24-07-2025
This Global Car Service Turns Any Trip Into A Vacation
Daytrip lets you explore in 130 countries. @
Getting from city to city when you're traveling in Europe can be daunting. Depending on where you're going, it can be hard enough to find public transportation, let alone work around unreliable schedules while carrying all your luggage with you. Plus, while you're in the area, it feels sinful to miss visiting some of the iconic landmarks you may pass along the way.
Enter Daytrip, a unique private car service that lets you customize your trip so you can make stops wherever/whenever you want as you head to your destination. Heard of a great shop you have to check out? No problem. Want to explore a specific area? Your local driver will give you an insider's view.
This is such a great idea, which I only discovered when my husband and son started planning a golf trip to Ireland and realized they had to travel hours between cities to play the courses on their bucket list. The logistics, especially with two golf bags, seemed ridiculously complicated until they came across Daytrip, who helped them put together the perfect itinerary, from Shannon to Lahinch to Carne and back to Shannon.
Their trip was so easy and enjoyable and they liked their driver so much, I ended up booking Daytrip myself when I needed to get from my Virgin Voyages cruise ship to the airport in Marrakesh. I wish I'd had time to make some stops to get in a little sightseeing but, honestly, I was grateful to have a ride at all in a city where it can be hard to get one.
Because I'm always intrigued by anything that makes travel simpler as well as more enriching, I reached out to Daytrip CEO and Co-Founder Tomáš Turek to learn more.
Daytrip's founding team (Tomas Turek on left) Daytrip
Tell us a little about the origin of Daytrip.
It all started with a local chauffeur company in Český Krumlov, a small town in the Czech Republic, founded by me and one of my fellow Daytrip Co-Founders. While running this company, we witnessed a growing customer interest in better city-to-city transportation, and quickly realized this had universal appeal. We decided to start fresh with a brand new platform to expand this idea globally, and that's how Daytrip was born. We are actually celebrating our 10th anniversary this year - the company was founded in September 2015.
We started Daytrip on the premise that there has to be a better way to travel between cities. We wanted a service that is more convenient and traveler-friendly, where you can travel on your schedule, and previously set schedules do not overcomplicate your life. The result is a service offering private, door-to-door car transfers with professional, English-speaking drivers, and optional sightseeing stops to help travelers discover hidden gems that are typically inaccessible with public transportation.
What need did you think was not being met in the market?
Customizability and flexibility on long-distance city-to-city transfers. And I would even say, the enjoyment of the actual travel day. Imagine traveling between cities in a foreign country. Instead of stressing over train or bus schedules, language barriers, or how to reach that charming village that is not on any bus route, you simply get picked up at your hotel and enjoy a smooth, comfortable private ride with a friendly local driver, maybe even stopping at a few hidden gems along the way. That is the experience Daytrip offers.
We realized that while local transportation networks primarily serve locals, they often fail to meet the needs of tourists, especially those seeking flexibility, comfort, and the opportunity to explore beyond major hotspots. Traditional options, such as buses, trains, and flights, are limited by fixed routes and timetables, and a single delay can disrupt your entire day. And because these services rarely cater to travelers' actual needs, the journey often feels like lost time, not an enjoyable part of the trip. By offering door-to-door transfers with optional sightseeing stops, Daytrip fills that gap, turning a stressful transfer into a seamless and memorable part of the journey.
Friendly Daytrip drivers create memorable moments on family trips. Daytrip
What makes Daytrip different from other car services?
We provide a seamless blend of holiday logistics and local experience. With uncompromising safety and quality standards for a range of budgets, we offer a layer of experience provided by a knowledgeable, English-speaking driver, along with the opportunity to choose from our carefully curated list of sightseeing itineraries.
Talk a little about the sightseeing aspect of a ride. How does that work?
It's pretty simple. When booking a transfer with Daytrip, you can select a variety of offered sightseeing stops that can be done on the way, or you can even add your own. You can also adjust the duration to suit your preferences. This ensures that you have as much time as you need at the stop. Depending on the nature of the stop and your preference (it can be a castle, a winery, or an entire town), your driver is waiting for you, can help you translate, buy tickets to attractions, recommend things to see or even walk around with you - even if they technically aren't actual tour guides. While you are at the stop, you can also leave your luggage in the car while exploring, which means that you do not have to carry heavy bags around. Ultimately, our main goal is to make transfers between cities more convenient and to help travelers explore further by adding sightseeing stops.
