Dublin airport ranked as eighth most stressful in Europe

The most stressful airports in Europe have been revealed, with Dublin ranking in eighth position.

International car rental company StressFreeCarRental.com have released their 2024 Stressful Airport Index, which analysed data from ten European airports over the past year to reveal the worst airports for travellers to pass through.

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

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.

While the distance from the city centre is quite short for Dublin Airport, unlike many of its counterparts across Europe, the airport is only accessible by road, with no rail or metro links, resulting in a slightly higher ranking in the stress index.

Dublin is expected to have record-breaking figures passing through its gates once again this year, with almost 32 million passengers passing through in 2023.

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.

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.

John Charnock, CEO of StressFreeCarRental.com said that 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."