Airports with no public transport.

[stadler]

What are the largest airports with no public transport serving them?

Cape Town surely has to be the worldwide winner. It is one of the largest airports in the entire continent of Africa and is a huge major international airport but zero public transport. It did have a bus route for a few years but that dissappeared with covid and never came back. Last time i was there i had to walk about 50 minutes from Cape Town airport to a local Metro Rail railway station and then take a 40 minute train ride to Cape Town from there. It is ridiculous that such a major airport has no public transport. It shows how dysfunctional South Africa is.

Paris Vatry is another one. It is a small airports but has some flights to Morocco and some European cities. It has zero public transport at all. Last time i was there i had to walk 50 minutes from Vatry airport to Vatry village and then take a 20 minute bus ride to Chalons En Champagne and then a 90 minute ride on TER trains to Paris from there.

Akureyri is another one. It is a small airport but has some international flights including ones to the UK and some European cites. It has zero public transport at all. The town has a decent free bus network but it does not extend to the airport. Last time i was there i had to walk 30 minutes in to Akureyri town centre. At least it is a short easy walk so i was more than happy with to walk. Although looking online now it seems like a shuttle bus (that only runs a couple times a day to connect with flights) has recently started running.

Can anyone else think of any major airports without any public transport?

 

[Acfb]

I don't know if Las Vegas would count? I think there are buses but from the wrong side of the Airfield/terminal. The Strip is only ~3 miles away but the Uber&Taxi lobbies are very strong.

 

[stadler]

I don't know if Las Vegas would count? I think there are buses but from the wrong side of the Airfield/terminal. The Strip is only ~3 miles away but the Uber&Taxi lobbies are very strong.

I would not count Las Vegas as having no public transport. It has three bus routes (108 and 109 and CX) between the airport and the city centre. They stop outside the terminal buildings. They even run 24 hours a day. Certainly better than some other airports.

 

[Thirteen]

It doesn't count as they do have buses but Orlando International Airport is poorly connected considering it's a tourist mecca with the various theme parks.

 

[stadler]

It doesn't count as they do have buses but Orlando International Airport is poorly connected considering it's a tourist mecca with the various theme parks.

That one is always so surprising. At least they do have buses from the airport to the city centre but you would think they would have better public transport to the theme parks. I know most people in America drive but that area gets millions of foreign tourists every year. Of course the foreign tourists will not have cars so you would think it would be an incentive to provide good public transport in the Orlando area. America does such a bad job at providing public transport.

 

[GatwickDepress]

It doesn't count as they do have buses but Orlando International Airport is poorly connected considering it's a tourist mecca with the various theme parks.

Likewise, Southwest Florida International Airport is a touristy destination (albeit with only 11 million passengers compared to Orlando's almost 60 million) but has just one bus route to Fort Myers. It doesn't even have a clockface timetable and a woeful two hourly Sunday frequency that starts late and finishes early.

Florida must be a great place to be an Uber driver...

 

[Thirteen]

That one is always so surprising. At least they do have buses from the airport to the city centre but you would think they would have better public transport to the theme parks. I know most people in America drive but that area gets millions of foreign tourists every year. Of course the foreign tourists will not have cars so you would think it would be an incentive to provide good public transport in the Orlando area. America does such a bad job at providing public transport.

This video by Half by Interesting provides insight and reasons why MCO is poorly connected and part of it is due to The Mouse:

The expansion of Sunrail would help to bring better transit for tourists going to most of the various theme parks.

 

[stadler]

Likewise, Southwest Florida International Airport is a touristy destination (albeit with only 11 million passengers compared to Orlando's almost 60 million) but has just one bus route to Fort Myers. It doesn't even have a clockface timetable and a woeful two hourly Sunday frequency that starts late and finishes early.

Florida must be a great place to be an Uber driver...

Plus the bus route (50) from the airport does not even go in to Fort Myers city centre. You have to change buses to another route (140) if you want the city centre. You have to change at the South Fort Myers Transfer Station (calling a couple bus stops in a random car park on the outskirts of the town a "transfer station" is a joke) and get another bus. It is ridiculous that for an international airport (that even gets transatlantic flights) they could not even put on a direct bus route.

