Parking Calculator

Airport parking scales with your trip. A taxi does not

Every parking option charges by the day, so the cost grows with the length of the trip. A taxi charges once each way regardless. That difference means the cheapest way to reach the airport inverts somewhere in the middle of a normal holiday — and most people pick once and never revisit it.

How it works

• Multiplies the daily parking rate by the length of the trip, including both travel days.
• Compares that against fixed-cost alternatives that do not scale — taxi, transit, or a lift from someone.
• Finds the crossover, which is the only number that actually decides the choice.

parking = daily rate × days (arrival and return days both count)
taxi or transit = fixed cost, independent of trip length

crossover days = fixed cost ÷ daily parking rate

Worked example

On-site parking at 18 a day, off-site with shuttle at 9, a taxi at 60 return and public transport at 16 return.

1. 2 days — on-site 36, off-site 18, taxi 60
2. 4 days — on-site 72, off-site 36, taxi 60
3. 7 days — on-site 126, off-site 63, taxi 60
4. 14 days — on-site 252, off-site 126, taxi 60

A taxi overtakes on-site parking after 3.3 days and off-site after 6.7. On a fortnight away, parking on site costs 252 against 60 for a taxi — 192 spent for the convenience of leaving the car at the terminal.

Reading the result

• Count both travel days. A trip leaving Friday and returning the following Sunday is nine parking days, not seven, and that framing error is what makes on-site parking look survivable.
• Public transport at a fixed 16 return is cheapest at every duration here, and it is the option people discard first. It is worth checking whether the schedule genuinely fails or merely requires leaving earlier.
• Booking parking in advance is typically a third cheaper than arriving unbooked, and the on-the-day rate at a terminal is the most expensive number in this whole calculation. Turning up without a booking is the costly default.
• Off-site is cheaper because you pay it in time. A shuttle adds fifteen to thirty minutes each way, which matters for a short trip and disappears into the noise on a long one — conveniently, the same direction the money runs.

Common questions

When is driving and parking actually right?

Short trips, awkward hours, or several people travelling together. Below about three days on-site parking competes, and a taxi fare that splits four ways changes the comparison entirely — the crossover is per journey, not per person.

Is off-site parking worth the shuttle?

On anything beyond a couple of days, usually. It halves the daily rate here, and the shuttle time is fixed while the saving grows with every day — so the longer the trip, the more clearly it wins.