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Best airports to city in Europe for overnight?

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Old Oct 2, 2013, 4:45 am
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FRA is quite easy with a train from the city to the airport.
GVA is a 6 minute train ride to the city and you get a free ticket for the ride. If you stay in a hotel you'll get a free transportation pass for the duration of your stay. Taking the bus (number 5) is about 15/20 minutes but a bit more scenic (also covered by the free ticket).
Add DUB, AMS, VIE and BRU to the list ... all with good transport connections.
Pretty much any of the main German airports have good, quick connections (just not the Ryanairports...)
CPH has the metro - 15 minutes to Kongens Nytorv (or train 20 minutes to Malmo C!)
MAN has a good train service - 15 minutes to Piccadilly (although the station is a bit of a hike from the terminals)




List of European airports and the "cheapest"/easiest options to get into the city.


Belgium
BRU - Train from airport (level -2) to Brussels Central Station (Centraal/Centrale).
Frequent (up to 8 per hour) departures from 05:27 to 00:27. Slightly less on Sundays. Takes about 20 minutes.
€7.80 each way.
Belgian Railways
Brussels Airport


Germany
MUC - Train (lines S1 or S8) from airport to main train station (40 min) every 20 minutes. €10.80 for a one-way whole-network ticket, or €12 for a day ticket. Good value with the Group Day Ticket (also sold as the Group Airport-City-Day-Ticket), which allows unlimited travel for up to 5 people until 6am the following day; €22.30. Lufthansa Airport Bus is a good alternative when there is construction work or delays on the train. Non-stop from the airport to the main train station for €10.50 one-way or €17 return.

TXL - TXL Bus from airport to main train station (25 min) and Alexanderplatz (40 min), every 6-7 minutes during peak hours. €2.60 for a one-way Zone AB ticket, or €6.70 for a Zone AB day ticket. Outdoor ticket machines away from main entrance near buses usually have shorter lines.

Greece
ATH - Metro from airport to city centre, every 30 min; takes about 40 minutes.
Train from airport to main station (have to change), every 30 min; takes about 40 minutes.
Both cost €8 one way, €14 return.

Bus from airport to city centre, every 20 min; takes about 60 minutes, €5 one way.

Bus from airport to Piraeus, every 20 min; takes about 90 minutes, €5 one way.

Bus from airport to Over-land bus station, every 20 min; takes about 70 minutes, €5 one way.

Italy
LIN - Bus 73 serves Piazza S. Babila - Airport directly. Ticket cost is 1.50€. Trip is 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic.

Poland
KRK - There is a train going from the main railway station to the airport station (200m from the terminal). It departs every 30minish and takes some 20min. Cost is 12PLN ($4) each way. LINK

WAW - There is a train going from the airport to parts of Warsaw (including the main train station). They depart quite frequently and take some 20min. Cost I believe is around 4.5PLN ($1.25) each way. LINK

Spain
MAD - There are several very cheap options. A Cercanías commuter type train from T4 (Line C-1). A Metro station for T4 and another for T1-T2-T3. There is also a 24 hour bus with a stop in T1, another at T2 and finally at T4. All of these options should be 5€ or less.

Switzerland
ZRH - train from the airport to the main train station and takes about 20 mins, cost CHF 6.60 single or CHF 13.20 return (which also gets you free travel for the rest of the day). You can also take various trams to the airport if you want to see the suburbs

UK
LHR - There is the subway(tube) that goes from the airport (all terminals) to the city. It is the Piccadilly line. It takes about 50min and is quite frequent. Cost for a single is £5.50 (cheaper if you have the Oyster card) LINK
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Old Oct 1, 2013, 6:44 am
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Best airports to city in Europe for overnight?

I was wondering is there a list somewhere of airports in Europe that are close and convenient to get into the city? For example, if one was to purposely schedule a overnight, that you could get into town, site-see a bit, overnight and make it back to the airport comfortably (and not costing a arm/leg)?

