Is it worth the extreme day trip?

Your alarm goes off at 3:40am. By mid-morning, you’re sipping a drink in a piazza bathed in sunshine, ready to start exploring. By midnight, you’re back in your own bed, reflecting on the exhilarating travel day you’ve had. And the best part? It’s all done in under 24 hours. Welcome to the era of the extreme day trip! Once viewed as ridiculous, more and more travellers are beginning to ask the question: can you meaningfully do a destination in only a single day? Well, I’m here to figure it out!

In its most basic sense, an extreme day trip (also known as an EDT) is a recent travel trend where someone takes an early morning flight to a different country or distant city, explores the destination for the day, and then flies back home on the same night. Fuelled by budget airlines and a societal-wide fear of wasting precious time off, the idea of an extreme day trip challenges everything we are told about slow travel and taking in the journey. Instead, you travel somewhere in under 24 hours and try to explore as much as physically possible in that time. An EDT is perfect for a destination within about 2 and a half hours - far away enough that you are far from home, but close enough that your day isn’t consumed by being in the air and travelling to and from the airport.

An EDT can also be cost effective. No hidden airline fees for checking your luggage (after all, you only need a handbag/backpack!), no accommodation fees, no overnight tourist tax. Your flights, food, public transport, and any souvenirs are all you need to part with your cash for. You can see the main city sights in a single day, and a metro card will be your best friend! In February 2024, I undertook an extreme day trip, to the Danish city of Copenhagen. My flight got into Copenhagen at 9am and got back into Manchester at 11:30pm. I compacted my trip into a single day and saw everything on my list.

However, I know this is not for everyone. The whole idea behind an EDT is that you cram everything into a single day, and you can end up running around like a headless chicken in pursuit of the next tourist attraction. Everything needs to be precise – a delayed flight can ruin the entire day. The flight also raises the carbon footprint question – is this a sustainable way of travelling? Whilst in pursuit of adventure, it is important to remain responsible. You also may find by the end of the day that there were things missed off your itinerary, that you simply could not get to because of time constraints. In my opinion, if you are an experienced traveller and a Type-A planner, go for it! But if you are prone to travel anxiety or seeking more of a relaxing getaway, maybe stick to a longer holiday!

So, what do you think? Get planning your extreme day trip!