How we score cities and layovers

Each factor is scored 0 to 10 and rounded to one decimal. The Snack Score is the weighted average. If a factor is missing for a city, the script drops it and divides by the weights that remain, so a gap does not count as a zero.

The three editorial factors use one scale for the whole site. For sights, 10 means several world-famous sights within one walkable day (London, Paris, Rome) and 8 a very strong day (Prague, Vienna, Barcelona, Washington, DC). For food, 10 is a city where eating is the trip (Tokyo, Paris, New York, Istanbul, Singapore) and 8 means strong, distinct dishes and markets (Lisbon, New Orleans). For after dark, 10 means shows, late food, bars and safe late walking (London, New York, Las Vegas, Madrid), 7 a good evening and 5 quiet after 9 p.m.

Compact route. We add up the straight-line distance between consecutive stops of the city's 24-hour plan, using each stop's Wikipedia coordinates (or OpenStreetMap when there is no article). Stops more than 20 km (12.4 miles) from the city center are left out, so a stop on the way in, such as the Blue Lagoon on our Reykjavík plan, does not count as part of the route. A route of 4 km (2.5 miles) or less scores 10, 25 km (15.5 miles) or more scores 1, and the score falls in a straight line between.

Airport to center. The minutes of the fastest scheduled public transport from the main airport's terminal to the central stop, from the operator's own timetable. 15 minutes or less scores 10, 90 minutes or more scores 1, straight line between.

One exception, the rail-city rule: York, Bath and Bruges have no airport of their own and nearly everyone arrives by train at a station in the center. For them the ride counts as a 10-minute walk from the station, which scores 10. York's real airport option, from Leeds Bradford, takes 97 minutes and would score 1.

One-night cost. The cost of the trip for one person sharing a double: half the average of two Friday room prices, plus the airport ride both ways, plus a day ticket. Entry tickets are on each city page but not in the score. The rooms are the cheapest double in a hotel of 3 stars or more with a guest rating of 8/10 or better, in the city's central area, for one night on Friday, January 15, 2027 and Friday, June 11, 2027, taxes and fees in, on Kayak. The scale is logarithmic: $45 (£34) or less scores 10, $200 (£150) or more scores 1. In between, the score is 10 minus 9 times the share of the way from $45 (£34) to $200 (£150) on a log scale, so the first extra dollars cost more points than the last.

Every city page ends its research with a verdict on whether one night is enough. That verdict is part of the score. "Worth it" costs nothing. "Conditional" (one night works if you accept a named trade-off) subtracts 0.3 points. "Skip" (the city needs two nights or more) subtracts 0.8. The point is consistency: a city our own page hedges cannot outrank a city with the same numbers and a clean verdict. After the adjustment the score is rounded to one decimal.

These are the five leaders of the best cities for a 24-hour trip, with every input as the script reports it.

Florence step by step. The plan's route is 5.2 km (3.2 miles), so compact is 10 minus 9 times 1.2/21, or 9.5. The T2 tram takes 20 minutes: 10 minus 9 times 5/75, or 9.4. The two Friday rooms were $76 (£57) and $160 (£120), an average of $118 (£88); half is $59 (£44), plus the $2.20 (£1.70; €2) tram both ways and a $2.20 (£1.70; €2) ticket in town makes $66 (£49), which sits about a quarter of the way along the log scale and scores 7.7. Weighted: 0.30 × 9 + 0.15 × 8.5 + 0.10 × 6.5 + 0.15 × 9.5 + 0.15 × 9.4 + 0.15 × 7.7 = 8.615, which rounds to 8.6.

Tokyo's raw score is higher, 8.765, on perfect food and cost. The conditional verdict on its page takes it to 8.465, exactly where Kraków already is, and both round to 8.5. Rome has the best sights and loses on cost: rooms averaging $157 (£118) and the $15.70 (£11.80; €14) Leonardo Express each way.