 

[jfollows]

Raleigh/Durham, which was once my local airport, also has the ridiculous transfer thing to somewhere where you then have to wait for a real bus to get to Raleigh. I looked it up now, because during my time there I always drove myself or used a taxi, the latter I also gave up with because the taxi drivers couldn’t find my address despite the simple & logical grid system.

 

[Royston Vasey]

That one is always so surprising. At least they do have buses from the airport to the city centre but you would think they would have better public transport to the theme parks. I know most people in America drive but that area gets millions of foreign tourists every year. Of course the foreign tourists will not have cars so you would think it would be an incentive to provide good public transport in the Orlando area. America does such a bad job at providing public transport.

MCO is now (since late 2023) served by Brightline to Miami and at some point also Tampa, there's a ~1 mile people mover to the station from the terminal complex.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Can anyone else think of any major airports without any public transport?

Zielona Góra airport is almost there, with just one bus to/from the airport each day, with the exception of Fridays. There are trains, but it's a 75 minute walk from the terminal to the nearest station. While it only has a single scheduled connection with Warsaw, it does see some charter traffic too.

On the other hand, unless something has changed, both Podgorica and Tivat airports don't have public transport. Tivat in particular is quite a busy airport, and although the bus station isn't that far away from the airport, it's still a walk along the incredibly busy Jadranska Magistrala with no pavements.

I think Ohrid Airport in North Macedonia doesn't have any public transport as well.

 

[Sealink]

Bournemouth on the UK's South Coast has multiple flights daily, with Ryanair, Jet 2 and TUI, but the public transport there is almost non-existent.
Services leave Bournemouth for the airport at 0550hrs and 0635hrs... and that's it.
From the airport it's 1335hrs, 1620hrs and 1800hrs.
Journeys take between 41 and 55 minutes.

 

[stadler]

Zielona Góra airport is almost there, with just one bus to/from the airport each day, with the exception of Fridays. There are trains, but it's a 75 minute walk from the terminal to the nearest station. While it only has a single scheduled connection with Warsaw, it does see some charter traffic too.

On the other hand, unless something has changed, both Podgorica and Tivat airports don't have public transport. Tivat in particular is quite a busy airport, and although the bus station isn't that far away from the airport, it's still a walk along the incredibly busy Jadranska Magistrala with no pavements.

I think Ohrid Airport in North Macedonia doesn't have any public transport as well.

Podgorica airport has public transport. It has a railway station about ten minutes walk away that was specifically built for the airport. I would still consider that as being served by public transport. It has trains about once every two hours to Podgorica city centre and to Bar in the other direction.

 

[CC 72100]

Zielona Góra airport is almost there, with just one bus to/from the airport each day, with the exception of Fridays. There are trains, but it's a 75 minute walk from the terminal to the nearest station. While it only has a single scheduled connection with Warsaw, it does see some charter traffic too.

On the other hand, unless something has changed, both Podgorica and Tivat airports don't have public transport. Tivat in particular is quite a busy airport, and although the bus station isn't that far away from the airport, it's still a walk along the incredibly busy Jadranska Magistrala with no pavements.

I think Ohrid Airport in North Macedonia doesn't have any public transport as well.

Podgorica has a coach roughly every hour into the city - different operator each hour and times vary by a few minutes each hour, but you can buy tickets from a TVM in the arrivals hall.

Tivat I don't believe does - I arrived in taxi.

(Used both airports last month)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jul 2025 ==

Raleigh/Durham, which was once my local airport, also has the ridiculous transfer thing to somewhere where you then have to wait for a real bus to get to Raleigh. I looked it up now, because during my time there I always drove myself or used a taxi, the latter I also gave up with because the taxi drivers couldn’t find my address despite the simple & logical grid system.

RDU is still the same!

 

[341o2]

Bournemouth on the UK's South Coast has multiple flights daily, with Ryanair, Jet 2 and TUI, but the public transport there is almost non-existent.
Services leave Bournemouth for the airport at 0550hrs and 0635hrs... and that's it.
From the airport it's 1335hrs, 1620hrs and 1800hrs.
Journeys take between 41 and 55 minutes.

I was going to mention Bournemouth. It has no rail. or any other public transport apart from the aforementioned journeys on route 737, which, while advertised in Morebuses' public timetable, is primarily for airport workers, hence the morning journeys out, and the afternoon return journeys, no weekend service.

