The Best Airports for Shopping Around the World

Arriving at the airport for a trip, your destination can feel further away than ever. Security, document control and plain waiting around add hours to your journey. But airport shopping is a fun way to pass the time in a glamorous environment, giving you a chance to pick up travel comforts and browse fancy goods as the seconds tick down until takeoff.

Once you're abroad, airport stores are a great opportunity to shop brands that aren't available at home or that have a broader range or better ingredients outside of the U.S. Subject to certain rules — and depending on what countries you've visited and how long you've been gone — travelers can bring back items bought duty- and tax-free up to a value of $800 into the United States.

However, the airport shopping experience can vary depending on the prices, environment and variety of stores. To help you choose the best airports for a shopping experience while you wait, CouponBirds has analyzed thousands of SKYTRAX reviews and found the top-rated airports for shopping.

Key Insights

• Singapore Changi Airport offers the world's best airport shopping experience, with an average rating of 4.44 out of 5.

• Tampa Airport in Florida is America's best airport for shopping, with an average rating of 3.81.

• Kansas City Airport in Missouri has America's worst airport shopping experience, with an average rating of 1.35.

• London Heathrow offers the UK's best shopping experience and the sixth best in Europe, with an average rating of 3.36.

The 20 Best and Worst Global Airports for Shopping

The best airports for shopping are dominated by East(ish) Asian and U.S. destinations. Five of the top ten (if you count Singapore) are in East Asia, and five of the top 20 are in the U.S. — including three in the top ten.

Singapore Changi, in the Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore, has the best airport shopping experience in the world, with an average rating of half a star (10%) higher than that of the second-placed Hong Kong airport. Changi sees around 5.73 million monthly passenger movements, almost equivalent to the entire 6.03 million population of the country, thanks to its position as a transcontinental aviation hub.

Changi provides for this massive customer base through its $1.47 billion, 134,000 square meter Project Jewel space (around 70% of that footprint is devoted to retail), a "major public realm attraction" and architectural gem "based on the geometry of a torus," featuring the world's tallest indoor waterfall.

"From the time you walk in the airport it environment is different from the typical airport facility," writes one reviewer. "It has the comforting climate of a hotel while having all the stores of a mall. But not that is not all. Did I mention they have movie theatre gym game stations too?"

The Best and Worst U.S. Airports for Shopping

The U.S. boasts three airports with a shopping experience rated on the right side of 3.5 stars: Tampa (3.81), Detroit (3.78) and Portland (3.63). In 2020, Tampa became the third U.S. airport to open its security gates to non-passengers. "This airport belongs to the Tampa Bay community, and our All Access program is one way of making sure as many people as possible can experience all it has to offer," said Airport CEO Joe Lopano.

Missouri's Kansas City International Airport has America's worst shopping experience, averaging a 1.35-star rating. It is trailed by some big-name airports among the 'bottom ten,' including La Guardia (1.92), New York JFK (2.19) and LAX (2.21).

At Kansas City, there is separate security access for different sets of boarding gates, which keeps queues shorter but means that passengers have limited access to the full range of stores. And the general state of the airport is also a frequent target of criticism since it has been plagued by cold and floods. "The airport is dirty, mouldy and smelly," says one Kansas City reviewer. "Places to eat and shop are almost non-existent so a layover is unpleasant."

The Best and Worst Airports in the Americas For Shopping

Next, we broadened the survey to take in airports across North and South America. Tampa and Kansas City still take the top and bottom places, respectively (see above). Outside of the U.S., Bogota's El Dorado International Airport (3.30) has the best shopping experience — beating Vancouver by a fraction of a star. However, at Bogota, it seems safest to stick to the new terminal, which "has great shops and restaurants and the duty-free is world-class… nothing to compare to the few shops present at the old terminal."

The Vancouver experience is improved by an original approach to interior design. "The interior design is fantastic with ponds and totem poles around the terminals and a large waterfall with a wood carving in the middle," writes one reviewer. "Spacious and tidy airport with varied and extensive shopping and dining opportunities," writes another. "Shops carried local Native Canadian art work and there were both fast food and more formal eateries."

Eight of the ten worst shopping experiences at airports in the Americas are in the United States. The others are in Havana, Cuba (1.83), and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (1.84).

Says one reviewer of Havana Airport: "The service in the duty free shop was beyond a joke and people panicking about missing flights ended up yelling at the guy on the till to stop chatting to his workmate and get serving people quickly - it was the only place we could get snacks and water to take on the plane as the food and service on the plane was absolutely dire."

The Best and Worst European Airports For Shopping

Europe's best airport shopping experiences are spread across the continent. Porto Airport on the coast of Portugal has the best average rating (3.70 stars). Porto's retail area was expanded and redesigned with a local flavor in 2016, and the airport shops offer local treats, including pottery, glassware, cured meats and regional wine.

