2022), the area - 259 sq. km.

The phone code - +7 3532, the postal codes - 460000-460056.

Orenburg city flag

Orenburg city coat of arms.

Orenburg city map, Russia

Orenburg city latest news and posts from our blog:.

22 February, 2024 / The Dolgiye Mountains - One of the Most Beautiful Places in Orenburg Oblast .

4 April, 2019 / Cities of Russia at Night - the Views from Space .

15 March, 2014 / Novotroitsk - industrial city .

News, notes and thoughts:

10 October, 2012   / On Tuesday, powerful explosion occurred about 20 km from Orenburg. The power of the explosion was 3-4 kilotons of TNT, which is equal to the blast of 300 train cars with shells. This is not the first such incident in Russia in recent years - explosions at ammunition depots occur with surprising regularity.

History of Orenburg

Foundation of orenburg.

In October 1715, a significant part of the meeting of Kazakh elders headed by Abulkhair Khan spoke out in favor of adopting an act on the voluntary annexation of the Younger Zhuz of Kazakhs (a significant part of today’s western Kazakhstan) to the Russian Empire. In 1734, Abulkhair Khan pledged to protect the security of the Russian borders and merchant caravans passing through the Kazakh steppes.

As a reward for this, he asked to approve the khan’s succession to the throne for his family and build a town with a fortress on the Or River, where he could find refuge in case of danger. In 1735, the Orenburg fortress was laid at the confluence of the Or and Yaik (Ural) rivers.

In 1739, river floods in this place forced preparations for the construction of a new town with the same name downstream of the Yaik River, on Krasnaya (Red) Mountain. In 1741, it was founded. The old town was named the Orsk fortress (the present city of Orsk), but the construction of the new town did not begin as the chosen place was treeless, rocky and remote from the river - unsuitable for town construction.

In 1743, Orenburg was founded for the third time, on the site of the former Berd fortress, at the confluence of the Sakmara River with the Yaik. Today, it is the historic center of the city. Since Orenburg was originally founded on the Or River, it was named Orenburg - a town on the Or. In connection with such a confusing history of founding, Orenburg is called three times conceived and once born.

In 1744, it became the center of the Orenburg Governorate stretching from the Volga River to Siberia, from the Kama River to the Caspian Sea. Orenburg was built as a fortress town guarding the southeastern border of the Russian Empire. At the same time, it was supposed to serve as a center of trade with the peoples of the East. Therefore Orenburg had both military and commercial significance.

More Historical Facts…

Orenburg in the late 18th - 19th centuries

During the peasant war of 1773-1775, Orenburg underwent a long siege under the leadership of Yemelyan Pugachev. At that time, it was the main fortress in the south-east of the country. Powerful fortifications allowed Orenburg to withstand a six-month siege. After the suppression of the uprising, as punishment, Empress Catherine II renamed the Yaitsk Cossacks into the Ural Cossacks, the Yaitsk town - into Uralsk, the Yaik River - into the Ural River.

For the successful defense of the fortress, the townspeople of Orenburg were presented with the cross of St. Andrew the First-Called (X). Today, this cross is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of Orenburg.

In 1811, the population of Orenburg was about 5,400 people. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, the first Catholics appeared in Orenburg, since after the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth a large number of Poles were exiled here. In the 19th century, the Polish diaspora in Orenburg increased because of the exiled participants of the Polish uprisings. In 1847, a Catholic church was built and consecrated in Orenburg (this building has been preserved and can be found at 8th Marta Street, 24).

In 1862, the Orenburg fortress was officially abolished due to the loss of its strategic importance. The functions of a border outpost on the southern borders of the Russian Empire were transferred to Tashkent. The liquidation of the fortress coincided with the abolition of serfdom and the development of capitalism in the country, which gave a powerful impetus to the development of Orenburg. In 1863, its population was about 27,600 people.

The town was a major center of trade between the Russian Empire and Central Asia. The local industry (production of flour, oil, leather) began to develop rapidly with the construction of the Samara - Orenburg railway in 1877. The Orenburg region also became famous for its downy shawls knitted from the down of specially bred Orenburg goats.

