The Best Cities for Overnight Layovers With Kids
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Much ink has been spilled about the best airports for layovers and the world’s greatest airline stopover programs, but I’d like to make the case for families to pad big trips with a couple of nights in a kid-friendly layover city.
Having recently wrapped up an 88-day trip around the world with my 2.5-year-old son, I’d argue that one of the things that kept Julian and me sane while leaping from continent to continent were the stopovers I booked between longer stays. Not only did these extended layovers break up some miserable long-haul routings, they minimized the jet lag of changing time zones and gave us a chance to tack a kind of mini-vacation onto the main event.
Without further ado, here are six of my favorite layover cities for children.
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Sydney
Why it’s great: If you’re traveling anywhere in Australia, there’s a good chance you’ll be flying through Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) first. Crossing the international date line is no joke, so it’s wise to pad your itinerary with a few chill days. Sydney offers just the ticket with its gorgeous beaches and gardens, excellent cafes, and child-friendly pubs.
Where to stay: Capella Sydney is the embodiment of quiet luxury. While that doesn’t sound like a great match for a Tasmanian devil toddler, the concierge team bends over backward to make families feel welcome—arranging, upon request, white-gloved chauffeurs with car seats to collect them at the airport and greeting children with trays of marsupial-shaped cookies. The breakfast buffet was among the most sumptuous we experienced anywhere in our travels, and I was grateful that the well-trained staff was intuitive enough to entertain Julian while I loaded up my plate. The hotel offers thoughtful kids activities like bracelet making and a dedicated afternoon tea service through its Little Stars program but can also arrange off-site excursions like whale watching on the Tasman Sea (best for older kids).
What to do: It sounds 101 but my son had a blast just toddling up the steps of the illustrious Sydney Opera House and feeding Pringles to the sea gulls. His fascination with fowl continued apace at the Royal Botanic Garden, where he chased Australian ibises around trash cans and excitedly pointed out rainbow lorikeets perched in the trees. Kicking up sand while watching the wet-suited surfers at Manly Beach was another fan favorite. Food-wise, it’s hard to go wrong at a laid-back Australian cafe: Even a micro-chain like Girdlers offers fun, healthy options like the Happy Box, served with grilled free-range chicken or halloumi, roasted potatoes, carrot sticks, seasonal fruit, and popcorn.
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Vienna
Why it’s great: Vienna International (VIE) is one of the busiest airports in Europe, so it’s no surprise we found ourselves laying over there between Sarajevo and Cairo. It’s just 12 miles from the city center and takes 16 minutes to reach via the non-stop City Airport Train. Downtown Vienna is clean and walkable, with broad pedestrian paths that are easy to navigate with a stroller, and there’s plenty to look at on foot, including soaring fountains and towering monuments.
Where to stay: Austrian culture can be quite formal, but the storied Hotel Sacher Vienna makes that propriety fun for little ones. Not only was my toddler gifted a teddy bear in a top hat, designed to match the dapper uniforms of the grand dame’s doormen, there was a cozy kiddie robe and top-hatted rubber ducky, organic baby toiletries, activity book, cookie-decorating kit, and pillowcase embroidered with his name waiting in our suite. Julian loved counting pigeons from our twin balconies as the sun sank behind the neighboring ALBERTINA art museum. And while breakfast was a fussy affair, served in an ornate white ballroom, Julian was too distracted by the mountains of towering Viennese cakes to care.
What to do: With less than 24 hours in town, we made a beeline to the centuries-old chocolaterie and pastry shop Demel so Julian could try his first sachertorte and decadent hot chocolate piled high with whipped cream. This was followed by juicy veal wiener schnitzel at Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Oper, one of the few schnitzel restaurants to accept walk-ins, and clapping for buskers outside St. Stephen’s Cathedral (as close as this toddler was going to get to a classical music concert). Vienna has no shortage of art and history museums, but one of the best for children is Haus der Musik, an “adventure playground for the ears” that stays open late. Julian had a rip-roaring time pounding on a giant drum, “conducting” his own Philharmonic, and hopping up and down the light-up staircase, where each step played a different piano key. Had we just one more day, we would’ve spent it riding the 128-year-old giant ferris wheel at the Prater, a vintage amusement park set amid leafy greenery.
