Which are the world’s best airports for travelers?
Singapore Changi has consistently been recognized as one of the world's best airports. Sandip Bhattacharya photo. CC-BY.
If you’ve ever been stuck at an airport and found there was nothing to do, the service lousy and the food and shopping were nondescript, chances are you weren’t at one of the three airports that received the five-star rating from Skytrax, a leading site for airline and airport reviews. The major airports in Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul can almost be destinations in themselves, demonstrating that an airport can demonstrate style as well as function.
Located on the eastern tip of Singapore, Singapore Changi Airport opened in 1981 mostly on land that had been reclaimed from the sea. With three main terminals as well as budget terminal and a standalone luxury facility, Singapore Changi has become a major international hub. Its Airport Shopping City, open to nonpassengers, offers more than 300 shops of all sorts, and airport restaurants include not only the requisite fast-food choices but also a broad range of international cuisine, including restaurants for those on vegetarian or halal diets. Most shops are open from 6 a.m. to midnight, although some are open 24 hours a day. There’s also a hotel specifically designed for passengers in transit, and other facilities include a pool, showers, a spa, various gardens and nature trails, a full range of business services, music lounges, a movie theater, napping areas and even free city tours. Even if you have an extended layover, you won’t run out of things to do.
Built in the late 1990s mostly on a reclaimed island, Hong Kong International Airport is one of the world’s busiest airports. It is one of the few airports anywhere that has its own golf course, SkyCity Nine Eagles, but the amenities don’t stop there. There’s a 3-D movie theater, a hands-on aviation center that includes a cockpit stimulator, sports simulators and even an Hollywood-themed entertainment center. There are plenty of shops scattered throughout each of the three terminals, and lots of Chinese and American-style restaurants.
The newest airport of the three (it opened in 2001), Incheon International Airport near Seoul also was built on reclaimed land, in this case between two islands that are connected to the mainland via an expressway. It doesn’t have as many stores or restaurants (many of them featuring noodles, a Korean staple) as the other two airports, but everything is conveniently in one passenger terminal, one of the world’s largest. The terminals features a large rest and relaxation area, and free showers are available.
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The thing I like about Singapore Changi is that you can go outside to some rooftop gardens – the cactus garden, the sunflower garden, and another one near the pool. It’s so nice to escape air conditioning for a few hours when transiting during the long flight from England to Australia. I experienced a wonderful thunderstorm in the cactus garden at four in the morning.
That sounds very nice. The only airports I’ve had an extended layover at in recent years are Denver and Miami. It’s hard to think of anything nice to say about the Miami airport. The shopping is mediocre, the food is worse, and the signs are uninformative. Denver’s not bad, though.