Orenburg also became a major trade and distribution center for livestock and meat coming from the Kazakh steppes. In 1881, the first in the Russian Empire plant for the production of condensed milk was opened in Orenburg. In 1894, the construction of the Kazan Cathedral was completed - one of the main symbols of the city (destroyed in the 1930s).

Orenburg in the first half of the 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, Orenburg was a major trade and economic center. In 1905, the construction of the Tashkent railway was completed, which opened the way to Central Asia and made the city an important transport hub.

In 1914, the population of Orenburg, the largest city in the Urals, was about 100 thousand people. During the anti-German campaign in connection with the outbreak of the First World War, the Orenburg City Duma considered the issue of renaming the city (at the same time Saint Petersburg was renamed Petrograd). Here are some of the proposed new names: Oriengrad, Oriendar, Yaitsk, Priuralsk, Neplyuevsk, Sakmaro-Uralsk. However, the renaming did not take place at that time.

Interesting fact. Orenburg was the first capital of Soviet Kazakhstan. In 1920, this city became the administrative center of the created Kyrgyz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (the Kazakhs were officially called the Kyrgyz at that time). In April 1925, the Kyrgyz ASSR was renamed the Kazakh ASSR, and its capital was moved from Orenburg to Ak-Mechet, renamed Kzyl-Orda.

Orenburg became part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In December 1934, it became the capital of Orenburg Oblast. In the 1930s, almost all of its more than 40 Orthodox religious buildings were demolished. Without these architectural dominants, Orenburg largely lost its unique and attractive historical appearance.

On December 26, 1938, Orenburg was renamed Chkalov in honor of the deceased test pilot V.P. Chkalov, despite the fact that Chkalov had never visited this city. The renaming was also explained by the fact that there were plans to make Orenburg “the aviation capital of the USSR”. In 1939, a downy shawl factory was opened. The population of Orenburg was about 172 thousand people.

During the Second World War, about 40 factories were evacuated to Orenburg and it became an industrial center. By May 1942, the number of people evacuated here reached 75 thousand. By 1943, the gross industrial output of the Orenburg region increased more than 4 times since the beginning of the war.

Orenburg in the second half of the 20th century and beyond

On November 7, 1953, a monument to Valery Chkalov was unveiled. On December 4, 1957, the original name was returned to the city - Orenburg. In 1959, its population was 267 thousand people.

Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space, trained as a pilot at the Orenburg Military Aviation Flight School. Gagarin is an honorary citizen of Orenburg. In 1961, the MiG-15 - a fighter jet that cadet Gagarin flew on - was installed on a pedestal near the aviation school. The House-Museum of Cosmonautics was also opened there with some of Gagarin’s personal belongings.

In November 1966, on the left bank of the Ural River, not far from the city, a large Orenburg oil and gas condensate field was discovered. A new Orenburg territorial-industrial complex of all-Union significance began to form. It was based on gas production, processing and transportation enterprises. This event can be called the second birth of Orenburg. In less than 10 years, it became one of the largest natural gas suppliers in Russia.

In 1979, according to the All-Union census, the population of Orenburg was 458 thousand people. In connection with the development of the Orenburg gas condensate field, urban planning activities received a powerful impetus for rapid development. About 30 kilometers from Orenburg, a unique gas processing plant, the largest in Europe, was built according to the project of French specialists.

In 1989, the population of Orenburg was about 546 thousand people. After the collapse of the USSR, Orenburg experienced some depopulation in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, the gas field began to run out.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the development of the city began again, associated primarily with the activities of the enterprise “Gazprom dobycha Orenburg”.

Orenburg views

General view of Orenburg

Author: Boris Yartsev

On the street in Orenburg

Author: Kiyanovsky Dmitry

Orenburg architecture

Orenburg - Features

According to popular belief, Orenburg is located both in Europe and Asia. On the pedestrian bridge across the Ural River you can see a symbolic sign of the border between Europe and Asia. However, this border was not officially recognized by the International Geographical Union in 1959, when the opinion of Soviet scientists was accepted about the border between Europe and Asia.