For instance LHR is quite easy with the tube (45min +/- 15min) and costing a few GBP.
KRK isn't too bad with the 20min train that goes every 30min (costing a few USD).
WAW also now has a train from the airport to the city.
FRA is quite easy with a train from the city to the airport.
ZRH isn't too bad (though the train isn't that cheap)

Any others?
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Old Oct 1, 2013, 6:56 am
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GVA is a 6 minute train ride to the city and you get a free ticket for the ride. If you stay in a hotel you'll get a free transportation pass for the duration of your stay. Taking the bus (number 5) is about 15/20 minutes but a bit more scenic (also covered by the free ticket).
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Old Oct 1, 2013, 7:02 am
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I don't know a link, but it's an interesting thread. Happy to make this a wikipost if it's going to be useful.

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Old Oct 1, 2013, 7:38 am
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Add DUB, AMS, VIE and BRU to the list ... all with good transport connections.
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Old Oct 1, 2013, 8:32 am
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Pretty much any of the main German airports have good, quick connections (just not the Ryanairports...)

CPH has the metro - 15 minutes to Kongens Nytorv (or train 20 minutes to Malmo C!)

MAN has a good train service - 15 minutes to Piccadilly (although the station is a bit of a hike from the terminals)
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 4:05 am
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What's the cost for CPH to the city transfer?
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 4:14 am
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3 "clips" - so, DKK36 for a single ticket, or DKK20 from a multi-trip ticket.

It's about the cheapest thing you'll get while you're there
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 4:37 am
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Originally Posted by stut
3 "clips" - so, DKK36 for a single ticket, or DKK20 from a multi-trip ticket.

It's about the cheapest thing you'll get while you're there
Not bad.

Could we add a wiki/master thread? I can update it with some PL airports and others can go from there.
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 4:46 am
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Done. I've pasted in the raw information, but feel free to arrange/edit/add as you see fit.
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 5:18 am
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MUC - S8 gets you to Ostbahnhof in 33 minutes.
It's another 10 min or less to the centre but I quite like the Ostbahnhof area as a base.
Just make sure you don't take the S1 which goes the other way round and takes longer.

FRA - Cologne/Köln is also an easy overnight option from here. At 50 minutes by direct train it's not much further some cities' own airport links (MXP for example). And the station is right at the gobsmackingly impressive cathedral, with hotels close by.
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 5:24 am
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BHX - 10 minutes into New Street station. £3.30 . Or to Coventry, should you be sent there.
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 5:26 am
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Originally Posted by stut
Pretty much any of the main German airports have good, quick connections
MUC is quite a trip away from the centre of Munich. 40 mins. on the S-Bahn.

OSL is far from the city but has a high-speed train that does the trip in about 20 minutes. (not cheap, 170NOK about €20 one-way)

Make a wiki with Airport - distance to city center - duration to city center - cost (public transport) - hours of operation of public transport ?
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 5:37 am
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Originally Posted by Ghentleman
Make a wiki with Airport - distance to city center - duration to city center - cost (public transport) - hours of operation of public transport ?
Go for it!

The thread is now led by a wikipost, which anybody can edit.
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 5:53 am
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Originally Posted by stut
Go for it!

The thread is now led by a wikipost, which anybody can edit.
Cool!
Started editing it.
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Old Oct 2, 2013, 6:19 am
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Edinburgh (EDI) is currently not too bad with a regular bus service taking 20-25 minutes and soon to have a direct light rail connection. Even less time to several hotels en route but walking distance to centre e.g. Hilton Grosvenor.

Buses from Lisbon (LIS) to centre - which is only about 5 miles - take similar time and again hotels en route that are walkable to the centre e.g. Sheraton.

CPH is great with a fast train service into either Copenhagen downtown or Malmo (or beyond that historic city of Lund). I've used the Hilton airport hotel there as a base for a several day stay.

I personally would say that LHR convenience depends on which terminal and where you are going to in centre - terminal 4 has no tube connection for example so you have to transfer. I also find the tube journey to be quite long but it does at least get you directly to an interesting area i.e West End. Heathrow Express is quicker but expensive and only gets to a less interesring area, i.e. Paddington. London Gatwick also has direct rail of 30 minutes but only gets you to a less interesting area quickly i.e. Victoria. Don't even think about Stansted (or Madrid or Stockholm in other countries).

The other option for a quick layover is a bus/train/hotel shuttle to a nearby interesting suburb/smaller town. LHR is not far from Windsor for example.
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