leaving the airpoprt during stopovers

[mclovin]

whats the laws regarding leaving the airport for a few hours during a stopover? do u need a visa or anything? im specifically interested in germany, switzerland, and england

[jfktlv]

I have a US passport and I did this in Zurich, Switzerland and in Turkey. (both on the way to TLV from JFK)
In Zurich (AA / Swiss Air) there was no fee I just showed them my US passport and I was let out of the airport.
I took the train into Zurich and cam back to the airport at night.

In Turkey I had to purchase a Visa for 20$ and then I left the airport and came back at night.

You need to make sure you have enough time to get into town and come back to the airport.

DO NOT forget airport Immigration/ customs/ security lines since they can take some time....
Check each airline / countries rules... You can see the consulates websites and they will have offices to call for more info.
Plan what you want to do ahaed of time in the limited amount of hours you have at the particular city.

[mclovin]

thanks. in turkey you bought the visa b4 or in airport? whats the minimum amount of time you would need to get out of the airport and then back in for ur flight. (buisness/first so i guess front of customs line)

[Fan of Dan]

Is there anywhere in rome I can leave my luggage during a full day stopover? How about in seoul south korea? And thirdly Guam?

[jfktlv]

I PAID FOR MY TURKISH VISA AT ISTANBUL, I THINK U Can buy it in ny as well...
20 dollars cash, took 5 mins

[SuperFlyer]

Is there anywhere in rome I can leave my luggage during a full day stopover? How about in seoul south korea? And thirdly Guam?

look on the respective airports websites, they will tell you about it.

If you dont find them, via wikipedia its easy to find them.


in Seoul, bus takes a good hour to get into the city.

back in the airport it went pretty smoothly.

[jfktlv]

in Turkey it took about an hour to get into the city via train....
I saw some major sites and the river dividing istanbul.
To get a nice trip you need at least 6 or more hours since the Immigration lines can be long. (getting a visa was quick..bu the day I was there immigration lines were long)
When I was in Zurich things were very quick in the airport.
Zurich also had a nice train to the city.
In  both cases my luggage was just transferred directly to my next flight.

jfk - ist- tlv (turkish air

jfk - zrh - tlv (swiss /aa/elal

 

[mclovin]

so is 4 hours enough if i dont really want to do anything other than get my passport stamped and take some pictures and say i was there

[jfktlv]

4 hours is quite tight since you will need to go through an immigration line when you leave the airport.
(these can sometimes be fast and  sometimes be slow.)
also when you come back to the airport you will need to go through security again...

things change from city to city and time to time...
For some reason Zurich had a very short line to leave the airport...
Istanbul had a longer line...
but it may be based upon seasons as well.
I was in Zurich in the winter and Istanbul in the spring.
you may be able to pull it off in 4 hours ..but you better research what trains you need to get to the sites you want and keep your tours near the airport...

[moish]

so is 4 hours enough if i dont really want to do anything other than get my passport stamped and take some pictures and say i was there

i would recommend paying for the visa, going out of the airport for the stamp, return to airport immediately, go to gift shop, take picture of postcards, so you end up covering all your bases 1. passport stamped (+visa applied!) 2. took picture 3. you can say you were there