Weekend break from Charleroi: short flights for a city trip

Which cities are under two hours' flight from Charleroi?

For a weekend, flight time matters as much as the number of flights. We read the timetables Ryanair has published for December 2026, route by route, and worked out the scheduled time between departure and arrival, allowing for time differences. Distance is calculated as the crow flies between the coordinates of the two airports. The recorded departures come from our departures board, from Saturday 31 October to Friday 6 November 2026.

Depending on the route, the return is scheduled 0 to 15 minutes longer; only Dublin is shorter on the way back, by 5 minutes. For Budapest, our records also include Wizz Air flights: 9 of the week's 16 departures.

Can you leave on Friday and come back on Sunday?

Yes, for most of these cities. Here is the example of the weekend from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 December 2026, from Ryanair's timetables checked on 7 November. Departures from Charleroi are in Belgian time, returns in local time, and arrival at Charleroi in Belgian time.

The most flexible options are Milan Bergamo, Venice Treviso and Manchester, with three Friday departures. In Turin and Bologna, the only Sunday return leaves before 07:15, so you lose the last day. To Barcelona, the only Friday flight leaves at 22:00. Bratislava is a weekend route by design: until 20 December, Ryanair flies there only on Fridays and Sundays.

Prague, Vienna, Dublin: why aim for Saturday or Thursday?

Three nearby cities have no flight on Friday or Sunday in the first half of December. Until 17 December, Ryanair's timetable has Prague on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Vienna and Dublin on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays, in both directions.

The weekend therefore becomes Saturday to Monday. Prague: out on Saturday 12 December at 14:25, back on Monday 14 at 09:25. Vienna: out on Saturday 12 at 21:10, back on Monday 14 at 16:50. Dublin: out on Saturday 12 at 18:50, back on Monday 14 at 06:30. For Vienna and Dublin, Thursday to Saturday is the other option.

Over the festive season the three routes get busier: from 19 to 31 December, Prague and Vienna have flights on 12 of the 13 days, Dublin on 10 of the 13. If you can take just one day off, the Monday, these three cities still work.

Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Istanbul: a longer weekend

Beyond two hours a short weekend is still possible, but the journey takes up more of your stay. In the December 2026 timetable, Madrid is 2 h 20 or 2 h 25 away (1,271 km), Porto 2 h 25 (1,440 km) and Lisbon 2 h 50 (1,681 km). Lisbon has 14 Ryanair flights in the week of 7 to 13 December, Porto 11 and Madrid 7.

On Friday 11 December, Lisbon leaves at 08:10 or 15:35, with Sunday returns at 10:00 and 16:55, landing at Charleroi by 20:40 at the latest. Porto leaves at 11:45 or 20:15 on Friday and comes back on Sunday at 17:05 (arriving 20:30). Madrid has only one Friday flight, at 09:55, and one Sunday return at 14:10 (arriving 16:30).

Istanbul is served by Pegasus, to Sabiha Gökçen airport: 19 departures in our records from 31 October to 6 November 2026, for 2,189 km as the crow flies. We have not read a timetable published by Pegasus, so we give no flight time.

Do you need an authorisation for a weekend in Manchester or Edinburgh?

Usually, yes. The UK government says on gov.uk, checked on 7 November 2026, that travellers from Europe usually need an electronic travel authorisation, the ETA, rather than a visa. It costs 20 pounds. Manchester and Edinburgh are among the shortest flights from Charleroi, but they are not weekends to book the night before without thinking.

Turkey, for Istanbul, is also outside the European Union. The documents to show for each destination in the network are set out in our guide travel documents from Charleroi.

If you are going for two nights with just a cabin bag, check its size before you leave. The sizes allowed and the price of a larger bag with each airline are in our guide cabin bags at Charleroi.

Parking and a late return: what to plan for a weekend?

From Friday to Sunday, allow for three days of parking. At the price check of 13/11/2026, the airport's P3 costs €35.50 for three days, and the cheapest private car park in our comparison €32.50. The details for each car park are on our car parks page.

The last Sunday returns land late: 22:55 from Manchester, 22:45 from Rome Ciampino, 22:35 from Venice Treviso. If your car park is linked to the terminal by a shuttle, check that it still runs at that time: our guide to the night shuttle covers this.

For a Friday departure after work, such as the 19:00 flight to Marseille or the 19:05 to Toulouse, work out when to leave home from your flight time.