If there’s anything worse than long-distance flying, it’s knowing you’re making a layover in an interesting destination, but can’t visit it. For the globetrotter at heart, this is small-scale heartbreak.
Luckily, airlines have begun to pick up on this. Countries worldwide are more than keen to turn passing-through travellers into cash-wielding tourists, even if only for a few days.
The good news? You can create a multi-day stopover (that is, an extended layover, not just hours in the airport) on your own. Here’s a complete list of airlines that offer free multi-day layovers, and how to book them yourself!
Psst, want to grab yourself a free city tour during your next airport layover? Here’s 7 airports that offer free tours during your layover, that don’t require a visa!
Method 1: Build your own stopover (extended layover)
Step 1: Search from your origin to your final destination
Let’s say I want to fly from New York City, USA to Sydney, Australia. Let’s pop that into Skyscanner (or download the app) for February 14.
In that past worked example, the cheapest result was $609 USD; do not treat it as a live fare. We can also see from the results that Los Angeles is a common connecting point from New York City to Sydney. With that in mind, we can make a multi-day stopover out of our layover. Why not have an extended layover and spend a week in Los Angeles while we’re there?
Step 2: Use multi-city search to extend layovers into stopovers
We can go back to Skyscanner and use the multi-city search function to extend that layover into a trip. We put in our original departure date of February 14 from New York City to Los Angeles, but then set the second flight from Los Angeles to Sydney a week later on February 21.
The resulting flight with the same airlines is $628 USD. So for a old example difference of just $19, we now have a week-long trip in Los Angeles before heading over to sunny Sydney.
For this trick to work, you must book the flights together using a multi-city search like the one offered by Skyscanner. This ensures that the entire trip is bundled together and served by partnering airlines, which gives you the best price. In this example, booking 2 direct flights as separate searches resulted in a total price of $756 USD, a difference of $128 USD in extra costs that can be avoided by using the multi-city search tool.
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Method 2: Find airlines that offer free stopovers
While Skyscanner is great for creating your own multi-day layovers, some airlines offer special layover pricing plus bonuses, such as a free hotel stay. Here is a list of airlines that offer free layovers (and perks!) from around the world.
Airport Stopovers
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North America
Air Canada
Stopover destination(s): Vancouver, Toronto, or Montréal, Canada
Departure point(s): United States or Canada
Final destination(s): United States or Canada
Stopover duration: One night
Terms & conditions: Can obtain an overnight hotel stay if layover is 6+ hours (incurs $49 CAD fee if Tango/Flex class, free for Latitude, Premium and Business Class). Can book stopovers on both legs of a return flight. Stopover can be added to existing booking, must be an end-to-end trip (not multiple destinations).
How to book: Air Canada Website
Europe
Finnair
Stopover destination(s): Helsinki (HEL)
What’s real in 2026: Finnair still makes Helsinki stops easy via multi-city search on finnair.com (build origin → Helsinki → final destination a day or more later). Hotel is not included as a standard free perk. Fare family matters — Light-style fares are often the least flexible.
How to book: Multi-city on Finnair; compare the bundled price with a simple connection. Confirm baggage and change rules on the fare you pick.
Icelandair
Stopover destination(s): Reykjavík / Keflavík (KEF), Iceland
Typical window: Stay for a day up to about a week on many fares (Icelandair markets up to 7 nights online; some Flex fares can go longer via the service centre — confirm on the live booking flow).
What’s free: The routing — no extra airfare for adding the Iceland stop on eligible transatlantic tickets. Hotel is not included.
How to book: On icelandair.com, select the Stopover option when you search and choose how many nights. Prices can still move with dates/demand even when the stop itself has no “stopover fee”.
Note: WOW Air (once listed here) ceased operations in March 2019 and is gone.
TAP Air Portugal
Stopover destination(s): Lisbon (LIS) or Porto (OPO)
Typical window: Up to 10 days on the outbound or return (one-way, return, or multi-city where the programme applies).
What’s free: Adding the Portugal stop to an eligible TAP ticket at no extra airfare. Hotels are not free by default — TAP pushes partner discounts (hotels, tours, restaurants) and a promotional code for a discount on a TAP flight within Portugal during the stopover.
How to book: On flytap.com, look for “Add a free Stopover” during booking, pick Lisbon or Porto, and set your dates. Confirm live T&Cs — award tickets and some fare types may be excluded.
Soft-age note: Older versions of this guide described a free overnight hotel for some UK→beyond routings. That is not the headline TAP product in 2026; use the Portugal Stopover programme page as source of truth.
