Our daughter and our lugGage on a 5 hour train ride from Innsbruck, Austria to Venice, Italy in 2015

Have you ever traveled and didn’t want to rent a car but needed to get from city to city? When traveling with kids, getting from point A to point B is much more complicated than pre-kids. All the way back in 2107, I came across a company called Daytrip. They offered door-to-door private transfer service and allowed me to pick stops along the way to sightsee. The best part of this service though - they provide age appropriate car seats.

I absolutely loved the idea of not having to worry about driving in a foreign country, of being able to see some off the beaten path spots, and not having to travel with car seats. I also loved that we were able to stop when I needed to nurse the baby or use the restroom and not feel guilty to other passengers.

Over the years we have traveled to 25 countries with our kids in tow. At first, we relied on public transportation and trains to get us between cities. And we still do that where it’s safe, convenient, and easy to navigate. However, if we are somewhere lacking in public transportation and we don’t feel comfortable renting a car, we choose Daytrip.

Since 2017, we have hired Day Trip 10 times across Europe and Costa Rica.

Smiling Faces. Hand Shakes. No kids.....I was skeptical. — booking is very easy and if you need a customized trip, they will give you a quote in 24 hours.

All About Day Trip
European Experience with Day Trip
- Prague to Krakow
- Krakow to Vienna
- Tirana to Sofia
- Sofia to Belgrade
- Belgrade to Lake Bled
- Lake Bled to Venice
Costa Rica Experience with Day Trip
- San Jose to La Fortuna
- La Fortuna to Atenas10 Reasons Why We Choose Day Trip
10 Reasons Why We Choose Day Trip

All About Daytrip

A screen shot of the actual website. You can choose stops along the journey.

Daytrip started in 2015 and has expanded exponentially over the past 8 years. Orginating in Central Europe, they now offer services in the United States, Asia, all over Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Currently Daytrip offers over 40,531 routes across 9,079 cities. They employ over 600,000 local drivers.

The Daytrip website is easy to use. I like that. Once you enter your start and finish location, you’ll be given options of where you can stop along the way. Each stop has a description of how long the stop will be and what you’ll would be seeing.

We stopped at los chorros waterfall on our trip from la fortuna to atenas in costa rica

European Experience with Day Trip

Route: Prague to Krakow

Travelers: 4 adults, 2 babies
The day before the trip I received a message with our driver’s phone number and confirmation time of pick up.

The day of our scheduled trip the driver was outside our AirBnB about 10 minutes early. He was in a bright green, very clean van. He had both age-appropriate car seats as promised. The driver, Ondra, was extremely friendly and even had some water bottles for us to drink in the car. His English was impeccable. He helped us load up all of our stuff and we were off. We drove for about 3 hours before stopping just outside Olomouc for gas and a bathroom break. Ondra never rushed us, so we got snacks and let our toddler stretch her legs in the grassy area. About 15 minutes after we got on the road we were in Olomouc. After a brief walk from where we parked we were in the city center. Ondra had prepared some notes about the city and gave us a walking tour. He also kindly took pictures of our whole family. Again, he never rushed us. He gave us many options on where we should eat lunch and we settled on the restaurant at the local university. After lunch and a second leisurely walk, we started the second leg of the drive. About 3 hour later we arrived in Krakow. Ondra helped us unload our bags and we said our goodbyes. Overall, the experience was AWESOME.

Related Post: The Best of Krakow Poland with Kids

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Route: Krakow to Vienna

Travelers: 4 adults, 2 babies

Again, the day before the trip I received a message with our driver’s phone number and confirmation time of pick up.

This trip went as smoothly as our first. Our driver, David, arrived a little early. He helped load our luggage into the car. His van came with an infant and toddler car seat already installed. Just like last time, this van was huge. We were all able to ride comfortably and the van was very clean. We made one pit stop for snacks/restroom break before we made it to Kromeriz. David was actually a Kromeriz local, so he knew exactly where the best food was. He also gave us a nice quick walking tour. He had several kids of his own, so he wasn’t put out when we had to stop for diaper changes or to nurse. After we loaded back up it was a quick 2.5 hours to Vienna. Once we arrived, he helped us unload and we parted ways.

Looking for a trip to Vienna from Prague? Click HERE.

Related Post: The Best of Vienna with Kids

Gangs all here. We even managed to snap a pic before it started pouring rain!

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Costa Rica Experiences

San Jose to La Fortuna

Travelers: 2 adults, 2 kids
Again, the day before the trip I received a message with our driver’s phone number and confirmation time of pick up.

Our driver, Carlos, arrived to our hotel a little early. He helped load our luggage into the car. His van came with a child seat and a booster seat already installed. His van was very clean and spacious. Carlos was extremely friendly and loved speaking to us in English and Spanish and even taught us a few new words. Our pit stop was to Brit Coffee for a coffee tour. Unfortunately I didn’t realize I needed to make the appointment myself, so we missed a guided tour and instead toured on our own. After the tour, we headed toward La Fortuna and made one extra pit stop along the way to use the restroom and get some snacks. Once we arrived in la Fortuna, Carlos helped us unload the car and was extremely gracious.

OUr Daytrip van picked us up with 2 age appropriate carseats in san jose, costa rica

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Here are 10 Reasons Day Trip is a must when traveling with kids:

You don’t have to carry all your luggage/strollers across the city to a train or bus station
You don’t have to wait at train or bus station
You have the ability to pick and choose where you would like to stop and you get to really see parts of the country you would miss on a train
If you use On Day Trip to get from city to city, you don’t need to bring your own car seats – they provide them
They can accommodate as many or as few travelers as you have
The company responds to emails/live chat quickly
The drivers are professional and they own their own vans, so they are clean and well kept
It can be cheaper than a train. (It cost us 1000 Euro TOTAL for both hauls and it would have cost us 1200 for 8 overnight train tickets)
You arrive directly at your next doorstep, so you don’t have to navigate a new city with all of your belongings/kids
On Day Trip and their drivers do ALL THE WORK for that travel day. You just get in the car and ride !

SCROLL TO SEE PHOTOS FROM OUR DAY TRIP DAYS!!!!!