JANUARY – FEBRUARY
In January travel demands typically plummet so this is the slowest and cheapest time of the year to travel. Travel to Hawaii, New York, Asia and Mexico tend to be very reasonable during this time.
MARCH – APRIL
Spring break hits during these months so you need to be on alert for high prices especially for warm weather destinations like Florida, Mexico or the Caribbean. Since colleges have spring break in March, try to find out when your local colleges have theirs scheduled and travel a week after their spring break is completed. Planning your trip in later April during what they call the dead weeks will reduce the cost for warm places like Hawaii and the Caribbean.
MAY – JUNE
This time frame is called shoulder season which typically lasts for 10 weeks before peak summer pricing and crowds kick in. This makes it the best time to travel to Europe before the summer crowds arrive.
JULY – AUGUST
Prices begin to soar around beginning of July especially on and around July the 4th and stay high until mid to late August. So if you want to travel during these months you need to book early. However, this is getting to be the beginning of hurricane/down season for the Caribbean so you might possibly find some deals around this time for this region.
SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER
September is where the second shoulder one starts and lasts all the way to Thanksgiving. Fall is a slow and very cheap time for going on a cruise or travelling by air because kids are back in school and people are fearful travel during hurricane season. Fall however is prime convention season for major cities so you would want to stay away from travel in cities such as New York and Chicago.
DECEMBER
Travel prices start to rise again during the week before Thanksgiving, but since thanksgiving is earlier this year, this means that the dead weeks will begin earlier, leading to a longer dead week period when you’ll find great deals nearly everywhere but New York City due to the shopping rush. You can visit most places in early December, like St. Lucia or Barbados at a fraction of the cost prior to Christmas if booked early.