Asia
Air China
Stopover destination(s): Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Hangzhou, Shanghai
Departure point(s): Domestic and international
Final destination(s): Domestic and international
Stopover duration: Up to 24 hours visa-free
Terms & conditions: Free shuttle ride and hotel overnight for layovers <24 hours.
How to book: Must phone Air China hotline or visit Air China representative to book. Details here.
China Southern Air
Stopover destination(s): Guangzhou
Departure point(s): Various domestic and international
Final destination(s): Various domestic and international
Stopover duration: 8-24 hours
Terms & conditions: No onward flights in the same day. Free shuttle, hotel, and breakfast provided.
How to book: Book hotel on China Southern Airlines website.
Singapore Airlines
Stopover destination(s): Singapore (SIN)
What’s on offer now: You can still build a Singapore stop via multi-city / stopover booking on singaporeair.com. Separate products exist for transit passengers (for example the Free Singapore Tour for eligible short stops) and for longer stays (discounted stopover holiday-style packages; premium-cabin cash tickets sometimes get richer perks). Treat any old “from $65 hotel” line in this article as expired.
How to book: Multi-city or Stopovers on the Singapore Airlines site; add any stopover package only after reading the live inclusions. Do not assume Economy gets a free hotel night — confirm cabin and ticket type on the day you book.
Thai Airways
Older versions of this guide listed a time-limited free Bangkok hotel for some Australia–Europe economy fares in late 2016. That promo is long dead. Thai may still allow stopovers on some published fares — check thai airways.com / a travel agent for current fare rules rather than expecting a free hotel. If no live stopover hotel offer shows, skip this row or fold Thai into a short “check fare rules” note.
Turkish Airlines
Stopover destination(s): Istanbul (IST)
Typical window: Stopover hotel service generally needs a long connection (Turkish’s live page cites at least ~20 hours, and caps the stay; exact nights depend on cabin and market).
What’s free (when eligible): Complimentary hotel nights for qualifying round-trip Turkish Airlines tickets (ticket stock / fare-class rules apply — codeshares and some cheap classes can be excluded). Separate shorter-layover city tours (TourIstanbul) are a different product.
How to book: Book the TK itinerary first, then apply via the Turkish Airlines Stopover page / manage-booking flow. Always re-read turkishairlines.com/flights/stopover the day you claim — market rules change.
Africa
Ethiopian Airlines
Stopover destination(s): Addis Ababa
Departure point(s): International
Final destination(s): International
Stopover duration: 8-24 hour connection (1 night hotel stay) when connecting through Addis Ababa
Terms & conditions: Must be booked on arrival and subject to availability
How to book: Book at airport on arrival, details here.
Middle East
Emirates
Stopover destination(s): Dubai (DXB)
Two different products:
- Dubai Connect — complimentary hotel (plus applicable meals/transfers) for eligible long connections on Emirates ticket stock when the connection qualifies (cabin thresholds and “shortest available connection” style rules apply). Not automatic — add via Manage Booking with enough notice.
- Dubai Stopover packages — paid multi-night hotel + transfer/visa-style packages if you want a longer city break on purpose.
Confirm which one you qualify for on emirates.com before you count on a free room.
Etihad
Stopover destination(s): Abu Dhabi, Dubai
Departure point(s): International, at least one flight (inbound or outbound) passing through Abu Dhabi
Final destination(s): International, at least one flight (inbound or outbound) passing through Abu Dhabi
Stopover duration: Minimum 2-night stay.
Terms & conditions: Prices start at $37 USD per person including hotel. Full terms and conditions here.
How to book: Book on Etihad website.
Qatar Airways
Stopover destination(s): Doha (DOH)
What’s typical in 2026: Qatar encourages short Doha stays via multi-city booking and Discover Qatar stopover hotel packages at discounted nightly rates (often marketed for roughly 12–96 hour windows — confirm live). This is usually cheap hotel, not a blanket free hotel for every Economy ticket.
How to book: Add the stop on qatarairways.com / Discover Qatar stopover pages. Check visa rules for your passport separately.
Virgin Australia
Stopover destination(s): Abu Dhabi or Dubai
Departure point(s): International
Final destination(s): International
Stopover duration: One night with hotel stay
Terms & conditions: Valid only for business class flights if you have a flight connecting through Abu Dhabi or Dubai
How to book: Book flight that connects through Abu Dhabi or Dubai on Virgin website or with travel agent
So the next time you have to make a layover, see if you can turn it into an additional adventure. The more travel, the better! 😉
Do you know of an airline that offers free stopovers not listed here? Share some thrifty love below!
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