By their definition, the Ural River is a natural water border between Asia and Europe only in its upper reaches on the territory of Russia. In the place where Orenburg is located, it is a completely European river and from a geographical point of view Orenburg can be considered a European city.

The climate of Orenburg is moderately continental transitional to sharply continental. Summers are hot and dry, winters are moderately cold. Temperatures fluctuate greatly depending on the time of day and wind direction. In summer, the temperature can rise to plus 40 degrees Celsius or drop to plus 5 degrees Celsius.

In winter, the weather ranges from mild frosts to severe cold weather, sometimes mild thaws or severe colds down to minus 40 degrees Celsius. The average temperature in January is minus 11.8 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 22.3 degrees Celsius.

On the coat of arms of Orenburg repeating the historical coat of arms adopted at the end of the 18th century, you can see a schematic representation of the Ural River. The Azure Cross of St. Andrew (X) is an award given to the garrison of Orenburg for its successful defense during the siege by the troops of Yemelyan Pugachev (the peasant war of 1773-1775).

In the industry of Orenburg, the leading places belong to the gas production and gas processing industries, mechanical engineering and metalworking. The enterprises of the chemical industry, food and light industries are also developed.

Orenburg is a large railway junction where the railway lines to Samara, Orsk, Ufa, Uralsk (Kazakhstan), Aktobe (Kazakhstan) intersect. The federal highway R239 Kazan - Orenburg - Akbulak - the border with the Republic of Kazakhstan passes through the city. Orenburg Central International Airport named after Yuri Gagarin offers regular flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Ufa, Novy Urengoy.

One of the symbols of this city are unique Orenburg shawls made of goat down, which are distinguished by fine workmanship, original pattern, beauty of decoration, durability, and ability to keep warm.

Remarkable architectural monuments that have survived since the founding of the city, monumental art, local traditions create a special unique atmosphere of the city and rightfully allow Orenburg to be considered a unique city with a rich culture and history.

Main Attractions of Orenburg

Sovetskaya Street - the main tourist alley of Orenburg, about 3 km long; part of it is completely pedestrian. An interesting story can be told about almost every building located on this street: the house #1 is the aviation school, which Yuri Gagarin graduated from; the house #2 - the former residence of the military governors of Orenburg; in the house #3, the Decembrists lived in the 1820s; the house #4 - one of the oldest buildings in Orenburg, constructed in the middle of the 18th century; the house #23 - Orenburg Gostiny Dvor; the house #26 - the drama theater named after Maxim Gorky (one of the oldest theaters in the Urals); the house #27 - a picturesque clock tower; the house #28 - Orenburg Museum of History and Local Lore.

Pedestrian “White Bridge” from Europe to Asia . The first wooden bridge across the Ural River was built in 1835. Every year, after the spring flood, it had to be repaired. The modern metal structure was built only in 1982. The bridge has a certain symbolic meaning, as it allows pedestrians to travel from Europe to Asia and back. The bridge leads from the historic center of Orenburg to the park “Zauralnaya Roscha”.

Aerial Lift “Europe-Asia” . In 2006, parallel to “White Bridge”, a 233-meter aerial lift (cable car) was opened, along which you can get from Europe to Asia by air in cozy translucent cabins. During the trip, which takes about 5 minutes, you can take pictures of the Ural River, the bridge and the Orenburg embankment from a height of 70 meters. It can be found opposite the house #16 on Naberezhnaya Street.

Museum of the History of Orenburg - a local history museum located next to the aerial lift “Europe-Asia” in a picturesque red brick building constructed in the middle of the 19th century, an interesting architectural monument resembling a medieval castle. Its clock tower looks especially impressive. Initially, this building housed the city treasury and archive. The diverse exposition of the museum covers all periods of the history of Orenburg. One of the halls is devoted to the life of A.S. Pushkin in Orenburg. Naberezhnaya Street, 29.

Orenburg Museum of History and Local Lore . The main expositions of this museum are located in a luxurious merchant mansion in the city center, an architectural monument of the 19th century. Its archaeological collection of great interest, the pearl of which is the “Sarmatian gold” - a collection of objects found in the process of researching burial mounds and burial grounds in the Orenburg region, dating back to the 4th century BC.

In addition to archaeological monuments, the museum has interesting ethnographic exhibits, art metal products, a numismatic collection, a collection of textiles and embroidery. The expositions of the museum also tell about the nature and history of the Orenburg region. Sovetskaya Street, 28.

Orenburg Regional Museum of Fine Arts . The collection of this museum, located in a mansion of the early 19th century, includes works of Old Russian, Russian, Bashkir, Soviet, and Western European art created from the end of the 16th century: graphics, paintings, sculptures, icons, decorative and applied art, etc. Kashirina Lane, 29. The gallery “Orenburg downy shawl”, a branch of this museum, is located at Volodarskogo Street, 13.

Cultural Complex “National Village” - a museum and ethnographic complex built near Yuri Gagarin public garden in the 2000s. It represents the national farmsteads of the peoples living in the Orenburg region: Russians, Tatars, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Mordvinians, Belarusians, Armenians, Germans, Chuvash. On the territory of the complex there are museums of everyday life and culture, restaurants of national cuisine, libraries with literature in different languages, and souvenir shops.

Various events are often held here, including performances by folklore ensembles, traditional festivities. This is a great place to see a variety of architectural styles, get to know the traditions and cultures of different nations. Altayskaya Street, 5.

Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1883-1886) - the only church in Orenburg not demolished in the 1930s. Divine services in the church began to be held again in 1944. In the 1980s-1990s, the building was restored and expanded. Today, it is one of the most visited churches in Orenburg. Chkalova Street, 8.

Historical and Architectural Complex “Caravanserai” (1837-1846) - one of the most important sights of the southern Urals embodying the most striking national and stylistic features of the architecture of the Orenburg region of the 19th century, an architectural monument consisting of the main building, a mosque, and a minaret. It was used as the administrative building of the Bashkir Cossack army and the governor of the region. Parkovyy Avenue, 6.

Frunze Garden . In 2005, a memorial complex and an open-air museum “Salute, Victory!” was opened here. It consists of expositions of military equipment, weapons and thematic sculptural compositions. One of the most interesting exhibits is the huge Voevoda (SS-18) intercontinental ballistic missile. Kirova Street, 1.

Orenburg Water Tower (1927-1929) - a picturesque 28 meters high monument of urban planning and architecture of regional significance built in the style of classicism. Later, some elements in the constructivist style were added. Pobedy Avenue, 14/1.

Orenburg Children’s Railway (1953) - one of the longest railways for children in Russia (about 6 km). The train stops at three stations - Komsomolskaya, Kirovskaya, Dubki. If you get off at Komsomolskaya station, you will get to the Orenburg city center near the pedestrian bridge across the Ural River. Kirovskaya and Dubki stations lead to children’s health camps. Throughout the entire route, the railway runs in the floodplain of the Ural River. Kirova Street, 37. You can ride the train only in summer, on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Private Museum-Shop of the Orenburg Downy Shawl . The museum displays historical exhibits that tell about the emergence and development of this unique craft. Znamenskiy Proyezd, 1/1.

Orenburg city of Russia photos

Streets of orenburg.

Busy street in Orenburg

Past and present of Orenburg

Winter in Orenburg

Author: Shamil Kazakbaev

Monuments of Orenburg

Stele Europe-Asia in Orenburg

Monument to the Orenburg Cossacks

Monument to A.S. Pushkin in Orenburg

Pictures of Orenburg

Sberbank building in Orenburg

Author: Sergey Berezin

The building of the Bank of the Mutual Credit Society at Leninskaya Street, 28 in Orenburg

The sign at the entrance to Orenburg

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Orenburg oblast Chamber of Commerce in Orenburg - Russia. Here you will find Information on the Orenburg oblast Chamber of Commerce in Orenburg - Russia. For more information on specific services, please contact the chamber directly or visit the official website.