Strategy
How LayoverScore™ Works: What We Measure and Why
A number without an explanation is just confidence. LayoverScore™ runs from 0 to 100. PTY (Panama City) scores 84. CUN (Cancún) scores 56. Here's what goes into those numbers, why we built it this way, and what the score doesn't tell you.
The four inputs
LayoverScore weighs four things: how fast you can exit the airport (transit time and cost to the city center), what there is to do in a realistic layover window, visa access for US passport holders, and how stressful the return trip will be. Transit carries the most weight. Price is not one of them. The score measures the city, not the fare. Savings shows up as its own signal so the number never moves when a price changes. None of these inputs is optional. A city can have extraordinary things to do and still score low if it takes 90 minutes to reach them and requires a visa you forgot to apply for.
Transit time: the number that breaks most layovers
This is the input with the most variance and the most pull. Singapore Changi to the city center: 30 minutes on the MRT. Narita to Tokyo: 53 minutes on the N'EX. Ezeiza (Buenos Aires) to Palermo: 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic. Every minute of transit time in each direction is a minute subtracted from your city window. A 10-hour layover with 90-minute transit each way is a 7-hour layover. A 10-hour layover with 25-minute transit each way is an 8-hour-and-10-minute layover. That gap changes what you can do. Transit time is the first number we look at because it's the number most travelers ignore.
Visa access: the filter, not the score
Visa access doesn't reward you for easy entry. It penalizes you for hard entry. A city where Americans walk straight through immigration gets full credit. A city that requires a $100 e-visa applied 5 days in advance loses points, not because the visa is unreasonable, but because it adds friction and planning time that many short-layover travelers won't have. The score assumes a US passport. If you're on a different passport, the visa situation can change dramatically in either direction. We flag the specific requirements for every city so you can adjust for your actual document.
Things to do: what counts and what doesn't
We score the quality and density of what's accessible within your transit time. One specific thing 20 minutes from the airport counts for more than five things 90 minutes away. The Apartheid Museum is 15 minutes from OR Tambo and takes 2 to 3 hours. That scores well. The Pyramids at Giza are 45 minutes from Cairo International and take half a day. That scores differently. We're not ranking cultural significance. We're ranking what you can actually do given a specific time window and a specific transit situation. The question is always: what does a 6-hour layover get you here that it doesn't get you sitting in the terminal?
Return stress: the underrated input
The score rewards cities where you know exactly how to get back to the airport and how long it will take. Cities with reliable rail connections score better than cities where you depend on taxi traffic. Bangkok is 30 minutes from Suvarnabhumi on the Airport Rail Link and scores well on return logistics. Buenos Aires is 45 to 60 minutes from Ezeiza and depends entirely on road conditions, which adds uncertainty to your buffer calculation. This matters most for travelers who cut their city time close. If you're the kind of person who arrives at the gate with 20 minutes to spare, the return stress input is the one that will save you.
What the thresholds mean
Cities above 75 reward the connection. You should leave the terminal. The transit, visa, and things-to-do combination is strong enough that the layover is net positive for most travelers in a 6-to-10-hour window. Cities between 65 and 75 depend on your specific layover length and tolerance for logistics. Do the math for your window. Cities below 65 require a specific reason: a personal connection to the city, an unusually long layover, or a specific experience that the score doesn't fully capture. Cancún scores 56 because the beach is real and close, but the Hotel Zone is not a city. Know what you're choosing.
What LayoverScore doesn't measure
Food quality at the specific restaurant you'll go to. Personal interest in a given culture or history. Whether you like modern architecture or find it alienating. How you feel about heat. Whether a city is worth visiting for two weeks. The score is a planning tool for a specific scenario: a US traveler with 6 to 14 hours in a connecting city. It answers one question: is leaving the airport worth the logistics? It doesn't answer the larger question of whether a place is worth caring about. Most of the cities that score well are places that reward more time than a layover gives you.
Why 1,000 cities
We scored 1,000 airports and cities because the long tail matters. The major hubs (DXB, SIN, IST, PTY) are well-documented. The cities that aren't are where the real decisions get made. If you're connecting through Amman, Colombo, or Medellín on a routing that isn't in the top 20, you still need to know whether leaving the terminal is worth it. 1,000 cities means we've done that work for the routes most people don't think to look up. The score exists precisely because the answer isn't obvious.