• World and region lists rank by the Snack Score alone, within a group (Europe, the UK, the US). Ties go to the higher Snack Score, then alphabetical order of the city's slug, which is why Kraków sits above Tokyo.
• Month lists (European cities only) score each month's weather out of 10: half for the daytime high, a quarter for rain days and a quarter for sunshine hours, from our Open-Meteo climate data. A high of 17 to 26°C (63 to 79°F) scores 10; below that it loses 0.75 per degree Celsius, above it 1 per degree. Five rain days or fewer score 10 and 16 or more score 2. Nine sunshine hours a day or more score 10 and two or fewer score 2. The month score is 40% weather plus 60% Snack Score.
• The Christmas bonus: a city whose facts record carries the Christmas-market tag gets +0.5 on its November weather score and +1.0 in December, capped at 10. London's December weather is 4.1; with the bonus it is 5.1, and its December score is 0.4 × 5.1 + 0.6 × 8.0 = 6.84.
• The region cap: a month list takes no more than three cities from one region (UK and Ireland, Western Europe, Southern Europe, Central Europe, the Nordics). In December, Lisbon, Barcelona and Rome fill the Southern Europe places, so Florence (7.44) is left off the December list.
• Origin lists estimate door-to-door minutes from central London or Manhattan: the faster of the train (if under six hours) and a nonstop flight. Flight time is 45 minutes plus one minute per 13 km to the destination airport, plus 120 minutes for getting to the airport and through security, plus the destination's airport ride. Only nonstops from Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted (London) and JFK or Newark (New York) count. The London list covers European cities other than London; the New York list covers North American cities other than New York. Two and a half hours or less scores 10, seven and a half hours or more scores 1. The list score is 60% Snack Score, 40% access. Paris reaches 8.68 on the London list because the 136-minute Eurostar scores 10.
• Train from London: 60% Snack Score plus 40% for the fastest train, where 60 minutes or less scores 10 and 300 minutes or more scores 2.
• Food: half the editorial food score, half the Snack Score. Cheap Europe: half the cost factor, half the Snack Score.
• Couples, families, solo and Christmas lists include only cities whose page carries that tag, then rank by the Snack Score. The Christmas bonus applies only to the November and December month lists.

Six factors: easy to leave (20%), ride into town (20%), payoff in town (25%, editors), stopover deals (15%), staying airside (10%, editors) and US and UK connections (10%).

• Easy to leave averages the entry rule for a US and a UK passport: visa-free 10, visa-free transit 9, an electronic authorization 7, visa on arrival 5, a visa needed 0.
• Ride into town: the fastest ride, 20 minutes or less scores 10, 75 or more scores 1.
• Stopover deals: a free hotel 10, a free stopover 7, a discount 4, none 0; a free transit tour lifts the factor to at least 8.
• Connections: how many of our 10 US and 5 UK hub airports fly nonstop, out of 15.

The same verdict adjustment applies. A hub under a US State Department advisory of Level 3 ("Reconsider travel") or higher loses 1.5 points: a layover is optional, and we will not rank readers into a city their government advises against. As checked on October 21, 2026, that covers Doha (Qatar, updated October 1, 2026) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates, updated September 17, 2026). The minimum layover we print is 45 minutes to deplane and exit, the ride both ways, the airline's recommended return time (never less than two hours) and two hours in town, rounded up to the half hour. Results are on the best stopover cities.

• Hotel prices: Kayak, one night, two adults, Fridays January 15 and June 11, 2027, checked October 21, 2026.
• Airport rides, fares and day tickets: each operator's own timetable and fare page, cited on the city page.
• Stop coordinates: Wikipedia, or OpenStreetMap where no article exists. City and airport coordinates: Wikipedia and OurAirports.
• Climate: the Open-Meteo historical archive, 2016-2025, at each city's coordinates.
• Currency: European Central Bank reference rates via frankfurter.app, October 20, 2026; the Qatari riyal and UAE dirham at their fixed dollar pegs (3.64 and 3.6725).
• Travel advisories: travel.state.gov, checked October 21, 2026.

For what the scores mean on the ground, read what trip snacking is and our 24 hours in Florence plan.