Singapore
Why it’s great: Jewel Changi Airport (SIN) is consistently ranked one of the best in the world (it has a butterfly garden, four-story slide, and indoor waterfall, for Pete’s sake!), but that’s just a teaser of what’s to come in this family-friendly country. The easy-to-navigate city-state is also home to the new Mandai Wildlife Reserve, quirky Mint Museum of Toys, sprawling Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, and Como Adventure Grove, where a jumbo Durian is the centerpiece of a fun obstacle course.
Where to stay: Though it’s tempting to hole up in a resort on Sentosa Island, home to Universal Studios Singapore and S.E.A. Aquarium, there’s something to be said for being in the thick of it. The newly opened QT Singapore, a 134-room boutique hotel with a showstopping rooftop pool, took over an historic Robinson Road address, just a stone’s throw from Lau Pa Sat, one of the city’s most iconic hawker centers. I could go on and on about the elegant guest suites with walk-in rain showers and the Singaporean artists whose work hangs throughout the common spaces, but where QT really won over this weary mom was with its late-night welcome package complete with balloons, a stuffed Merlion, and healthy snacks for my jet-lagged kiddo.
What to do: A quick breakfast at Lau Pa Sat is always an option (my son loved the min jiang kueh, or fluffy peanut pancakes, from Munchi), but save room for a half-day Foodabout with local writer Desiree Koh. She knows Singapore’s culinary scene inside and out and can devise a custom food crawl to suit you and your offspring’s exacting specifications. Our Foodabout, which took place in the colorful Katong neighborhood, introduced Julian to kaya toast, jackfruit curry, sardine puffs, caramelized sambal tempeh, and more. We befriended an elderly ice cream uncle and a smiley kopi-C auntie, got our fortunes read at the century-old Kwan Im Temple, and puttered around a blessedly air-conditioned mall in a dinosaur-shaped car. The other kiddo-friendly highlight of our three-night stay in Lion City involved admiring orchids in the Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay, racing through the splash pads at its Far East Organization Children’s Garden, and downing Singapore chili crab pizza at nearby Finnwood.
Amsterdam
Why it’s great: Schiphol Airport (AMS) is a major hub for the SkyTeam airline alliance, so many travelers flying from the U.S. to Europe, Africa, or the Middle East may find themselves laying over here. The airport is less than six miles from the city proper and accessible by public train, and there are more than enough museums, gardens, and historic sites to fill your days. It’s also a good jumping-off point for day trips (my toddler enjoyed our bus-and-ferry excursion to the old-timey fishing villages of Volendam and Marken).
Where to stay: When it comes to traveling with kids, it’s all about location, location, location—and, okay, the breadth of the hotel’s breakfast. Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky Amsterdam nails both. The five-star property, which was renovated in 2022, sits across from the National Royal Palace on buzzy Dam Square, which my son liked because it was always flocked with pigeons. It’s walkable to the Rijksmusem and Anne Frank House (both, admittedly, better suited to older kids), plus numerous shopping thoroughfares. Just watch out for speeding bicyclists, who have the right of way over pedestrians. But it’s the breakfast buffet we most looked forward to, with its extravagant spread of international foods served in the light-flooded Wintergarden, a conservatory-style space with a glass ceiling dating to the 19th century.
What to do: What Amsterdam lacks in playgrounds (the best ones aren’t walkable from city center), it makes up for with enthralling museums (the floating Houseboat Museum, the eye-sizzling Electric Ladyland Museum of Fluorescent Art, the Renzo Piano-designed Science Center NEMO, or the Moco, which has Banksys out the wazoo), petting zoos and goat farms (Amstelpark, Geitenboerderij Ridammerhoeve), and gooey stroopwafels as big as my toddler’s head (try the fresh-pressed salted caramel kind from Van Wonderen). For children keen to explore more local delights, the concierge team at Anantara can arrange a customizable food tour; ours was guided by the affable Therese van Blijswijk and included samples of the decadent, TikTok-famous chocolate cookies from Van Stapele Koekmakerij, batter-fried chunks of cod called kibbeling from the Volendammer Vishandel fish market, and deliriously good Dutch apple pie from an authentic brown pub, Café Hegeraad.
