Now that it’s firmly decorative gourd season, that means the holidays are just around the corner. And while you don’t need to have finished your Christmas shopping quite yet (slacker), you might want to start thinking about your holiday travel plans.
Travel app Kayak has released its annual Holiday Travel Hacker, a helpful guide that shows hot destinations (Saint Lucia! Telluride!), wallet-friendly holiday travel destinations (Chicago!), and when you should buy your plane tickets to get the best deal on airfare so you don’t have to endlessly scroll Bing in hopes of finding a deal.
Here are your holiday travel tips, according to Kayak:
- If you’re traveling internationally for Thanksgiving, book by the third week of October to score the best deal.
- For Christmas, the best savings can be had by booking before October 7. Kayak reports savings of up to 35% to cities such as Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Paris, and Reykjavik by booking.
- If you’re looking to save a few bucks, fly on a holiday for the cheapest price, which applies for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.
- If you hate yourself and want to spend New Year’s Eve crammed into Times Square, good news: New York has one of this year’s most affordable flights with median airfare less than $350. Other (better) options with affordable tickets include Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, Toronto, and Seattle.
If you want to get all nerdy and spreadsheet-y about it, check out the graphs and charts that Kayak has put together showing that last-minute Christmas planners may get the best deals on travel—if they can stomach not booking travel until two weeks before they fly—while those of us who enjoy a well-laid plan, goddammit, may have to pay more for peace of mind.
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