Forty-eight hours is longer than you think. Leave after work on Friday, land back Sunday evening, and you've had two full days somewhere that isn't your sofa - without touching a day of annual leave.

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The Friday-to-Sunday formula

• Fly out Friday evening. The 7-10pm departures are often the cheapest of the day.
• Two nights, one small bag. Cabin baggage only keeps both the price and the faff down.
• Fly home Sunday night. You're in your own bed before the working week starts.

Where the bargains live

The cheapest short breaks are rarely the obvious capitals. Krakow, Porto, Katowice and Brussels Charleroi routinely come in under £60 return - and the getaways board sorts them cheapest-first so you don't have to hunt.

Watch the ground time

A short break lives or dies on how much of it you spend actually there. Every itinerary on our board shows the hours on the ground in each city, so a "two-night break" that's really one jet-lagged afternoon never makes the cut.