On the Road: Discover Europe’s Hidden Gems with Daytrip!

by Road Trips, Europe30 comments

A week ago, my friend and I were going to fly to Krakow in order to meet our friends from the Philippines. I wasn’t only looking forward to this meeting, but I was also looking forward to the fact that I would be visiting such an amazing city in Poland. While I was making plans on our itinerary though, I suddenly had the idea of hopping over to Budapest, Hungary afterward, given how it wasn’t too far off. (DayTrip)

Getting on a train was the obvious choice for us, but I started thinking: is there another way to get to Budapest without missing out on Slovakia — an equally mesmerizing country that is located in between?

…And that’s when Daytrip [website] stepped into the picture!

They invited us to experience their service and when they reached out to me about this, their timing was just simply impeccable. They were even the perfect ‘answer’ to my travel concern, and as I learned more about their brand, I realized how their overall business concept is pure genius.

Thanks to them, we embarked on a private car transfer from Krakow to Budapest along with an experienced local guide who took us to 2 awesome hidden gems in Slovakia along the way — “gems” of sights that would have been difficult to reach using traditional public transportation.

Simply put… we went on an epic road trip!

About DayTrip

Daytrip is a new travel platform in Europe that is the first of its kind, and since I am now based and traveling here in this continent, this might just be my new favorite travel service!

  • They offer transfers between cities via a private car!
    • As of this moment, they offer a vast array of routes between 6 European countries, and I assure you that they’re slowly adding more to their list. (Another popular route that they have is: Prague to Vienna, Berlin to Cesky Krumlov, etc.)
    • It’s a door-to-door service! This means that they can pick you up at your location, no matter where it could be (your hotel, apartment, etc.), and then the same would apply when dropping you off. With this, there’s no need for you to worry about connections between buses, trains, or cabs!
    • The whole journey can take fewer hours as compared to taking an express train and cab. For example, a trip from Krakow to Budapest with Daytrip will only take you around 6 hours whereas a train connection will take you about 10 hours!!!
    • Basically, you can experience a good ol’ “Eurotrip” without going through car rental problems (because dropping off a rental car in a different country than where you picked it up can be very costly). And so — Daytrip will arrange all the vehicular concerns, leaving you with nothing else to worry about. You’re even free to let them know of the kind of car that will best suit your needs; therefore, no matter if you’re a family traveling with children or if you have lots of luggage on tow, they can surely accommodate your requests.
      .
  • They give you the chance to stop by your chosen sights along the way!
    • The thing about express trains is that it does NOT give you the chance to stop or do a detour along the way, especially if there are great sightseeing options in between the cities that you are transiting to. So if you’re on a Eurotrip spree, such could be a waste! But NOT with Daytrip because you can customize your stops or itinerary.
    • They would also even suggest an array of stopovers that you can do in between cities, and they typically recommend the top 2 sights that you must see. (As a norm, 2 sightseeing stops is best; otherwise, if you simply aim to just take photos and not walk around, you can go to more stops).
      .
  • They give you an all-in-one driver and local tour guide!
    • What better way to get acquainted with the places you’re passing through than with a true-blue local, right? Our driver-slash-guide during our Krakow to Budapest route was Jan Prokop, and he was a joy to be with! He was very warm, fun, friendly, and above all: he was a fountain of information. We learned tons from him and we had several interesting discussions as we drove through Slovakia.
    • Rest assured, it is absolutely safe to travel with Daytrip because all their guides are strictly screened for any criminal and traffic records. They always do personal interviews and inspections not only regarding the drivers’ background and personality but also with their automobiles. Moreover, since they are locals, they know all the rules and routes of the roads!

How to Book a Trip

It’s insanely easy since their platform is very user-friendly! First off…

  1. Go to https://ondaytrip.com. Choose the cities that you plan to start in, and go to — and then click the button that says ‘Plan my trip’ (if you have a flexible travel plan, you can see all their available routes on this page).
Daytrip Website
  1. It will take you to a new page that lets you choose your stops or itinerary. It typically suggests the top 6 stopovers that you can do during your car transfer from point A to point B (with the topmost 2 stops highlighted with a red ribbon that says ‘Recommended‘.
    • It’s recommended that you pick at most 2 if you want ample time to explore those places. Rest assured, every time that you add a stopover to your Daytrip route, the website instantly recalculates the overall estimated time of travel and arrival, along with the final price.
Europe Routes
  1. Once you’re sure, click ‘Book this trip‘ and it will take you to the checkout page where you can enter your details, your pick-up, and drop-off points, etc.
    • If you need to cancel or reschedule your trip, just call or send Daytrip an email. They won’t charge a fee for cancellations as long as it is made at least 24 hours ahead of departure.
    • TIP: Use discount code AILEEN2016 to get €20 off the final price.
      – You can simply paste it into the “Additional notes & wishes” field when booking your trip.
      – The discount will be applied when it’s time to pay (after the trip). Valid until July 2016.
Daytrip Car Transfers

…and that’s it! See their website for yourself and do a mock booking and you will know why I’m saying that booking/planning a trip with Daytrip is as easy as pie.