London Heathrow (3.36) is the UK's best airport for shopping. Your experience will depend on which terminal you're using, but with a complimentary personal shopping experience available, it won't take long to find your way to the Chanel boutiques. Some customers are put off by Heathrow's shopping-centric design and by its luxury-centric shopping, but you won't run out of products to peruse: "the Scotch whisky selection at the various duty free shops is as good as it's ever been," reports one happy customer. "The rule on no bag drop more than 3 hours prior to scheduled departure helps ease potential airside crowding as well."

Greek, French and German airports account for most of the worst airport shopping experiences in Europe. Kos in Greece is the worst of all, with an average rating of 1.25 stars. "Staff in the shop chatted to each other while processing purchases and it felt as if we were really irritating wanting to purchase items," writes one reviewer. "We had decided we wanted to come back to Kos for another holiday but we certainly do not want the sour taste of such nasty staff at the end of future holidays."

In the UK, Cornwall Airport Newquay has the worst rating — just 1.61 stars on average. The airport has just one shop, offering Cornish souvenirs.

The Best and Worst Asian Airports for Shopping

Asia's best airport for shopping, by a considerable degree, is the otherworldly Jewel complex at Singapore Changi (see The 20 Best and Worst Global Airports for Shopping, above). The second best is Hong Kong International (3.95), where "Goods in the shops are bountiful and various," according to one reviewer.

"There were a lot of shops in the main mall before the gates, then another mini-mall with several shops around gate 60," says another reviewer, going into more detail. "You have many huge brands from Chanel to Calvin Klein if you fancy nice clothes, and the main duty free store was huge with very rare bottles of top notch whiskey and spirits. I bought some fresh tea and cookies on my way out. The only negative about shopping is I didn't find any cliche tourist store."

Three of the worst Asian airports for shopping are in India, but the worst of all is Krabi in Thailand (1.43). The departures area has only "a couple of small grocery and coffee shops" with "pre packaged meat and cheese sandwiches for 100bht each… no vegetarian options available," according to reviewers. However, perhaps things will get better when a major expansion is completed later in 2024 — having already "achieved 87.52% completion" in summer 2023.

The Best and Worst Oceanic Airports for Shopping

Three out of the five best airports for shopping in Oceania are in New Zealand. Christchurch (3.34) is best of all. This "clean, bright and breezy" airport is "parochial in the nicest possible way, celebrating Kiwi creativity through installations and art displays," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Plenty of merchandise for the national All Blacks rugby team is available, alongside New Zealand-themed products such as cuddly kiwi toys, gloves and scarves made with possum fur, and manuka honey.

The five worst airports for shopping on this continent are all in Australia. Gold Coast (1.83) is the only one to score an average lower than two stars. In March 2024, the airport revealed plans for the 'airport of the future' — "a mixed-use precinct that would further benefit the local community, with the addition of a retail village, health and wellness hub and a conference and tech centre," according to Queensland Airports Limited CEO Amelia Evans.

However, there's some way to go, as the airport currently resembles "a cheap mall at Christmas, heaving with people, poor food and shopping choices and a lack of seating," says one reviewer.

The Best and Worst African Airports for Shopping

Africa's two best shopping airports are in South Africa: Cape Town (3.86) and Johannesburg (3.35). Cape Town International won Best Airport in Africa and Best Airport Staff in Africa at this year's SKYTRAX World Airport Awards — prizes the airport has claimed on multiple occasions over the past decade. "[T]he al-fresco landside areas of the airport and landside shopping and dining choices are impressive," says SKYTRAX.

Two of Africa's five worst-rated airports for shopping are in Egypt: Sharm El Sheikh (1.86) and Hurghada (1.90). Addis Ababa in Ethiopia fares slightly worse (1.76). However, the airport has undergone major renovations and expansions in recent years and seems to be taking off: "The airport itself has improved with better shopping and seating experience," writes one reviewer.

The High Life

Airport shops are a lucrative business for airport companies and vendors, and most go out of their way to cater to bored travelers with holiday dollars burning holes in their pockets. And so these companies try to provide a special experience — in some cases, creating a shopping environment so desirable that they even offer day passes for non-travelers to get the experience.

On the other hand, some take their captive customer base for granted, providing overpriced goods in an overcrowded environment, which only makes your journey feel longer. To get the most from your trip, check twice before booking an arrival or transfer at an airport that previous passengers have rated poorly.

Methodology

We collected SKYTRAX reviews for every international airport in the world via airlinequality.com, isolating the "airport shopping" ratings (out of five) for each airport and calculating the average score.

Lastly, we removed airports with fewer than 20 airport shopping reviews and ranked the remaining airports globally and by continent based on this average airport shopping rating.

This data analysis was completed in April 2024.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.