Have you heard of extreme day trips (EDTs)? Well, lots of us have been embracing budget short breaks for many years, but the last 12 months or so have seen a phenomenal rise in the popularity of the EDT. Read more about what they are, how to plan an EDT and how to get the best out of limited time in a new city

The idea of an EDT is to go there and back in a day (or so), so no overnighter required, usually on a strict budget as its just a day out but that is up to the individuals. This is a really fun way to see as many places as possible, depending on your own personal budgets and holiday allocation. There is a current trend emerging around the UK in different towns and cities for people going on EDTs and a number of popular Facebook groups have been set up with thousands of members all getting in on the action. I am well-travelled but I had never considered going there and back (on a plane) in a day until I saw my own Manchester EDT Facebook group pop up. Back when I joined in September 2024 it had about 10,000 members and today there’s round 206,000 people posting their trips and travel tips and it really is a lot of FUN.

The EDT is not for the faint hearted! It is absolutely knackering! I did my first EDT in early December to Alicante and it was actually amazing. I went with my eldest son (18) and we set off at 3am to get to a dark (budget) car park and walk 13 minutes to T3, but we were sat in the bar by 4am. We could not believe it. In all my years using T3 it was the first time we’d actually seen a lot of free seating in the bar lol and it felt a little weird drinking a pint at 4am, but hey ho, we did it and we loved it. The boarding queue for Alicante at 5am was very small and boarding was super quick and easy with just one person checking us in. The crew rearranged a few of us on the plane (this is common apparently if a flight is empty as they need to make sure if can take off, no, really!) and I ended up on the front row with extra legroom (thank you Ryanair!) and I was asleep by the time they’d finished the descent! We landed 2.5 hours later fresh as daises and ready to explore lovely Alicante. The Facebook group had provided a lot of info before I travelled such as which bus to get to the centre, where from, how much, where to get off and this is all great but as a real independent spirit I kind of felt a little but like the adventure was removed a bit but it helped save time (and stress) so we could enjoy as much of the city as possible in the short time we were there. We visited the castle first and it was completely awesome, we stayed up there for three hours and it was my favourite part of the trip as you have 360 views of the coastline and the surrounding areas. We were lucky weather wise as well and the day was beween 18-20 degrees, mainly blue skies. It was such an unexpected treat on December 2nd to feel sun on our faces.