What is an Extreme Day Trip?
An extreme day trip is one where you find an outgoing flight in the morning and a return flight later on that same day. It can be a lot to plan and organise as you want to maximise your time but being based in the UK we have many options to some great destinations around us that are completely achieveable in one day. Typically the flights you are looking for will often be the cheapest flight of the day too, so the cost of return trip can be as much (or even cheaper) as a train journey to London for the day.
Using sites like Skyscanner allows you to easily search for the cheapest flights to then book with the appropriate operator.
Destination: Dublin
This was my first time trying an extreme day trip so Dublin felt like the perfect destination as the flights are short and cheap. I found flights on Skyscanner for about £33 return flying from Luton with Ryanair. The departure time was 5:55am, landing in Dublin at 7:10am and the return time was 20:45pm, landing in Luton at 22:00pm.
Getting around Dublin
On arrival to Dublin airport, the easiest and cheapest way to get into the city is to take the bus. There are a couple of options, we took the Dublin Express, with the stand to buy your ticket is located just outside the main doors and on your left. A return ticket costs around €6.
There’s also a public yellow bus (number 16 or 41) which you find in zone 15 and currently costs €2.60.
There a multiple drop off and collection points.
Once in the city, you can easily wander around on foot. Or you can use the public tram service and of course you’ll find a hop on hop off bus service too.
Dublin Itinarary
Whenever I visit a new place I tend to simply wander around and see where the day takes me. Though the one thing that was booked in advance was the Guiness Storehouse Tour..
First things first was finding somewhere to have an Irish breakfast! As we arrived quite early into the city not alot of places were yet open so in hindsight we could have gotten a slightly later flight to Dublin.
Some of the things you can see in Dublin:
- Christ Church Cathedral
- St Patricks Cathedral
- Walk across the Ha’penny Bridge
- Dublin Castle
- Trinity College & The Book of Kells
- Kilmainham Gaol
- St Stephens Green Park
- Anne’s Lane Umbrellas
- Guiness Storehouse
- St James Distillery
- National Botanic Gardens
- Dublin Zoo
- National Leprechaun Museum
Of course not all these things are achieveable in one day and for some of them it is adviseable to book your tickets ahead of arriving.
If you were really organised, you could hire a car and venture outside the city and see what else Ireland has to offer. The opportunites are endless.
Overall we had a great day out in Dublin, travelling and sight-seeing in one day is exhausting but it was a good first EDT to experience and gives great confidence in venturing a little further afield.
Have you ever done an Extreme Day Trip? Where did you go or where do you want to go?
