Skip to content
Open Travel Guide

Day Trips guides

Day trip guides for every base

Where to go for a day from each destination, and how far is realistically worth travelling for one.

A good day trip is defined by the return journey. The outbound leg is usually easy to plan and the homeward one is where trips fail: a last bus that leaves before dinner, a ferry that stops running in the shoulder season, or a rural service that does not run on Sundays. Establish the last realistic departure before deciding anything else, then work backwards from it.

Distance is a poor proxy for effort. Ninety minutes on a fast train covers ground that a mountain road takes half a day to cross, and a place that looks close on a map may involve two changes and a wait between them. As a rule of thumb, anything beyond about two hours each way leaves too little time on the ground unless the journey itself is the attraction. Where several sights lie in one direction, a loop is usually more efficient than repeated out-and-back trips.

Compare the options honestly. Self-drive gives flexibility but adds parking, tolls and fuel; organised tours remove the logistics but fix the pace and often the stops; public transport is cheapest and most constrained. Small towns frequently close on a particular weekday and empty out at lunchtime, so check market days and opening patterns rather than assuming a walkable centre will be busy when you arrive.

Day Trips guides by destination

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua And Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

North Korea

North Macedonia

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Kitts And Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

Sao Tome And Principe

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Taiwan

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Timor Leste

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad And Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Vatican City

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe