The most stressful airports in Europe for 2024 have been revealed

The most stressful airports in Europe have been revealed, with Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris ranking as the most stressful, and Zagreb in Croatia as the least.

Travel experts at StressFreeCarRental.com have released their 2024 Stressful Airport Index, which analyses data to reveal the worst airports for travellers to pass through.

They ranked airports based on five stress-inducing factors: passenger numbers, distance from the city centre, number of flight destinations, car parking charges and departure delays.

By looking at ten busy airports across Europe, Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris, France ranked as the most stressful due to the 31.66 km distance from the city centre, and one of the highest numbers of flight destination options at 270.

Other overwhelming and stressful factors at Charles-de-Gaulle was the expensive car parking charge – at €100 for a week.

The most expensive car parking charge on the index was Heathrow in London – with passengers having to pay €143.34 for a week.

Rome airport was the cheapest to park at (€27.60), followed by Madrid charging (€36). However, Rome ranked as the fourth most stressful due to over 40 million annual passengers and 225 destinations to fly to.

Zagreb airport in Croatia has a departure delay score of 1.4 out of five – meaning it ranked as the least stressful airport on the index. Zagreb city centre is also just 22.04 km away from the airport, making for a less stressful journey for visitors.

Lisbon airport is the closest to the city centre – at just 13.12 km away. The Portuguese airport receives over 33 million passengers annually, with a departure delay score of 2.3 out of five.

Schiphol airport in Amsterdam has one of the highest number of destinations passengers can fly to, at 260. This stress-inducing factor makes the airport rank in second position overall.

The Dutch airport also charges passengers €113.50 to park there for a week, and is over 19 km away from the capital city.

Despite almost 80 million travellers passing through Heathrow airport each year, the London destination has a departure delay score of 1.8 out of five.

Schiphol, Charles-de-Gaulle, Rome and Lisbon airports all have a higher departure delay score of at least 2.3 out of five, despite receiving millions less annual visitors.

Dublin ranked as eighth most stressful in the index, the Irish airport is just 15.57 km away from the city centre and charges passengers €107 a week to park.

John Charnock, CEO of StressFreeCarRental.com said: “It’s extremely important that passengers feel relaxed before getting on a flight, or when arriving back home after their holiday. A bad and stressful airport experience could make or break the holiday.

“However, there are certain airports which can make travellers feel more stressed than others – and the 2024 Stressful Airport Index has shown us which factors at certain destinations are worse than others.

“Charles-de-Gaulle airport has been named the most stress-inducing, largely due to the high volumes of passengers travelling through, expensive car parking charges and the high departure delay scores.

“Out of the ten popular European airports that have been analysed, Zagreb in Croatia has been named the least stress-inducing, with low passenger numbers, a close distance to the city centre and the lowest departure delay score.”