London City is a small airport that closes at night, with no airside rooms, no lounge to pay for until early 2027, no showers and no left luggage. The departure lounge has seats with sockets and free Wi-Fi, and the nearest hotel is a short walk away.
Can you sleep at London City during a layover?
No. London City's terminal closes at 10pm on weekdays and Sundays and at 1pm on Saturdays, and passengers can't stay outside its opening hours. It has no airside rooms, pods or showers, and no lounge until the new one opens in early 2027. For a night, the Courtyard by Marriott London City Airport is a 7 to 11-minute walk; for a short wait, the departure lounge has seats with sockets and free Wi-Fi.
Opening hours: the terminal closes at night
London City Airport (LCY) is open every day but not around the clock, and it’s the first thing to plan around on a layover here.
| Day | Terminal open | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday | 4:45am to 10pm | 6:30am to 10:30pm |
| Saturday | 4:45am to 1pm | 6:30am to 1pm |
| Sunday | 10:30am to 10pm | 12:30pm to 10:30pm |
| Bank holidays | 9am to 10:30pm | |
| 25 December | Closed | Closed |
The airport says closing times can move with the last flight of the day, that its last half-hour of flights is only for delayed ones, and that “Passengers may not stay at the airport outside of the hours shown above”. It also asks departing passengers to arrive no more than 2 hours before their flight. So a night between flights means a hotel, and a long daytime wait is better spent in town.
Hotels near the terminal
There’s no hotel inside the terminal and no airside room. Every hotel below is landside, and since London City has no transfer area, every connecting passenger passes UK border control anyway. See visa and transit rules.
| Hotel | Where | Airside or landside | How you get there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courtyard by Marriott London City Airport | 10 Connaught Road, Silvertown | Landside | On foot: London City says 7 minutes, TfL’s planner 11 |
| Novotel London ExCeL | By the ExCeL centre | Landside | London City says 5 minutes by car |
| Holiday Inn Express London - ExCeL | By the ExCeL centre | Landside | London City says 5 minutes by taxi |
| Sunborn London Yacht Hotel | Near Royal Victoria and Canning Town | Landside | London City says about a mile, by the DLR or the Jubilee line |
The Courtyard by Marriott is the obvious choice for a night: Marriott says it’s 0.4 km from the airport, with a 24-hour front desk, check-in from 3pm and check-out by noon. It has no airport shuttle, but you won’t need one. Neither the hotel nor London City publishes a room price here; check on the day.
Day rooms
No day rooms near London City are published. The Courtyard’s 3pm check-in and noon check-out mean booking a night, so for a daytime wait the departure lounge, or a few hours in town, makes more sense.
Lounges you can pay for
None, for now. London City says it doesn’t currently have an operational business lounge, and that its new lounge, under construction, should open to all passengers by early 2027. Until then, the departure lounge after security is the place to wait: large seating areas, a desked area with plug sockets and USB chargers, seats with USB chargers by the gates on the East and West Piers, cafés, and the AeroSpa, which offers massages and beauty treatments after security (prices on its own website).
Showers
London City has toilets throughout the airport but no showers. A hotel room is the only way to freshen up.
Fast Track
London City doesn’t run a fast-track service. It says security takes around 5 minutes on average, and puts entry to gate at about 20 minutes. Check-in desks open 2 hours before departure, and British Airways closes check-in 30 minutes before its London City flights.
Left luggage
There’s no left-luggage facility at London City, so you can’t leave a bag at the airport. If you’re heading into town, travel light: the Tower of London doesn’t allow suitcases and has no left luggage, and points visitors to Stasher’s storage nearby. British Airways, KLM and Luxair passengers flying out before 10am can use London City’s overnight bag drop from 4pm the day before.
Connections, money and Wi-Fi
- Changing planes: there’s no transfer area. Clear customs on arrival, then go through security again and back to the departure lounge, leaving enough time between flights.
- Money: Global Exchange’s store in international arrivals, on the right as you enter baggage reclaim, opens 5am to 10pm on weekdays, 5am to 1pm on Saturdays and 10:30am to 10pm on Sundays. ATMs before and after security and in the arrivals hall give pounds or euros.
- Wi-Fi: free and unlimited throughout the terminal, once you register an email address.
- Into town: the DLR station is joined to the terminal by a lift. With 4 hours or more and the right paperwork, you could be riding the cable car over the Thames within the hour.