The art of the stopover

Read time: 3 min 40 sec

How one word got me to country 22

Most people fly through Copenhagen and never think twice about it. Land, connect, gone.

We landed, took a train across an international border, and spent 15 hours in Sweden. Then flew home.

That is a stopover. And it is one of the most underused moves in travel.

Here is how it works and why it is different from a layover.

A layover is passive. You land in a connecting city, switch planes, and keep moving. The airport is a waiting room. You are just passing through.

A stopover is a decision. You intentionally stay in that connecting city for at least one night before continuing to your final destination. Same general routing. One extra night booked on purpose. Suddenly you are not connecting through a city. You are visiting one.

Most people never think to do this. They should.

We were flying home from Alesund, Norway to Los Angeles. The routing took us through Copenhagen. Instead of connecting straight to LAX, we booked a separate ticket out of Copenhagen the following day. That gap turned into Sweden.

Here is the geography, because it matters. Copenhagen Airport sits in Kastrup, Denmark right at the edge of the Oresund Strait. Lund, Sweden is on the other side of the water. There is a bridge connecting them. The train from the airport to Lund runs every 20 minutes, costs about $25, and takes roughly 35 minutes. No car. No transfers. You walk out of arrivals, get on a train, and you are in another country. We thought about renting a car but the toll to cross the bridge was over $100 USD.

The best American comparison I can make: it is like flying into O'Hare and spending the night in Milwaukee. Different state, totally its own city, less than 90 miles away. Most people would never think to do it. That is exactly the point.

We chose Lund specifically, and I want to walk you through that decision because it is the whole lesson.

The easy answer would have been stay in Copenhagen. We were there for the first 4 nights of our trip. Malmo was the next obvious choice. Right across the Oresund Bridge from Copenhagen, about twelve miles, and a lot of travelers use it as a quick Sweden add-on. But the reviews were mixed. Not bad, just not compelling enough.

Simrishamn came up in our research. A small coastal town about an hour east of Malmo. Beautiful photos. Quiet fishing village feel. But for less than 24 hours it was too far and too complicated.

Then we found Lund.

Lund is a university city that reminded my wife, Tori and I of Bern and a small Swiss village we loved. Cobblestone streets. A cathedral that has been standing since 1145. A medieval old town that does not feel staged for tourists. A real city where real people live, anchored by Lund University, one of the oldest universities in Scandinavia, founded in 1666.

That is the kind of place I want to show up and just walk around.

We stayed at Hotel Concordia, a family-owned four-star hotel in the dead center of the city. Five-minute walk to the train station. Walking distance to the university, the cathedral, and the old town.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon. After three weeks in Europe we were not looking for adventure. We checked in. Relaxed. Had an easy dinner in town. Slept.

The next morning I walked to Lund University before we headed back to the airport.

Here is something most Americans do not know about European universities. There is no campus. Not in the way we think of it. No quad. No defined boundaries. No main gate. Lund University is woven into the city. Buildings from the 1600s sit next to cafes and bookshops and apartment buildings. You are not visiting a campus. You are walking through a city that happens to contain a university that has been there for 400 years.

I bought a hoodie. Country 22.

We had 15 hours in Lund total. We did not try to cram it full. We did not make a list. We showed up, slowed down, and let the city be what it was. That is the only way to do a stopover right. Slow and easy. Immersive over itinerary.

The practical checklist if you want to pull this off:

• Find a routing that connects through a city you actually want to see

• Book your outbound flight the next day instead of same day

• Pick a small city over a capital -- something walkable and low pressure

• Get there by train if you can

• Do not overplan it

A stopover is not a vacation. It is a bonus. Treat it like one.

Sweden has been on my list since 2020. I finally got there. Not the way I originally planned, but that is usually how the best trips work.

Hit reply and tell me: what should I write about next? A destination, a travel problem you are trying to solve, something you keep seeing and want a real take on. I read every reply.

Further Reading:

How we booked hotels across three Scandinavian countries -- The rate types, prepayment rules, and what actually surprised us.

Why Albania belongs on your list -- Another country most Americans skip. Another country that delivers.

Stuck between PTO and a plane ticket? -- The real reason Americans don't travel more, and what to do about it.

Until next Thursday,

Jeff