 

[stadler]

This video by Half by Interesting provides insight and reasons why MCO is poorly connected and part of it is due to The Mouse:

The expansion of Sunrail would help to bring better transit for tourists going to most of the various theme parks.

MCO is now (since late 2023) served by Brightline to Miami and at some point also Tampa, there's a ~1 mile people mover to the station from the terminal complex.

Seems like at least there are some plans. Whether they actually get built remains to be seen. Extending the Sun Rail trains to the airport would be good as well. The track is already there so Sun Rail could easily start another branch to the airport. That would improve connections a lot. Bright Line is mainly for intercity travel where as Sun Rail is actually a local suburban train.

Raleigh/Durham, which was once my local airport, also has the ridiculous transfer thing to somewhere where you then have to wait for a real bus to get to Raleigh. I looked it up now, because during my time there I always drove myself or used a taxi, the latter I also gave up with because the taxi drivers couldn’t find my address despite the simple & logical grid system.

Podgorica has a coach roughly every hour into the city - different operator each hour and times vary by a few minutes each hour, but you can buy tickets from a TVM in the arrivals hall.

Tivat I don't believe does - I arrived in taxi.

(Used both airports last month)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jul 2025 ==


RDU is still the same!

Raleigh Durham airport is an odd one. During the daytime you have to take a shuttle bus to another bus stop outside the airport to pick up the 100 in to the city centre. But during the late evenings the 100 goes in to the airport and serves the terminal buildings. Why not just make the 100 serve the airport all day long.

Bournemouth on the UK's South Coast has multiple flights daily, with Ryanair, Jet 2 and TUI, but the public transport there is almost non-existent.
Services leave Bournemouth for the airport at 0550hrs and 0635hrs... and that's it.
From the airport it's 1335hrs, 1620hrs and 1800hrs.
Journeys take between 41 and 55 minutes.

I was going to mention Bournemouth. It has no rail. or any other public transport apart from the aforementioned journeys on route 737, which, while advertised in Morebuses' public timetable, is primarily for airport workers, hence the morning journeys out, and the afternoon return journeys, no weekend service.

Bournemouth Airport has appalling public transport. I forgot about that one. The bus service is useless for passengers as it does not connect with any flights. Last time i used Bournemouth airport i walked from the airport to Parley Cross which took about 50 minutes. I am a fast walker but a slower walker would probably take 70 minutes. From there i was able to pick up the 13 or 13A bus in to Bournemouth city centre.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Dinard - St. Malo in Brittany was a bad one with zero public transport. It is nowhere near Dinard or St. Malo either. Ryanair served it for a time and Aurigny served it from Guernsey up until COVID. It looks as if it has no commercial flights now.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jul 2025 ==

Land's End Airport (for the Scilly Isles) in Cornwall has no public bus service - you have to book a shuttle bus 24hrs in advance. Runs from Penzance station.

 

[stadler]

Dinard - St. Malo in Brittany was a bad one with zero public transport. It is nowhere near Dinard or St. Malo either. Ryanair served it for a time and Aurigny served it from Guernsey up until COVID. It looks as if it has no commercial flights now.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jul 2025 ==

Land's End Airport (for the Scilly Isles) in Cornwall has no public bus service - you have to book a shuttle bus 24hrs in advance. Runs from Penzance station.

That airport at Dinard St Malo is a tiny airport. I am surprised it ever had flights in the past. Ryanair really seem to love these tiny little airports miles away from what they are named airport.

That reminds me there used to be a scheduled commercial flight from Shoreham airport to Paris Pontoise airport in 2013 which lasted six months. I always presumed Pontoise airport had nothing (it is very rural) but it actually does have decent public transport. It is nowhere near Paris (just like Vatry airport) but has a bus every hour to a railway station connecting with frequent Paris train services.

Lands End airport does actually have fairly decent public transport. Route numbers 7 and 7A and 8 stops right outside the airport building. The three routes combined provide a bus at least hourly during the daytime.

