How to book an extreme day trip

There’s a new trend that seems to be all over my social media feeds at the moment, and that is extreme day trips. Creators, and non creators, book early morning outbound flights and late night return flights on the same day, and spend just one day at their destination. I’ve seen people doing extreme day trips to all sorts of places and I personally think they can be a great way to see a bit of a city quickly. Lots of people don’t know how to go about it though, and I can help. So, lets get into how to book an extreme day trip!

There are facebook groups, usually called ‘extreme day trip-your local airport name’ devoted to extreme day trips. Posters often ask for people to find them a day trip, and they’re quickly told that they are just as capable of finding a trip for themselves. No one in the groups (or the travel blogger/creator world) has access to information you don’t, so if you do like the idea of trying one, you’ll need to understand how to book an extreme day trip, and this post should help you out.

What do I need to think about when I’m looking for an extreme day trip?

Everyone’s criteria for a successful extreme day trip is different, but generally speaking there are some questions you’ll want to ask yourself;

How long are you willing to be on a plane? Is it too much to fly for 4 hours each way to spend 8 hours somewhere? For me it is, for you it might not be.

How long do you need to spend in the destination? I don’t want to go through the hassle of airport parking, security, boarding a flight to only have enough time for a quick meal in a city, so I would only consider a trip that gives me 8-10 hours in the city. You may be happy to whizz over to Paris, have lunch, shop for an hour or two then come home, and that’s totally fine.

How much can you afford to spend on a one day trip? Everyone’s budget is different and if you’re cash rich and time poor, you might be happy to spend more than someone who can be more flexible about when they fly, but don’t have much spare cash. Decide on what is a sensible budget for you before you look into an extreme day trip.

How early and late are you willing to travel? If you are a person who can’t get out of bed before 9am, and has to be in bed by 10pm or the world might end (hello Mum!) I’m sorry to say that an extreme day trip may not be for you. Or, you may want a one hour flight and five hours in a city, rather than a full day.

How easy is it to get from the airport into the city, and back? This again is personal choice, but for me I’d only consider an extreme day trip with a direct train or bus straight into the city. Amsterdam, Oslo, Belfast, Dublin, Copenhagen, Porto, Riga and Paris are all places I’ve been to where I know the public transport is quick and easy, so I’d consider these first when looking at extreme day trips.

Once you’ve thought about your answer to all these questions, it’s time to start looking for your extreme day trip. It can feel like a bit of a tricky task but don’t worry, I’m here to tell you exactly how to find an extreme day trip, step by step.

How do I find an extreme day trip?

First of all, you’re going to want to start with Skyscanner to find flights that work.I select my nearest airport, the date I’m free and the number of seats I want, making sure to put the same date in for my return flight. Skyscanner then shows me my options.

Using Saturday 8th March as an example, (this will obviously be quickly out of date, so take this as a step by step guide, not a list of trips you could book!) my options are varied but let’s take the first two from the search results for this guide. I can decide to look at France, or go for Spain. Let’s have a look at the choices to see which would work for a day trip.

There are flights to Grenoble for £66. This sounds great, but the times mean you’d get off the plane and need to be getting ready to get back on, so this isn’t really an extreme day trip option, unless you have a burning desire to just be on a plane and eat airport food. No shade if you do!

Chambéry-le-Vieux is another option. The flights look much better for this one, with a 6:10am outbound flight and a 20:10 return. Allowing about an hour to get through the airport, and an hour and a half or so coming back, this would give you about eight hours in France. The cost, however, is likely not worth it, at £280 return for one person. I also know nothing about Chambéry-le-Vieux, are there things to do there that I’m interested in? I’d need to do more research on this one.

Paris is a very good suggestion for an extreme day trip as the flight times allow for a decent chunk of time in France, with nine or ten hours in the city. At £167, this is the cheapest option with enough time in the destination that we’ve found so far, and I know there’s plenty to do in Paris, no matter what you like. With the time you’d have in the city, you could have breakfast from a patisserie, a fancy hot chocolate mid morning, then go for a walk along the Seine. Your afternoon could be shopping, a tasty brunch, a museum visit and then an early tea before your bus back to the airport. They do say Paris is always a good idea….

I’m not going to fill this post full of a million different options because, to be honest, flights change all the time, so you just need to know HOW to look at your local airport, and once you do you’ll see the options open to you.

I’ve chosen my destination, now what?

Once you think you have the perfect option, don’t book the flights just yet. You’ll want to check how to get from the airport into the city (I use Rome2Rio for transport options) and make sure it’s both affordable and quick enough. No point booking what seems like a perfect flight if the airport is 2 hours out of the city, which is rare but can happen. For me, if the city is within about an hour and public transport is £10-£20 max, it’s a good option. Again, this may be different for you.

After making sure the city is still a sensible choice, have a think about how you want to spend your day. Do you want to visit museums? Art galleries? Go shopping? Eat local food? All of the above? It’s worth pricing up how much the things you really want to do will cost you, or that bargain trip can be £150 more once you factor in a couple of tickets, a fancy meal and those must have souvenirs. Personally, I need an extreme day trip to come in at under £150 to be worth it, but it’s totally personal preference.

What else do I need to know?

You’re going to want to book both your outbound and return flight on the same booking, because if they’re seperate and your outbound is cancelled, they will assume you still need the return and you won’t get a refund. If they’re on the same booking and the outbound is cancelled, you’ll get both refunded.

You WILL need travel insurance, accidents can still happen on day trips.

You WON’T need a suitcase, or to pack a large amount of stuff. I take my small handbag with my keys, phone, purse, camera, sunglasses and the medication I need for a day. Don’t forget suncream if you’re going to a hot country. I also take a large tote bag which folds inside my small bag, and I use the tote for hand luggage on the way home, putting my smaller bag inside it, if I’ve bought things.

You CAN buy duty free if you’re going outside of the UK, so if you like to take advantage of that, enjoy.

You MAY need an e-sim (I use Airalo, you can use my referral code LAURA50295 for some free credit) for your phone to work abroad, so check in advance if your phone working is important to you. Remember you can download a map of the city to work offline if needed.

If this post has inspired you to look into extreme day trips, let me know where you’re booking!