The World's Best Duty-Free Scores (PHOTOS)

It used to be that buying a present for a loved one or your host at the airport meant you'd forgotten to do so beforehand. But duty-free shops are now retail destinations in their own right, offering coveted items at discounted prices and new things you actually can't get anywhere else. And we mean more than just that huge Toblerone and a bottle of perfume. What started in Ireland in the 1940s has exploded into a worldwide service of tax-free shopping for curious and savvy travelers.

Duty-free's specialty may be cosmetics, but the food and drink offerings have become reason enough to stop in on the way to the gate. Let's say you're passing through Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport with no time to actually make it to the flagship Ladurée shop. Pas de problem. Now you can buy those perfectly pastel-colored cookies at the airport. What if that friend you're visiting is a lover of all things whiskey? They probably don't have a bottle of The Glenlivet Master Distiller's Reserve, which is sold only in travel retail shops.

We all know someone who's fond of specially-designed collectible items. So, Absolut bottles would make the perfect gift -- particularly if they're only available in select airports, like Absolut Watkins and their newest Crystal Pinstripe bottle. Then, bringing a local specialty home as a present is always appreciated. Things like mole sauce from Mexico or maple syrup from Montreal are gifts any gastronome worth their salt would adore.

But when the unbridled joy of tax-free shopping wears off, travelers are inevitably left wondering: Am I really scoring that great of a deal? Well, we rounded up our favorite duty free finds, from specialty spirits to gourmet treats, whether they are travel retail exclusives or just great values. Because who doesn't love shopping during a long layover?

-Nicole Campoy-Leffler

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Comments

[valeskas]

05:22 AM on 09/25/2011

Duty free shops in Germany are higher priced, then buying in Germany with the taxes. The same here in the States and Canada.

[xoloitzcuintle]

11:21 AM on 09/22/2011

What? Haribo gummi bears didn't make the list?

[choppychop]

11:01 AM on 09/22/2011

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm scotch

[battlinbob]

10:09 AM on 09/22/2011

Duty free is a scam...

[poster1122]

02:37 PM on 09/22/2011

It depends on what you choose to buy. I did price checks on a few items and found you could get substantial savings from there. Things that are highly taxed (cigarettes and alcohol, in particular) were significantly cheaper there than in the US, for example. A friend of mine recently paid roughly half the costco price at duty free for some vodka and kahlua.