Where can I go on a day trip abroad?

[AngelicaSchuylerAndHerSisters]

I want to surprise DP with flying abroad for a day trip for his 50th in the autumn. Has anyone done this? I don’t fancy Paris since we’ve each been there a few times. He has been to Amsterdam several times too. But is there anywhere else with enough flights to make this possible? We could possibly do one night there if there’s no other way to do it, but we each have kids to consider. Years ago I did a day trip to Salzburg which was lovely.

Any thoughts on the environmental pollution caused by NYE fireworks? link is upthread if you want a read.

Again with the weird whatabouttery, as though people aren’t capable of being concerned about multiple issues simultaneously….

In any event, the environmental impact is absolutely relevant on a thread like this one.

What about this 5 hour luxury train trip op?
with a seven course lunch?

https://www.luxurytraintickets.com/northern-belle/west-highland-lunch

I've done Dublin in a day for DH birthday. Brilliant day. Breakfast on Grafton St, lunch in Greystones, a pint in Finnegans on the way back to the airport. Loved it.

Really intrigued how you could manage a day trip that was so short that no childcare is needed- would you not basically be leaving crack of dawn and back very late?

How about Bergen? I saw it on an old episode of Shetland the other day and it looked lovely.

It looks like the timing of flights to Copenhagen could work for a day from Edinburgh, weather may not be amazing though in Autumn.

Prague is only 1-2 hours ish .

Would you consider going to Brussels/Bruge for a day? Bruge Ghent are lovely towns.

Two hours 15 from Edinburgh.

I did a day trip to Vienna back in the 90s. Lovely awayday - but a tip not to go on a Monday as the museums were closed ... so it meant that I spent part of my day in the hotel Sacher eating my weight in Sacher-torte

When are you thinking of going?

Do you have a hot/cold preference?

You could go Nordic - Copenhagen, Oslo, Reykjavik, Stockholm, Helsinki - but pretty cold right now.

You could try Barcelona, Madrid, Venice, Prague. Budapest, Dublin, Bruges

Reykjavik. Fantastic scenery flying in and only two hours to get there from Edinburgh.

Does it have to be abroad? Newquay is about 1.5 hours from Glasgow / Edinburgh.

Are you sure you can just go for a day? Our local airport just flies back in the same plane that flew out so you couldn't come back on the same day unless you didn't get off the plane. Plus it seems a bit wasteful to go all that way and with Al the airport hassle/potential delays

Brussels (fly to the more central airport), Nuremberg, Munich, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Lisbon, Budapest, Rome, Dublin. Somewhere that’s close to the airport. I’d stay overnight though if you could, it would be more enjoyable than rushing back to the airport.

No it isn't a big yawn to highlight the impact of doing 2 flights in 1 day for someone's birthday ffs. There are loads of experiences that don't wreck the environment. It just sets a destructive trend and well done to @PamelaParis for speaking the truth.

The actual purpose of this madness is the bragging rights that can be milked on social media with streams of the photos showing how right-on you are for jetting out and back in a day, even if you only get an hour in a local restaurant (and the obligatory food on plate photo for Fakebook). Pathetic.

Environmentally this is madness an an example of why as a species we are so f**ked.
Factor in delays, all the queuing at the airport. Take a train and explore a city in the Uk you've never been to. If you're already in Europe you can take night trains to lots of cities.

Could you really be arsed for a day? Factor in check in, flight time etc it seems a massive waste of time.

We go to France a lot for a day trip but we live 30 mins from the tunnel so can be there in around 90 mins, I appreciate that doesn't help you though!

Belfast is an excellent day out, not sure if that counts as abroad though.

If you can do a night away it will be a lot nicer!

Thank you for all the suggestions. Hadn’t thought of Dublin which is an excellent suggestion. I’ll also look at ferries to NI which I think we can do from Stanraer. I’ll look at Denmark and Sweden too.

Not flying but how about Ghent with Eurostar? It’s the underdog but a great city. Or you could try Tallinn. We did it for one night years ago. It’s a small city but it’s unusual.

The other thing to think about is you would need to leave so early for a day trip that your baby sitters would need to be there the night before anyway, so maybe a late night flight somewhere then evening flight back would be a better option and give you the full day for exploring.

The only person that i know who tired to do this got caught on a broken down Metro train and missed their return flight home from Paris! It made the childcare situation very awkward! I think it’s more doable from the SE using Eurostar.

Rather than spending so much time out of the day travelling, why not have a luxurious day closer to home doing things that you wouldn’t ordinarily do?

I did a day trip to Brugge by coach but it was from London. Why not do a day trip to London?

Belfast is lovely

Or check out where you can go with loganair