October 29, 2026, 4:54 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
There are architecturally exciting and size-wise impressive airports, even in Europe. However, smaller airports tend to be more popular with passengers. This year, Airhelp, a company for passenger rights, evaluated the Google reviews of a total of 328 European airports. The large German hubs performed relatively poorly. In the domestic comparison, Nuremberg Airport shone.
Why is Nuremberg the best airport in Germany?
“Best” should be explained more precisely. Objectively, one might measure an airport’s quality by practical factors such as punctuality or the number of flight connections. However, this ranking focuses on other qualities—what might be called the “soft skills” of an airport.
As Airhelp explains, the evaluation was based on the average Google star ratings of the airports. Additionally, a Bayesian weighted score was determined—this considers not only the rating but also the number of reviews submitted. The score ensures that individual particularly positive or negative reviews carry less weight for airports with fewer reviews.
So, what accounts for the high satisfaction at the winner, Nuremberg? Among other things, its small size. Short distances save time, as someone noted in the Google reviews, “in Frankfurt, the distances are significantly longer.”
Speaking of which, Germany’s largest airport—its “gateway to the world,” as the operator Fraport calls it—only made it to 18th place in the Germany ranking, not even in the top 10. Accordingly, it is also missing from the Europe-wide ranking.
Crowned! These Are the Best Hotels in Europe
10 European Destinations Few People Know About (Yet)
The best airports in Germany at a glance
- 1. Nuremberg
- 2. Münster/Osnabrück
- 3. Paderborn/Lippstadt
- 4. Friedrichshafen
- 5. Lübeck-Blankensee
- 6. Munich
- 7. Saarbrücken
- 8. Stuttgart
- 9. Kassel-Calden
- 10. Rostock-Laage
Interesting: The list is largely dominated by regional airports. The larger airports in Munich and Stuttgart are indeed in the top 10, but they lag behind the smaller locations in terms of ratings.
The airports Frankfurt-Hahn and Berlin Brandenburg also hold quite prominent positions—unfortunately, at the wrong end of the ranking. They received 2.9 Google stars and 3.16 weighted points, and 3.2 stars and 3.24 weighted points, respectively. This places them at the last two positions of the 25-position list.
Tallinn is the best airport in all of Europe
Now a look at the evaluation for all of Europe. Here, with an average Google rating of 4.6 stars and a Bayesian weighted score of 4.42 points, the airport of the Estonian capital Tallinn deservedly takes the top position in the ranking.
And lo and behold: It is again primarily the manageability that is well-received. “Small but fine airport,” writes a Google user. “Everything went very quickly and after the security check, there are plenty of opportunities to shop, relax, or eat.”
Tallinn is followed by Istanbul Airport in Turkey, with Porto Airport in Portugal taking third place. The bottom-ranked airports are located in Beauvais, France; Heraklion, Crete; and Tivat, Montenegro.
The top 10 airports in Europe at a glance:
- 1. Tallinn Airport (Estonia)
- 2. Istanbul Airport (Turkey)
- 3. Porto Airport (Portugal)
- 4. Alicante Airport (Spain)
- 5. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (Finland)
- 6. Port Lotniczy Lech-Wałęsa (Poland)
- 7. Madeira Airport (Portugal)
- 8. Shannon Airport (Ireland)
- 9. Athens-Eleftherios Venizelos Airport (Greece)
- 10. Zurich Airport (Switzerland)