Best time to book winter vacation
Are you looking for the best time to book winter vacation? This can be challenging since you have to consider factors such as weather, crowds, and flight prices. Luckily, we’ve done the research for you and found there is a best time for almost everything. In this article we’ll cover which months are best in regards to booking an affordable winter vacation.
This is a guest post by Allan Donwood. Before I start discussing times to book winter vacation, let me first introduce myself. My name is Allan and I’m a real estate agent in New York. I own a small but successful real estate agency based in Brooklyn, NY that specializes in residential sales and rentals.
One of the best tips for saving money on a vacation is to plan ahead. The earlier you get some time off booked, the more likely you are to get your perfect trip at an affordable price. For example, let’s say you haven’t taken a winter vacation in years. You’re sick of looking at the same old pictures from your very expensive trip to Cape Cod. Your friends keep telling you about their latest Yacht charter in the Caribbean and before you know it, you’re sitting at your computer booking flights for the big tropical trip everyone is talking about.
The best time to book winter vacation is in the early fall.
If you wait until the end of November, you’ll likely find that many flights and hotels are sold out. If you book too early, though, you might have to wait a few months for the best deals.
The best time to book winter vacation is in the early fall—about five months before your trip. This is when airlines start releasing their deals and sometimes even offer free upgrades if you’re booking early enough!
The best time to book winter vacation is now. The winter season is the ideal time to go on a skiing trip, with snow-capped mountains, crisp air and the chance to get your adrenaline pumping. But if you’re looking for a place that offers all those things without being too cold, then you might be in luck.
There are plenty of places around the world where you can enjoy winter sports without having to deal with the frigid temperatures that come with them. In fact, there are some places where it never snows at all! They may not be as picturesque as their colder counterparts but they’re still just as fun.
The best way to find out if a place is right for your trip is by doing some research before booking anything. There are tons of websites out there that can help you make an informed decision about where to go based on what kind of experience you want from your trip.
1. Use Google Flights’ Secret Weapon
Forget what you’ve heard, and forget about all those other sites. Google Flights is the best way to find cheap flights. And if you aren’t picky about where you get your sunshine, its Explore tool can save you hundreds. This is the best way to find cheap flights when you’re not sure where you want to go.
Want to go to the Caribbean, but don’t care which island you end up on? Looking to head south of the Mason-Dixon line for a little sunshine, but are open to several cities? Google Flights Explore is the tool for you.
If you haven’t met Google Flights Explore yet, consider this your formal introduction. Explore allows you to search the entire world map to see which destinations are cheapest. Pick a specific set of dates, or keep it as open as “a weekend in February.” It’s all up to you. Be as specific as “Mexico,” or as broad as “Caribbean.”
Scroll to see which destinations are cheapest. Being open to more than one destination and keeping your dates flexible while you search can save you hundreds.
Ready to become a Google Flights Explore wizard? Check out our full guide to using the Explore tool and start searching for your cheap winter destination.
Thrifty Tip #1: Need some ideas for the cheapest cities to visit? These are some of our favorite affordable tropical destinations!
2. Pick the Right Time
There are several factors that determine which dates will be cheapest to travel. It can feel like a moving target.
But generally speaking, airfare will be cheaper when you choose to depart and return on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Saturdays. If you can depart and return on these days, you can likely save yourself a chunk of change! Here’s one example:
Let’s say you want to go from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Phoenix (PHX) this January. If you travel Sunday to Sunday, your prices may be in the high $200s to low $300s.
But if you depart and return just two days later on Tuesdays, you can save over $160. That could buy you another roundtrip ticket somewhere!
And now, Google Flights will nudge you to keep an eye out for cheaper dates to save big. You may see suggestions like this one in your Google Flights search to alter your dates:
Thrifty Tip #2: Check out all our tips on the cheapest times to travel to save on your winter getaway.
3. Book Before You’re Miserable
We know it’s hard to think ahead, but doing so can pay off big time.
Instead of waiting until you’re frozen solid to book a getaway, plan ahead and book your cheap flight to a warm destination as soon as you can! It’s best to book airfare at least 30-45 days in advance.
When you plan ahead for a winter getaway, you have time to search flexible dates with Google Flights Explore and can even track airfare prices with Google Flights price alerts.
4. Let Us Help!
We find flight deals for a living, and we’re here to help you find your cheap winter getaway! We find cheap international (plus Hawaii, Key West, and Alaska) flight deals to destinations all over the world, but we keep an extra eye on warm-weather destinations during the winter months. Join Thrifty Traveler Premium to get instant notification of the hottest (literally!) flight deals we find, straight to your inbox.