Can you order a driver/guide for a day to see the sights and get the local scoop?
Yes, you can do that with our recently launched day trips. These allow travelers to explore the hidden gems as part of a trip that brings them back to their original location. This service can be used in instances where travelers disembark from a cruise but need to return to it ahead of their departure, or when they are in a city and want to visit smaller towns, castles, and other nearby attractions, but return to the city on the same day. Whether you opt for a day trip, a transfer with sightseeing, or a plain A to B transfer, our English-speaking drivers are locals, so they will happily talk with you about and share local insights and secrets while you are on your transfer.
How has Daytrip evolved over the past decade?
Since 2015, we have expanded our operations globally, now operating in more than 130 countries worldwide. Additionally, we rolled out day trips in March 2025, and you can already experience 1,000 unique itineraries across 300 destinations. And we are rapidly expanding to new destinations! Over the years, we have maintained a 5-star rating on Tripadvisor.
Daytrip started as a B2C company, catering to the end customer. As we continued to grow, we realized the value of partnering with established key players in the travel industry. This step was crucial for expanding the B2B channel and offering our services to an even broader range of customers. Over the years, we have continually expanded the range of services we offer to our customers, with the most recent addition being the launch of day trips.
We have also invested heavily in the scalability and automation of our support processes to ensure that our customers and providers always receive a fast and relevant response, 24 hours a day, year-round, and can reach a human agent whenever needed.
How do you choose your drivers?
We have developed a process that enables us to identify the top drivers in each country. This includes a personal interview with every one of them by our trained representative. We require our drivers to speak English as we want all our passengers to be able to communicate with their driver throughout the trip to feel comfortable and at ease. Moreover, our representatives always make sure drivers are also good storytellers, so that our customers can enjoy a long trip with them and receive a rich, locally immersive experience . Another part of this procedure involves reviewing the driver's background (e.g., traffic records) and also asking them to provide details about their vehicles to ensure customer safety and comfort. As a standard practice, we require that cars are less than ten years old and are in excellent operating condition, and are fully insured.
Is Daytrip available in the US?
We are running pilot operations and testing the market in California and Florida, with a possible US-wide rollout planned for the near future. The most typical use case for our US customers is in long-haul destinations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, where they appreciate the cultural and experiential aspects of the service the most.
What have been some of Daytrip's most popular routes?
Our most popular destinations are Italy, France, Croatia, or Spain. Depending on the season, we see different trends. For example, during the winter, we see a higher demand for trips in Latin America, specifically in Mexico.
We also keep an eye on emerging travel trends and adapt our offerings accordingly. One example is gig travel, a term widely used in the travel industry over the past year, referring to people traveling long distances to attend various concerts. Last year, for instance, was a significant year for gig travel, as Taylor Swift embarked on her world tour in Europe.
There is also the set-jetting trend, where people visit their favorite movie and TV series locations. In line with this trend, we have launched day trips to allow travelers to explore the locations featured in The White Lotus , with more to come. Recently, the computer game Kingdom Come: Deliverance has made waves across the gaming industry, and we have introduced day trips for fans of the game to explore the Czech Republic, which served as inspiration for the game.
Daytrip is perfect for both business and personal travel. Daytrip
Any plans for future changes?
We are currently working on a new idea that is being tested, and we hope to launch it across the entire brand in the near future. With AI being extensively discussed, we continually explore new ways to integrate it across our products and workflows to keep up with industry trends while ensuring that we continue to deliver a 5-star experience to our customers.
We are rapidly expanding the availability of day trips, covering new destinations, various tour types, and even thematic itineraries that follow cultural trends. We are introducing new vehicle tiers to cater to various budgets across multiple destinations. We continue to view our mobile app as the primary touchpoint, both before your trip for inspiration, planning, and booking, and to enhance your experience during and after the trip. We are investing heavily in its further improvement.
Anything else you'd like readers to know?
If you are dreaming of or planning to travel to a new destination, be sure to check our mobile app. Even if you don't end up using Daytrip this time, it is a great tool for travel inspiration, itinerary planning, or simply browsing pictures of beautiful places around the world.