Aerial photo of the Acropolis and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Athens
Why it’s great: Some families headed to the Mediterranean may find themselves patching through Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos (AIA); I’d encourage them to drop their bags and stay awhile. Greek culture cherishes children and we felt welcomed everywhere we went: restaurants, museums, shops, millennia-old historic sites, you name it.
Where to stay: You can’t beat the location of Hotel Grande Bretagne. It overlooks bustling Syntagma Square and sits catty corner to the National Garden, a lovely 38-acre green space that houses ancient Roman ruins and more than 500 types of plants, a children’s zoo and library, and a playground so epic that my son and I visited every day that we were in town. Also notable is GB Roof Garden Restaurant & Bar, an eighth-floor eatery with gobsmacking views of the Parthenon, and the hotel’s proximity to the Greek Parliament, where Sunday morning’s theatrical changing of the guard is not to be missed.
What to do: Browse the collection of 3,000-plus Cycladic and ancient Greek and Cypriot artifacts at the Museum of Cycladic Art and see what’s on display at the Museum of Greek Children’s Art, a sweet little institution dedicated solely to the artworks of children. Hitch a ride to the highest point in Athens via the Lycabettus Hill Cable Car (a crowdpleaser for transportation-obsessed kiddos) and explore the “historical playground” that is the Acropolis of Athens—what UNESCO calls “the most striking and complete ancient Greek monumental complex still existing in our times.” Or simply carve out a few hours to get acquainted with Greek cuisine on an immersive food tour. Culinary Backstreets offers private and small group outings that explore different neighborhoods and themes; ours was led by the former MTV VJ Constantine, the self-described “Kurt Loder of Greece,” who couldn’t have been more patient when introducing my toddler to dolmades, saganaki, souvlaki, and other Hellenic delights.
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Madrid
Why it’s great: You can tell Spain values families from the moment you touch down at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD). The country’s busiest hub is chockablock with whimsical playgrounds, complimentary strollers, and pint-sized toilets and sinks in dedicated family restrooms. Travelers with youngsters in tow speed through special security and border patrol lanes; TVs playing cartoons above the baggage claim carousels captivate the brood while parents collect the luggage. And that’s just the beginning of how well-cared for families feel in Spain’s biggest metropolis; the city’s abundant parks, play spaces, and child-friendly museums and restaurants are truly next level.
Where to stay: NH Madrid Palacio de Tepa, near Plaza Santa Ana, is housed in an 18th-century mansion designed by the architect who handled Museo Nacional del Prado (to which this is walkable). The beds are comfier than a Cumulus cloud, but it’s the thoughtful staff that really stand out. At breakfast, Julian was handed a doodling pad with markers and a wooden Tic-Tac-Toe set to keep him entertained; come nightfall, we’d return to our room to find a canvas kiddie tipi lit up with plastic stars. Best of all, the reception desk hands every parent a helpful list of the best things to do with kids in Madrid upon check-in—a simple but genius gesture that more hotels should try.
What to do: Though I’d love to say we spent hours nibbling on Iberico ham at moodily tapas bars and admiring masterpieces by Goya and Velázquez at the Prado, that would be a pack of lies. Instead I took Julian to vogue amongst the Instagram-ready lights and mirror at Museo de la Luz Madrid and out for churros and chocolate at old-school Chocolatería San Ginés. We snacked on marzipan made by nuns at El Jardín de Convento and pizza melty with Mahón cheese, black pig sobrasada, and walnuts from Lamucca, whose Plaza España offshoot has a ball pit, slide, and hourly babysitters for hire in the basement, not to mention a fantastic playground across the street. I even squeezed in some holiday shopping at the magnificently curated Cocol Madrid, which, much to my wallet’s chagrin, offers hassle-free shipping to the U.S. and has a small gallery area where Julian could play on his iPad while Mama ran up her credit card. If we had more time on the ground, I would have taken him to see an all-ages show at one of Madrid’s reputable children’s theaters (Real Teatro de Retiro or La Escalera de Jacob).
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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