After spending hours on a flight, the last thing you want is to waste precious holiday hours on a shuttle bus — especially if you’ve nipped over to the continent for a quick weekend break.
In recent years, ‘extreme day trips’ have taken off in the UK. This involves catching an early morning flight to short-haul destinations and returning on the same day.
But with travellers spending so little time exploring destinations, getting there as fast as possible is more important than ever.
Travel website Extreme Day Trips recently revealed airports that are closest to the cities they serve. Metro has crunched the numbers to see exactly how long each transfer takes, and what other public transport is available, so you don’t waste any time on your next short-haul break.
Gibraltar Airport
Distance from city centre: 1.4km
Cost for transfer: £1.60
Gibraltar Airport takes the crown as the closest airport to the city it serves, just 1.4km away from the city centre.
Citibus transfers travellers to and from the airport in just five minutes, at a cost of £1.60 for a single journey.
Alternatively, if you’re light on luggage you can walk from the airport into the centre of Gibraltar — it should only take 15 minutes, and includes crossing the airport’s runway.
Gibraltar is popular with British tourists (92.8% of all departures by air from Gibraltar were UK nationals in 2022), and is best known for the Rock of Gibraltar, a massive limestone formation that rises almost 1,400 feet above sea level.
The region is easy to get around, thanks to the Citibus network.
Close to stops along its routes tourists can find Gibraltar Museum, Alameda Botanical Gardens, Ocean Village and the Gibraltar Cable Car, which takes passengers up the Rock of Gibraltar.
A Hopper Ticket, which allows unlimited travel on the day of purchase, costs £6, while multi-journey tickets cost £10 for 10 trips.
Pisa Aiport, Italy
Distance from city centre: 1.5km
Cost for transfer: €6.50
Pisa Centrale, the city’s main railway station, is just 1.5km away from the airport, but the historic centre where most people want to visit is closer to 3km distance.
The Pisamover is the easiest way to get into the city, shuttling people between the airport and the central railway station in just five minutes.
Tickets cost €6.50 one way and the service is available every day from 6am to midnight.
11 hours in Pisa
Journalist Alexandra Meyer spent 11 hours in Pisa in December 2024.
In total, including a £215.24 return flight, Alexandra and her friends spent £273.33 on travel and food.
Despite getting caught in a storm and missing out on some tours due to not booking tickets in advance, she says she had a blast.
‘It’s not something I could do regularly, the exhaustion lasted for days, but we loved it,’ she said. Read about her Italian adventure here.
Once in the city, tourists can visit the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, a 24-minute walk or 14-minute bus journey from Pisa Centrale, and explore historic buildings such as Duomo di Pisa and Battistero di San Giovanni.
Pisa is a relatively small city, making it easy to get around. The train station connects it to other major hubs in Italy, thanks to Italy’s extensive and efficient rail network.
Corfu Airport, Greece
Distance from city centre: 3.5km
Cost for transfer: €10
Corfu Town, the capital of the Greek Island of Corfu, is just a 10-minute drive from its international airport.
The Line 15 bus takes 20 minutes to travel between the airport and the town, but only runs once an hour.
If you’re not renting a car, you’re best off taking a taxi or booking a private transfer in advance. According to the Corfu Airport’s website, the cost of a taxi to the centre is around €10.
Once settled in, visitors can wander the cobbled streets of the Venetian-style Old Town or hike to the Old Fortress for panoramic views.
There are no trains on the island, but tourists can get around Corfu on the bus network.
However, to access the best beaches in the region, visitors are best off hiring a car to navigate the remote roads.
Tallinn Airport, Estonia
Distance from city centre: 4km
Cost for transfer: €2
Less than 5km from the centre, the Number 2 bus connects Tallinn Airport with the Estonian capital.
The journey takes just 15 minutes. Services start around 5am and finish at 20 past midnight, with a single trip costing just €2.
Once in the city, the bus and tram network make it easy to get around.
There are various ticket options, but a Tallinn Card includes free entry to museums and other tourist spots. Tickets can be purchased for a 24, 48 or 72-hour period, with prices ranging from €27 to €78.
Top attractions included in the ticket are St. Olav’s Church and viewing platform, the Estonian History Museum, Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn TV Tower, the old KGB Prison Cells and, the most popular attraction among Tallinn Card holders, Seaplane Harbour — the city’s fascinating maritime museum.
Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport, Italy
Distance from city centre: 4km
Cost for transfer: €1
Buses from Olbia airport, on the Italian island of Sardinia, take just 10 minutes to reach the city centre.
A mere 4km away, single trips cost just €1 — making it the cheapest airport transfer on this list.
Once in the city, tourists can wander the historic centre, visiting the boutique shops as well as local bars and restaurants serving fresh seafood and Italian gelato.
Pittulongu, Olbia’s largest beach, is a 24-minute bus ride out of the city centre, as is Porto Istana, which has been rated Olbia’s best beach on Trip Advisor.
To see more of the island, a regional train runs between Olbia and Cagliari, connecting the north and south of Sardinia, with tickets priced at €18.
Geneva Airport, Switzerland
Distance from city centre: 4km
Cost for transfer: CHF 3
Geneva Airport is also just 4km from its city centre and a seven-minute journey from the central railway station, Geneva Cornavin.
There are seven trains per hour and you’ll need to purchase a Unireso Zone 10 ticket for three Swiss Francs (roughly £2.70).
The city itself has an efficient public transport system of buses, trams and shuttle boats, and tourists staying in approved accommodation are entitled to a free transport card (which can also bag you a free journey from the airport if you’re eligible).
Otherwise, a day pass costs eight Swiss Francs.
The pass allows visitors the see the city’s main attractions with ease, which include the spectacular Jet d’Eau, a 140-metre tall water fountain, the medieval Old Town, a number of museums and, of course, Lake Geneva, the largest lake in the Alps.
Naples Airport, Italy
Distance from city centre: 4.8km
Cost for transfer: €5
For travellers looking for quick connections between their airport and city centre, Italy is clearly the place to go, with three destinations in the country on this list.
From Naples Airport, the shuttle bus is the quickest way to travel the 4.8km journey to the city centre.
It takes around 15 minutes and costs €5 each way.
What our readers think of Naples:
Metro writer Sophie-May Williams loves Naples, despite its ‘dangerous’ reputation.
And she’s not the only traveller who’s been converted by the Italian city. Here’s what our readers have to say about Naples:
Touran Parsee: “I loved Naples because it wasn’t overly touristy like Sorrento which was where I was staying. I ended up doing two-day trips to Naples.”
Isabella P Stilley: “Seafood, pizza, and sfogliatelle are a must when visiting Naples.”
Marta Venturini: “Naples is raw, beautiful, real and picturesque…..LOVE IT!”
In the city, Naples has plenty of public transport options, with two Metro lines, a hop-on-hop-off bus for sightseeing, funiculars and ferries to the islands of Capri, Procida and Ischia.
Day trips to the town of Sorrento (via an hour-and-a-quarter-long train journey) and Pompeii archaeological site (which takes 40 minutes on the train) are also popular with tourists in Naples.
Belfast City Airport, Northern Ireland
Distance from city centre: 5km
Cost for transfer: £2.30
While Belfast International is around 24km from the city centre, Belfast City Airport is much more convenient, just 5km away.
The Airport Express 600 Service runs every 20 minutes during peak times and shuttles passengers to Belfast Grand Central Station in the city centre for £2.30. The journey takes just 10 minutes.
It’s easy to get around the city thanks to the Metro, Glider and Ulsterbus Town services, with popular attractions in the centre including Titanic Belfast, an interactive maritime museum which tells the story of RMS Titanic.
The museum is just a 30-minute walk from the city centre or can be reached in around 20 minutes by bus.
Giant’s Causeway, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland, is reachable by a direct bus that runs once a day from Belfast at 9.30am and costs £20.
Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport, Spain
Distance from city centre: 5km
Cost for transfer: €3.20
The only other airport in Europe found 5km or less from its city centre is Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport, on the north coast of Spain.
Travellers can take the airport bus, which takes 15 minutes and varies in frequency from every 20 to 40 minutes, to Plaza de las Estaciones.
The price per ticket is approximately €3.20 according to Alsa, the bus operator.
Santander is a small city and therefore easy to get around on foot, but it can also be explored on public transport thanks to the bus network.
If heading further out to some of the city’s other top attractions, such as El Sardinero Beach or Magdalena Peninsula, visitors will either have to walk for an hour or take a taxi.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