My DayTrip Experience

I will be discussing every stop that we made along the way in separate posts on this blog and these articles should be up soon within days. Nevertheless, I’ll take this moment to divulge with you a quick overview of our awesome private transfer with Daytrip:

» 8:30AM — Krakow, Poland

Cloth Hall
Daytrip Krakow Tourism

Krakow was a wonder. It’s no surprise because it was Poland’s former royal capital after all! After our 2-night stay here, Jan picked us up at our agreed time from the AirBnB place that we rented in the city.

» READ: Top 10 FREE Things to Do in Krakow, Poland

» 11:40AM — Oravsky Podzamok, Slovakia

Oravsky Podzamok
Orava Castle

We arrived at our first stop which is a recommended sight by Daytrip, and I’m so glad that we followed their advice! The Orava Castle that’s perched on top of the hill overlooking the town was such a magnificent sight to see; and then, exploring its inner walls was even more of an interesting adventure in itself. We also had lunch here in a cozy restaurant as we tasted typical Slovak dishes!

» 14:30PM — Vlkolinec, Slovakia

Vlkolinec
Slovakia

2nd stop: a UNESCO World Heritage Site called as ‘Vlkolinec’. This village is listed as such primarily because of how it largely remains to be ‘untouched’ and I couldn’t agree more. As I stepped foot in this place, it made me feel like I was transported to a different timeline wherein life was so much simpler… To add, the traditional log houses present here combined with the snowscape made Vlkolinec even more mystifying to see!

» READ: Exploring Vlkolinec

» 19:00PM — Budapest, Hungary

Budapest

A great ‘end’ to our brief yet epic roadtrip, the magical city of Budapest! It was certainly very timely that we arrived here at night because the river side just simply looks breathtaking. Don’t you agree?

…If you want to see a brief minute video recap of our experience with Daytrip, come and watch my vlog below!

Overall

Daytrip truly offers a service that can give you MORE out of your trip in Europe. The price might be a concern though, but think about it — the added perks of transiting smoothly between places and of exploring off-the-beaten-path destinations (that you wouldn’t normally reach easily by public transportation) are things that can give you great value and great memories to boot!

Besides, if you were to do this yourself (renting your own car to get from Point A to Point B), it will definitely be eat away at your wallet. So save yourself from the extra costs and the unnecessary hassles by availing a Daytrip driver who will give you a private transfer service, a guided tour on stopovers, and a GREAT time!

TIP: Use discount code AILEEN2016 to get €20 off the final price.
– You can simply paste it into the “Additional notes & wishes” field when booking your trip.
– The discount will be applied when it’s time to pay (after the trip). Valid until July 2016.

DISCLAIMER: This was a sponsored trip that was made possible by Daytrip. But as always, all thoughts that are expressed in this article are fully my own. I was truly satisfied with their service

• • •

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Hey there! I am Aileen Adalid.
At 21, I quit my corporate job in the Philippines to pursue my dreams. Today, I am a successful digital nomad (online entrepreneur, travel writer, & vlogger) living a sustainable travel lifestyle.

My mission? To show you how it is absolutely possible to create a life of travel no matter the odds — and I will help you achieve that through my detailed travel hacks, guides, resources, tips, and MORE!

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30 Comments

  1. Carol Colborn

    This is great! This is how we would like to travel! No hassle. I will go to the site right now to plan our trips from Albarve, Portugal!

    Reply
    • Aileen

      That’s great to hear Carol! <3 You will love them!
      Take advantage of my promo code as well so you can enjoy EUR20 off. Enjoy!

      Reply
  2. Kelly

    Gorgeous pictures and what a great idea to use Daytrip. I love the door to door service and flexibility to stop where and when you want.

    Reply
    • Aileen

      I love that feature too; especially because if I rent my own car in Europe and do a point A to point B affair, the costs for the company to pick up the car on point B adds up a lot of fee for me so I’m glad Daytrip answers that problem. :D

      Reply
  3. Priya

    This is perfect timing, I was just planning our Vienna trip for November and was wondering if I could add other cities like Prague and onedaytrip would be a perfect for our family. Thanks for the tip!

    Reply
    • Aileen

      That’s awesome to hear Priya! Enjoy your Eurotrip ;) (and feel free to use the discount code in order to get EUR20 off on the price! I don’t get anything back but it’s just one of my gifts to my readers <3 Cheers!)

      Reply
  4. IamVagabond

    Beautiful images and great day trip ideas. I need to add more destinations to my Europe travels :)

    Reply
  5. vidya sudarsan

    Wow! What a lovely place! You have captured beautiful pictures and have also shared a ton of information on how to do plan day trips. I want to visit places like this one in Europe!

    Reply
    • Aileen

      Thank you Vidya! I bet you would love Europe, more so when you get to try out Daytrip’s service. :)

      Reply

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