 

[The exile]

That reminds me there used to be a scheduled commercial flight from Shoreham airport to Paris Pontoise airport in 2013 which lasted six months. I always presumed Pontoise airport had nothing (it is very rural) but it actually does have decent public transport. It is nowhere near Paris (just like Vatry airport)

That’s a bit harsh - it’s not massively further out than Roissy (CDG). Certainly better than Hahn, Weeze, Luebeck claiming to be Frankfurt, Duesseldorf and Hamburg.

 

[OscarH]

Bournemouth Airport has appalling public transport. I forgot about that one. The bus service is useless for passengers as it does not connect with any flights. Last time i used Bournemouth airport i walked from the airport to Parley Cross which took about 50 minutes. I am a fast walker but a slower walker would probably take 70 minutes. From there i was able to pick up the 13 or 13A bus in toin tonemouth city centre

You also have to ignore all the YOU MUST NOT WALK signs on the way in at least, that if you ignore you suddenly get a nice path immediately after it

 

[atillathehunn]

While theoretically Nairobi has buses, they are intended for staff and don't stop particularly near the terminal, nor do they run to a timetable (or even really a fixed route) so is perhaps half points. There is a railway station a few KMs away as well, but not in or around the airport.

Lilongwe does not have public buses running there, or didn't the last time I was there.

Aqaba only has on-demand shuttles to hotels, which I wouldn't count (more akin to a taxi).

Kabul airport does not have public transport, though the airport is very much in the city centre, so it's not a long walk to the main streets with public transport.

 

[jfollows]

Lilongwe does not have public buses running there, or didn't the last time I was there.

I’m sure you’re right, last time I was there was 1985 I think!
UTA 747 broke down on arrival, spare part had to be sent, extra day in a local hotel at UTA‘s expense in January nicely postponed the return to the cold in London.

 

[atillathehunn]

I’m sure you’re right, last time I was there was 1985 I think!
UTA 747 broke down on arrival, spare part had to be sent, extra day in a local hotel at UTA‘s expense in January nicely postponed the return to the cold in London.

And here I was thinking it had been a few years since I was in the warm heart of Africa (last visit would have been in 2020). Not sure UTA ever had the best reputation in that regard.

All that being said, I wonder really how much it has changed since 1985. There are a number of factors that I can't quite put my finger on that make it feel like stepping back in time. Perhaps the lack of pervasive technology - lack of broadbank, for example, outside Area 10 - the calm politeness of people, the fact that so much of the city is in leafy suburbs. So many of the hotels we stayed at around the country reminded me of British countryside hotels from decades ago. Even in the airport, the airside bus is a relatively ancient Ashok Leyland and the fire engine - a similarly vintage bit of kit - has had a hugely cracked windscreen on every visit I have paid to Lilongwe Intl.

 

[jfollows]

And here I was thinking it had been a few years since I was in the warm heart of Africa (last visit would have been in 2020). Not sure UTA ever had the best reputation in that regard.

My dear old granny was with us (my sister and I) having been dropped off there by my parents in the old Peugot driven up from Blantyre, granny was strangely reticent until we came to leave when it transpired that she thought she would be billed for the hotel stay. My sister and I enjoyed ourselves! We always remembered to “accidentally” leave our UK papers with customs on arrival, Hastings Banda was not known for promoting open and honest discussion based on facts at the time. UTA was fine apart from several stops in former French colonies on the way back to Paris.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jul 2025 ==

For anyone who doesn’t know, Lilongwe is the bonkers “invented” capital of Malawi which replaced the former trading centre of Zomba/
Blantyre in 1975 and forced all international flights to use it rather than where anyone who might use them lived.
I never went to the city itself, only the airport either by car or connecting flights from Blantyre, one of which (the flights) was shot down for going over Mozambique around the same time.
Nowadays virtually nothing goes to Lilongwe from a distance. In the day the “colonial” arlines such as UTA and British Airways did. The latter as a short hop after Durban and Harare from memory. I think KLM used to fly there from Amsterdam also. 747 in the first two cases at least, of course.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Podgorica airport has public transport. It has a railway station about ten minutes walk away that was specifically built for the airport. I would still consider that as being served by public transport. It has trains about once every two hours to Podgorica city centre and to Bar in the other direction.

10 minutes is generous! I'd rather give it 20 minutes walk, especially as there's no pavement and well, the station itself is 'interesting'. The airport also hides the existence of the train station and doesn't mark the route at all, so I'm not sure whether it would count.

