Updated: 15 September 2026
How to find Cheap Flights for an Extreme Day Trip
Following on from our recent post on where to visit for an Extreme Day Trip , this article shows you how to find cheap flights that will not break the bank. Â
An Extreme Day Trip (EDT) involves flying abroad and returning home on the same day, giving you a day in another city without paying for a hotel. When searching for an EDT destination, most important thing is to find a place where you can fly to from your preferred airport that has more than one flight a day – which will allow you to fly out in the morning and return home later on.Â
Of course this is not so much of an issue if you live near Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick but you will have a lot more limited choice of destinations if you are looking at flying from somewhere like Cardiff or Teesside. If you are outside of London or Manchester, it is likely that you will have a more limited selection of destinations to visit.
So onto finding some deals – Google Flights is an excellent resource for finding flight availability for Extreme Day Trips but it works in slightly different ways depending on you knowing your destination and being flexible on dates or if you have a fixed date in mind but are open minded on where you go.
How to find cheap Extreme Day Trip flights when you know your destination but flexible on dates
- Go to Google Flights and put your departure and destination airports in (note that you can do more than one destination at the same time). Â
- Pick a departure date and also choose same date for the return flight (don’t worry about which date you use, you will change this later anyway)
- Click search
- On the next page, click on the Stops filter and select Non-stop only
- Then click on the Times filter, move the slider to select an outbound arrival time of no later than 11:00 and a return departure time of no earlier than 19:00
- If required at any time during the process, use the price filter to select a maximum amount that you want to pay
- Now click on the departure date and you will see the lowest day return flight prices for the destination(s) you have chosen and the times you selected. Click the forwards and backwards arrows to see prices for every day in the adjacent months.
- If you see a date and price combination that may work for you select the date as both the departure and return dates and you will see the departure flight times and the price of a return flight. There may be more than one outbound flight to choose from but select the departure flight you want and on the following page choose the return flight
- You cannot book directly with Google Flights but you will see a variety of choices under booking options. My recommendation is to always book your flight only travel directly with the airline as if flight times change or there is an issue, the airline may refuse to deal with you and insist you speak to the travel agent who you originally booked with.Â
How to find an Extreme Day Trip when you have fixed dates but flexible on destination
- Go to Google Flights, put in your preferred departure airport and in the destination make sure it says Anywhere
- Select your desired date (make sure it is the same one for both the departure and return flight)
- Click Explore, a map should appear showing a range of locations. Â
- Then click on All filters and select the following:
- Stops: Non-stop only
- Travel Type: Flights Only
- Times outbound: arrival to no later than 11:00
- Times inbound: departure to no earlier than 19:00
- Depending on your budget, you can also use the price filter to set the maximum you want to pay
- The map will refresh as you select the different filters. You may need to move the map around and zoom in to see the different options.Â
- When you have found a destination and price combination that may work for you click View flight. There may be more than one outbound flight to choose from but select the departure flight you want and on the following page choose the return flight
- You cannot book directly with Google Flights but you will see a variety of sites to book with under booking options. My recommendation is generally to book your flight-only travel directly with the airline as if flight times change or there is an issue, the airline may refuse to deal with you and insist you speak to the travel agent who you originally booked with.Â
Tips for booking cheap Extreme Day Trip flights
Google Flights is a pretty powerful tool so spend some time playing around with it to get an idea of prices and potential destinations.  One thing to remember of course is that not all airports have multiple daily flights to the same destination so if you are looking at a trip to a specific place, you need to work out which days of the week they fly to. Â
When choosing your flights, it is important to make sure you have enough time in the city to enjoy your day – you need to allow time to travel from airport into the centre (and back) and also remember you need to be at the airport in good time for your return journey.
Finally, as you are flying there and back in the same day, there is a small risk that the outbound flight might be delayed which could limit the time you have in your destination and spoil your plans. For this reason, I would recommend you think carefully about how much you are willing to spend on the flight – I would say £100 tops but everyone will have their own view.
Further Reading
- You can redeem Avios for reward flights on Loganair or Vueling or alternatively British Airways (and BA partners) which can be a good option if cash prices are high
- If you are going on an Extreme Day Trip, make sure you get a (free) GHIC card
