Some of the high-scorers are frequent landing spots for Condé Nast Traveler editors. These include Madeira Airport, in joint third place with Pitkin County Airport, which is known as having one of the world’s most challenging approaches. As the plane descends, a lush landscape of verdant mountains that flow down into charming villages, beaches, and the crystal-clear waters beyond appears.
Many travel editors are familiar with the landing at London City Airport, too, where the glittering city skyline shows itself like a mirage after high-altitude journeys.
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You’ll have to head down under for the most beautiful airport landing in the world, however – as Australia’s Lord Howe Island Airport claims the title, closely followed by New Zealand’s Queenstown Airport. See the complete list of bucket list landings below.
The most beautiful airport landings in the world
The score that follows each of the most beautiful airport landings in the world below represents the ‘eye-catching score’, calculated using the ‘average time spent looking’ in seconds and the ‘average time to first fixation’ in seconds.
1. Lord Howe Island Airport, Australia (score: 85)
2. Queenstown Airport, New Zealand (score: 79)
3. Madeira Airport, Portugal (score: 77)
= Pitkin County Airport, United States of America (score: 77)
5. Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, Brazil (score: 76)
= London City Airport, United Kingdom (score: 76)
7. Innsbruck Airport, Austria (score: 74)
8. Paro Airport, Bhutan (score: 72)
9. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Caribbean Netherlands (score: 69)
10. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, United States of America (score: 68)
= Lukla Airport, Nepal (score: 68)
12. Seychelles International Airport, Seychelles (score: 65)
= Telluride Regional Airport, United States of America (score: 65)
= Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, France (score: 65)
15. Wellington International Airport, New Zealand (score: 60)
= Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada (score: 60)
This article was originally published in Condé Nast Traveller UK.