Podgorica has a coach roughly every hour into the city - different operator each hour and times vary by a few minutes each hour, but you can buy tickets from a TVM in the arrivals hall.

Thanks for that correction! I'd count this for sure.

Another one for the list - Brest airport in Belarus doesn't have any public transport. I think there are only flights from there to Moscow and St Petersburg, but still, I suppose it counts.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I remember reading in a guidebook that Ercan, the main airport in North Cyprus had no public transport. However, the airport website states: 'There are 13 bus services from Ercan Airport to various parts of the island' though without being any more specific. Is that 13 routes or 13 departures? And where do they go?

 

[signed]

I remember reading in a guidebook that Ercan, the main airport in North Cyprus had no public transport. However, the airport website states: 'There are 13 bus services from Ercan Airport to various parts of the island' though without being any more specific. Is that 13 routes or 13 departures? And where do they go?

13 routes it seems

KIBHAS - Havalimanı Servisleri

kibhas.org

The operator quotes (can't quote that back as it's menu) 18 departures daily in the Airport-Nicosia bus terminal (don't really know how to call the TRNC part of Nicosia) direction alone

 

[Cloud Strife]

(don't really know how to call the TRNC part of Nicosia)

In Turkish, they just say "Lefkoşa", or if clarification is needed, "Kuzey Lefkoşa" (North Nicosia) to describe the part administered by the Nicosia Turkish Municpality. The part being administered by the Nicosia Greek Municipality is called "Güney Lefkoşa" (South Nicosia). No idea what they call the Nicosia Greek Municipality though.

In Greek, it's just "Δήμος Λευκωσίας" (Dimos Lefkosias / Nicosia Municipality) to refer to the (southern) city administration, with the Nicosia Turkish Municipality being referred to as "Δήμος Λεφκόσα" (Dήmos Lefkόsa /Municipality of Lefkosia). In normal speech, people will use North Nicosia, but also "Κατεχόμενη Λευκωσία" (Occupied Nicosia) in an official context.

Generally speaking though, Turkish speakers are happy to use North/South Nicosia, whereas for Greek speakers, they tend to refer to districts there rather than using "North Nicosia". The only real no-no is to use "South Nicosia" to Greek speakers. So, in this case, you can use North Nicosia quite freely and it's clear what it means. Having said that, saying that there's 18 departures a day to Nicosia would also be understandable, because there's no public transport across the Green Line.

 

[signed]

In Turkish, they just say "Lefkoşa", or if clarification is needed, "Kuzey Lefkoşa" (North Nicosia) to describe the part administered by the Nicosia Turkish Municpality. The part being administered by the Nicosia Greek Municipality is called "Güney Lefkoşa" (South Nicosia). No idea what they call the Nicosia Greek Municipality though.

In Greek, it's just "Δήμος Λευκωσίας" (Dimos Lefkosias / Nicosia Municipality) to refer to the (southern) city administration, with the Nicosia Turkish Municipality being referred to as "Δήμος Λεφκόσα" (Dήmos Lefkόsa /Municipality of Lefkosia). In normal speech, people will use North Nicosia, but also "Κατεχόμενη Λευκωσία" (Occupied Nicosia) in an official context.

Generally speaking though, Turkish speakers are happy to use North/South Nicosia, whereas for Greek speakers, they tend to refer to districts there rather than using "North Nicosia". The only real no-no is to use "South Nicosia" to Greek speakers. So, in this case, you can use North Nicosia quite freely and it's clear what it means. Having said that, saying that there's 18 departures a day to Nicosia would also be understandable, because there's no public transport across the Green Line.

Thank you, very informative

 

[TravelDream]

Olsztyn in Poland is a great example of where a lot of money has been spent for little outcome.
Fairly small airport in the absolute middle of nowhere (almost as close to Warsaw as its namesake city), but has flights to the UK, Germany as well as domestic and charter sun destination flights.
They spent £25 million pound refurbishing a train line and building a branch extension to the airport for the airport's big expansion in 2016.
For five trains per week. Five.
Not sure how that go approval under any sensible cost-benefit calculation.
(Edit: I just checked and there's actually an almost hourly bus service 6am-6pm Monday to Friday to a nearby local village. So not a good example for this thread!).