One spare day. Pick the right way out of town.
Which minibus out of Marrakech actually reaches the Atlas passes. What the Amalfi boat costs from Sorrento. Whether Auschwitz or the Tatras is the better Krakow day. Reviews of the day trips you can book from 131 countries.
Four day trips that people book before they book the hotel.
Tuscany out of Florence, the windmills out of Amsterdam, the south coast out of Reykjavik, the kasbah road out of Marrakech. What each costs and how long you are actually out for.
01The Tuscan oneTuscany Day Trip from Florence: Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa and Lunch at a WinerySiena, San Gimignano and Pisa in one loop, with lunch at a winery on the way back. The most booked day out on the site by a wide margin.
02The Dutch oneZaanse Schans, Volendam & Marken Day TripWindmills, a cheese farm and two harbour villages, all within an hour of Amsterdam Centraal. Short enough to leave the evening free.
03The Iceland oneSouth Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier TourTwo waterfalls, a black beach and a glacier tongue along Route 1. Winter runs it in the dark at both ends, which is the point.
04The Morocco oneDay Trip to Ouarzazate and Ait BenhaddouOver the Tizi n Tichka pass to Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate. Eleven hours door to door, and nobody regrets it.
Six cities people fly into, and the day trips that get them out again.
The day trip you want is decided by the station you are near. Rome for Pompeii, Paris for the Loire, Marrakech for the mountains, London for the stones, Florence for the vines, Naples for the coast.
Italy runs the best day trips in the world, and three of them are not Rome.
Nowhere else packs a coastline, a wine region and a dead Roman city inside ninety minutes of a station. Three kinds of Italian day out, what it costs to get on each, and where to catch it.
The day trips more travellers take than any others.
The whole catalogue, best first →Eight departures with more traveller reviews behind them than anything else on the site, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
Spend about 10.5 hours visiting Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle from Munich. Guides such as Faizan, Hanae, Johnny, and Dimitri have helped make the long day clear and entertaining. Your coach handles the mountain roads, tickets can be arranged onboard, and you get time for lunch, photos, and the famous Marienbrücke view.
From · $94
Read our review →
2
Dracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brasov Old Town
from $40
3
Pena Palace, Sintra, Cabo da Roca, & Cascais Daytrip
from $91
4
Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip with Lunch
from $58
5
Sorrento, Positano & Amalfi Coast – Small Group Tour
from $76
6
Cinque Terre Day Trip with Optional Hiking or Pisa
from $66
7
Guided Day Trip to Bruges and Ghent
from $55
8
Cape Sounion & Poseidon Temple Sunset Half-Day Trip
from $23
The day trips where the coach stops and a boat takes over.
Longtails out of Krabi, a launch across Como, a catamaran round the Dalmatian islands, a speedboat to the Blue Grotto. These are the days you swim at lunchtime and are back on dry land by six.
A day trip is mostly hours on the road. Count them first.
The advertised sight is rarely the problem. The pickup is at 6.45am from a hotel that is not yours, the drive is three hours each way, and lunch is either included or a service station. Sort the day by how long you are prepared to be in a seat, then by who you are sharing it with.
- 1Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Tripfrom $94
- 2Essaouira Full-Day Tripfrom $20
- 3Blue Mountains Full-Day Tripfrom $148
What a day trip costs, from a bus seat to a private driver.
Every day trip on the site, grouped by the price of a seat. A surprising number of the best ones cost less than the taxi to the airport.
Coach seats, shared minibuses and the short hops from a coastal base.
The standard full day: pickup, a guide, two or three stops and lunch.
Private cars, small groups capped at eight, and the flights-included outliers.
Three days out that only work because somebody else drives.
Some places are a nuisance to reach alone and a pleasure to be driven to. A desert with no road signs, an ice cap with a permit, and a mountain railway with a timetable you will not beat in a hire car.
The Agafay and the Atlas
An hour out of Marrakech the ground turns to grey stone desert, and two hours further the Tizi n Tichka pass drops you into the Draa valley. There is no public transport that does this in a day, the switchbacks are not a first hire car, and the drivers know which kasbah cafes are still open in February. The camel section is optional, and shorter than the photographs suggest.
- 1Atlas Mountains Day Trip with Camel Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 4,709 reviews
- 2Marrakech Day Trip with Camel Ride from Casablanca★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 740 reviews
- 3Agafay Desert & Berber villages & Atlas Mountains, Full Day Trip From Marrakech★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 545 reviews
Ice caves and the aurora
Glacier tongues move, so the cave that existed in November has gone by March, and the entrance is found each week by guides who walk it. Aurora chasing is the same problem in the dark: the sky over Reykjavik is useless and the clear patch is two hours inland. Both are sold as evening or full-day runs, and both are weather calls made at 3pm.
- 1South Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 11,030 reviews
- 2Reindeer Sled, Dinner, and Chance of Northern Lights★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,651 reviews
- 3Golden Circle and Glacier Snowmobiling Day Trip from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,328 reviews
Mountain railways and cable cars
The Bernina climbs from palm trees to snow in two hours, the Jungfrau cogwheel tops out at 3,454 metres, and the Titlis cabin turns while it crosses the glacier. The ticket is the day. Booked as a trip it comes with the seat reservation, the connecting coach and somebody who knows which side of the carriage the view is on.
- 1Bernina Train and St. Moritz Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,495 reviews
- 2Salzburg Sightseeing Day Trip from Munich by Rail★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,125 reviews
- 3Damnoen Saduak, Train Market & Mahanakhon Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,162 reviews
Four day trips that run on somebody else’s timetable.
Most of this you can arrange the night before at a hotel desk. These four are governed by timed entry slots, a railway timetable and a closing day, none of which care when your flight lands.
- 01Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day TripThe interior is only seen on a timed guided tour, and each slot has a cap. Turn up without one and you photograph the outside.
- 02Taj Mahal & Agra Private Day Trip with TransfersShut to visitors every Friday. The sunrise slot is the only one that is both cool and quiet, and it sells out first.
- 03Day Trip to Jungfraujoch – Top of EuropeThe cogwheel railway runs to a fixed timetable and summit entry is time-slotted. Miss the window and the next one is an hour.
- 04Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, and Sorrento Day TripEntry is timed and last admission is well before the gates close. In summer the afternoon slots go first.
Marrakech is the best day trip base in Africa. Here is why.
Four hours gets you a Berber village in the High Atlas, a waterfall with mint tea at the bottom, a walled Atlantic port with a fish market, or a film-set kasbah on the far side of the pass. Nothing else in the country is this well served, and the prices are the lowest on the site.
Every Moroccan day trip →
By the city you wake up in
By the kind of day you want out of it
Five Italian bases, and the day trip each one is really for.
Sorrento
VeniceDay trips written up in the last few days.
More of this week’s write-ups →
Day Trips from Agadir to Marrakech with Amazing guide
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“Discover Hahndorf: Wine, Cheese, Beer, Shops & Lunch Day Trip”
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Day Trip From Addis Ababa See Historical Monastery,Stunning Nature,Animals,Birds
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Murray River Day Trip from Adelaide Including Lunch Cruise aboard the Proud Mary
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Canyoning Half-Day Trip at Keltneyburn from Aberfeldy
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Day Trip From Addis Ababa To Debre Libanos & Portuguese Bridge
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Plovdiv: Valley of the Thracian Kings Guided Day Trip
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Barossa and Hahndorf Day Trip from Adelaide Including Wine Tasting and Lunch
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