Out at seven, back for dinner. The whole world is a day trip.
Which coach out of Munich actually gets you inside the castle. What the Krabi longtail boat costs once lunch is in. Whether Tuscany from Florence beats Pompeii from Rome when you have exactly one free day. Reviews of the day trips you can book, priced and timed.
How a day out actually runs
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06.45
Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day TripPick-up in the dark
from $94 -
10.15
Mostar and Kravica Waterfall Day TripOver a border by mid-morning
from $35 -
13.30
Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip with LunchLunch you did not have to find
from $58 -
18.40
Pompeii, Amalfi Coast and Positano Day Trip from RomeBack while the light holds
from $101
Four day trips that carry more travellers than anything else.
A windmill village, a black-sand coast, a walled port on the Atlantic and two castles in the Carpathians. What each one costs, how long it takes, and what the people who went say.
01Half a day, no driveZaanse Schans, Volendam & Marken Day TripWindmills, wooden houses and a cheese barn, ninety minutes out of Amsterdam and back before the canals fill up.
02The long oneSouth Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier TourTwo waterfalls, a black-sand beach and a glacier tongue in ten hours. Iceland compresses better than it looks on a map.
03Coast, not desertEssaouira Full-Day TripThe Atlantic port three hours west of Marrakesh. Blue boats, grilled sardines and wind, for the price of lunch at home.
04Two castles, one dayDracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brasov Old TownBran and Peles in the same twelve hours, with the Brasov old town squeezed in between. The Carpathians are closer to Bucharest than anyone expects.
Italy is the country that gives you the most for a single day out.
Nowhere else has this many good days out inside two hours of a city you were already sleeping in. Four kinds of Italian day, what each costs to board, and which base city it leaves from.
The best day out is often the one you reach by boat.
A longtail out of Krabi, a private launch on Como, a speedboat run to the Hong Islands, the Ouzoud falls with a punt across the pool at the bottom. Water days cost less than the coach days and come back with better photographs.
The day trips more travellers book than any others.
Every day trip we have reviewed →Eight days out that keep selling, across five continents, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Tuscany Day Trip from Florence: Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa and Lunch at a Winery
Review of a full-day Tuscany trip from Florence to Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, and a Chianti winery lunch with wine tasting.
From · $114 · 11 to 12h door to door
Read our review →
2
Zaanse Schans, Volendam & Marken Day Trip
from $34
3
Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
from $94
4
South Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier Tour
from $126
5
Dracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brasov Old Town
from $40
6
Pena Palace, Sintra, Cabo da Roca, & Cascais Daytrip
from $91
7
Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip with Lunch
from $58
8
Sorrento, Positano & Amalfi Coast – Small Group Tour
from $76
A day trip is the cheapest way to add a country to a trip.
Every day trip on the site, grouped by what one seat costs. Plenty of the best ones come in under the price of a decent dinner.
Village runs, waterfall days out of Marrakech, island boats in the Andaman, ruins an hour from the coast.
The full-day standards: Tuscany with a winery lunch, the Amalfi coast road, Neuschwanstein, the Icelandic south coast.
Private cars, small groups with a guide to yourselves, and the long-haul days that eat fourteen hours.
Six cities where the best day of the trip happens outside them.
A base city is only half of it. Rome reaches a buried town, Marrakesh reaches the Atlantic, London reaches a stone circle, Bucharest reaches the Carpathians. Pick where you sleep, then pick the day out.
Morocco runs the best cheap day out on earth.
Three hours west of Marrakesh the air changes and you are on the Atlantic eating sardines off a grill. Three hours north-east and there is a waterfall with a punt at the bottom of it. Twenty dollars, both of them.
Every Moroccan day trip →
A day trip is a ten-hour commitment. Read the clock before the price.
The commonest day out on this site runs ten hours, and a good number run twelve or fourteen. Pick-up is usually a central meeting point at first light, not your hotel door. Lunch is either included or it is a service station. And forty people on a coach is a different day from eight in a minibus, at almost the same price.
Three places that make no sense to stay in and every sense to visit.
Some sights have no town attached, or a town you would not want a second night in. They exist for the people who arrive at eleven and leave at four.
Waterfalls two borders away
The Kravica falls are in Bosnia, and the coach that reaches them leaves from a walled city in Croatia. That is the shape of a waterfall day: the water is never in the country you booked, the road is half the hours, and the swim at the bottom lasts forty minutes. Ouzoud does the same trick out of Marrakesh, and the Icelandic south coast stacks three of them into one drive.
- 1South Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 11,030 reviews
- 2Mostar and Kravica Waterfall Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 7,228 reviews
- 3Ouzoud Waterfalls Guided Day Trip with Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,995 reviews
Castles with no town
A castle was put where it was hard to reach, which is exactly why nobody lives near it now. Neuschwanstein sits above a village of car parks; Bran has a bus stop and a souvenir row. The interiors run on timed entry with a hard cap, so the difference between a good castle day and a wasted one is which ticket the operator actually holds.
- 1Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 14,646 reviews
- 2Dracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brasov Old Town★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 10,891 reviews
- 3Pena Palace, Sintra, Cabo da Roca, & Cascais Daytrip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 9,981 reviews
Ruins off the beach road
Ruins survive where cities failed, so they are almost always inland from wherever the hotels went. Volubilis is an hour from Fes, Abu Simbel a flight and a drive from Aswan, Pompeii a commuter train from Naples. Go early: there is no shade in a ruined city, and the ground holds the heat until dark.
- 1Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath, and Roman Baths Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,131 reviews
- 2Abu Simbel Temple Day Trip with Hotel Pickup★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 2,807 reviews
- 3Volubilis Roman Ruins, Mouly Idriss, & Meknes Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,375 reviews
Four day trips that will not wait for you to arrive.
Most of a trip can be arranged the night before over a beer. These four run on capped tickets, permits and timed slots that were sold weeks ago, and the coach seat is the easy part.
- 01Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day TripThe castle interior runs on timed slots with a daily cap. The coach out of Munich is easy; the slot inside is what sells out.
- 02Granada Full-Day Trip with AlhambraGranada caps daily entry and stamps a half-hour window on the Nasrid Palaces. In season the good windows are gone weeks ahead.
- 03Machu Picchu Day Trip from CuscoEntry is a permit with a daily ceiling and a fixed circuit, sold by date. Turning up and buying one at the gate is not a thing that happens.
- 04Cinque Terre Day Trip with Optional Hiking or PisaThe coast path between the villages runs on a park card and shuts after heavy rain. Trains keep running; the walk is the part that closes.
By the city you sleep in tonight
The newest day trips on the site.
Carry on through the new arrivals →
Loire Valley Royal Castles Guided Small group Day Trip from Paris
Read our review →
Small-Group Grampians Great Wildlife Escape Day Trip with Hiking
Read our review →
Bosnia Day Trip: Mostar and Kravice Waterfalls by Luxury Minibus
Read our review →
Full-Day Trip Barcelona to Montserrat Monastery & Cava Winery
Read our review →
Niagara Falls: Canadian Side Day Trip with Maid of The Mist
Read our review →
Big Island: Volcanoes, Waterfalls, & Coffee Farm Day-Trip
Read our review →
Zermatt & Mt. Gornergrat Small Group Day Trip from Zürich
Read our review →
Day Trip to Lucerne and Mount Stanserhorn Including CabriO Cable Car Ride
Read our review →
Bern Small-Group Day Trip from Zurich Including Cheese Tasting
Read our review →
Venice Day Trip from Rome by High-Speed Train with Happy Hour
Read our review →