10 Most Popular International Travel Spots for the Rest of the Summer
There's still a whole lot of summer left, but the world's most popular destinations are saving their most affordable weeks for last.
There are all sorts of off-peak dates dotting the travel calendar in early weeks of December, January and early summer. However, most of the best deals don't start until late August. Rick Seaney, chief executive of travel site FareCompare.com, notes that the last week in August begins fall bargain travel season as children go back to school, older kids leave for college and parents spend their time back-to-school shopping and shuttling. During that time, demand for hotel rooms and flights plummets, recovers briefly for Labor Day and then slides into autumn.
"As for airfare prices, they can drop as much as a third or more over summer airfare," Seaney says. "For my money, autumn is the best time of the year for a vacation: it packs the one-two punch of great weather and great airfare prices."
As travel site Hopper figured out, booking a late-August trip cuts summer travel costs costs significantly. Domestic airfares that hover around $375 for July and August weekend dates drop closer to $300 during the last two weeks of August, with the best fares available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. With international flights, you can save as much as 17% as airfare drops from an average of $1,100 in July to $850 in late August.
The folks at TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals note the cost of rental homes are sliced nearlybetween the start of August and mid-September. Domestically, houses in Edgartown, Mass. on Martha's Vineyard that averaged nearly $3,000 a week in August drop to about $2,150 a week in post-Labor Day September. Spots in Ocean City, Md. that fetched $1,500 a week in August slump to less than $1,100 by September.
"Early fall is a great time for a vacation - travelers can avoid the humidity and crowds of the peak summer travel period, but still enjoy beautiful warm weather, while saving substantially on the cost of their vacation rental," says Laurel Greatrix, a TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals spokesperson. "Rates drop across most of the U.S, particularly in beach destinations, and budget-conscious travelers can easily save themselves one-quarter to half of what they'd pay in July."
Yes, this even applies to international travel. With help from the folks at TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals, we looked at the Top 10 international destinations for their vacation travelers and found a stark difference between their peak summer travel days and those lingering last days before fall. The savings can be significant:
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $1,172
Busiest week: July 23
Least busy week: August 28
No, it isn't anywhere close to ski season -- which is Whistler's bread and butter -- but just about any ski town does a fine job of turning itself and its ample supply of vacation cabins into a summer fun destination. Hiking, mountain biking and fishing all become the big draws, as does an incredibly favorable exchange rate. With U.S. residents getting an additional 30 cents for every dollar they spend up north -- which is still down from 45 cents per dollar earlier this year -- Canada's become a favored U.S. travel location again. The days of the weak dollar between 2010 and 2013 are over: go have that $5 beer for less than $4.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $2,587
Busiest week: July 23
Least busy week: August 28
No, Jamaica isn't cheap. No, the temperatures in the Caribbean don't keep the hordes of U.S. tourists from staying in all-inclusive resorts here. But letting the suckers sweat it out during midsummer is the right play here, especially if you want to take advantage of the families who won't get to play and pack balloon animals into the overhead compartments on the flight home.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $1,323
Busiest week: July 23
Least busy week: August 28
We already mentioned the benefits of that Canadian exchange rate, but enjoying it in British Columbia, where the temperatures dip into the 60s as early as late August, isn't a bad idea.
Sure, you can pop in on the Canucks for a pre-season game, or you can visit the breweries, distilleries, restaurants, museums, theaters, Stanley Park and other elements of Vancouver that make it worth giving a second thought to spending hours inside an arena. But it's going to be a lot cheaper to do so at the end of summer than it is when just about everybody and their kids are out of school.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $1,981
Busiest week: July 30
Least busy week: August 28
Spring break may be long gone and the temperatures may be just slightly south of unbearable, but -- like Jamaica -- the prevalence of all-inclusive vacation spots with all of the comforts of home gives this place some heavy traffic even in the dog days of summer. Late August is your best bet for avoiding some of it, simply by taking schoolkids and their parents out of play.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $1,265
Busiest week: August 6
Least busy week: August 28
The Gaudi architecture, bustling Las Ramblas, the antique amusements of Tibidabo, the cold Cacaolat of the granjas. Combine that with a lovely spot along the Mediterranean and views of the sea from seafood restaurants in the Barceloneta, and you have a lovely summer destination that folks from around the globe just love to drop in on once August hits. You're just going to have to hope that most to the families and backpackers have a semester to start back home. Otherwise, that tour of Camp Nou is going to be more packed with schoolkids in Messi jerseys than you can imagine.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $1,142
Busiest week: July 9
Least busy week: August 28
We've been in Rome during August. It's hot... but not unbearably so.
The city provides you a whole lot of shade as you stroll the Spanish Steps and crowd around Trevi Fountain. You're in a city filled with museums, stone historical sites and cafes... it's only about as overheated as you let it be. Trade in those long trudges for a Vespa and take advantage of deals when this city throws you some. Besides, with the dollar trading at about 90% of the euro, as opposed to 62% as recently as 2007, just about any place on the euro is more affordable to U.S. travelers than its ever been.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $1,329
Busiest week: August 13
Least busy week: July 16
Less than a decade ago, the dollar was less than half the value of the pound, making travel to just about anywhere in the U.K. a nightmare. But then came the Brexit.
The dollar gained more value from Brexit than it had from the last two years of the economic recovery. That's not going over particularly well in Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain within the European Union, but the U.S. dollar is at 75% of the pound's value for the first time in a long time. That isn't going to look so great once ties to the European Union are actually cut and inflation sets in, but right now, it's a bit of sunshine on Leith for golf-playing, whisky sipping, moor-hiking Americans.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $2,215
Busiest week: July 9
Least busy week: August 28
No, it's never going to be particularly "cheap" to visit Paris.
That said, the unfortunate combination of recent terror attacks and the euro's decline against the dollar has made it about as affordable for U.S. travelers as it may ever get. Don't fret about losing the heat or the sun. Just use that brief moment when everybody is back at school to take in the museums, stroll the streets, sit in cafes and visit the cinemas. There are plenty of places to find cover once the rains come, and Paris has never considered sunlight a prerequisite for its beauty.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $2,365
Busiest week: July 9
Least busy week: August 28
Meet the only English city that didn't go for Brexit, and with good reason.
London is a cosmopolitan center. It has the British Museum and Buckingham Palace, sure, but it's always been global in nature and has resisted tethering itself to the sheltered mentality of the surrounding countryside or the isolationist attitudes of England's post-industrial cities. It isn't all West End shows and take-away, but it is a place worth seeing even if you'd rather give the rest of England a chance to cool off and consider what it's done.
Average weekly rate through Labor Day: $2,202
Busiest week: August 13
Least busy week: July 9
Political upheaval, civic revolt, the Zika virus... why not go to Rio and pay through the nose for Olympic-priced food and accommodations.
We can't state strongly enough that this year's Summer Olympics in Brazil look like a travel nightmare at best and a disaster. We don't know why anyone would subject himself to such chaos voluntarily if he hadn't already shelled out for Olympic event admissions, so we strongly recommend against it. Unless you can just hop down there this week before things get more lively in August, just consider giving Brazil a pass altogether until the games are over and everything shakes out. What you don't save in money, you'll save in irritation.