When is the best time to book your holiday? Obviously it depends what sort you want, but in many cases the answer is now. If you look at a graph of when people book and research their holidays, an extraordinary change happens towards the end of December every year. Activity soars from its lowest point of the year to its highest. This remarkable shift happens as many of us, bloated and slightly bored by Christmas, with no work to do and cold grey weather outside, start to think about our summer holidays. We may not book immediately, but we certainly start searching the internet for ideas and prices.
If you can drag yourself away from Christmas preparations and beat this rush by booking now, you will enjoy several advantages. First, you will have the biggest choice of accommodation and hotel rooms; second, you will be able to select flights (or ferries) from the most convenient airport/port, at the most convenient times and at the best prices, and third, if you need advice, travel company offices will be much less busy and able to devote time to your inquiry. I can’t absolutely guarantee that you will get your holiday at the cheapest price as it is impossible to know how pricing and demand will pan out in such harsh economic times.
But you can rest assured that you will have the best chance of getting the holiday you want at a reasonable rate.
Book now for...
Family holidays
The best choice of accommodation and airfares for any peak-season travel in 2013 – this effectively means the school holidays and half terms (see dates under each month below). It is already getting very late to book skiing trips during the February half term, and large family houses in desirable destinations in the UK (on the coast, in the West Country and in most National Parks). For key weekends after schools break up, flights, whether charter or scheduled, are already filling up, especially for daytime departures and services from regional airports. Peak summer dates for longer ferry services with Brittany Ferries are also best booked ASAP – some cabins on peak Saturdays are already sold out.
Festivals and events
It is getting late to book accommodation for the Lenten carnivals, for Holy Week in Seville, the Siena Palio, and for festivals such as those in Edinburgh and Salzburg.
Special tours
Any escorted tour likely to be in high demand, any holiday requiring special access permits (the Milford Track in New Zealand, or Machu Picchu in Peru), a date-related phenomenon (the wildebeest, whale or polar bear migrations), or a destination with a limited season may need to be booked up to a year in advance.
Flights for spring weekend breaks at peak times
If you want to fly on a Thursday or Friday night, and back on a Sunday night, the lowest fares sell out months in advance. The same is true for the Eurostar to Paris (booking opens four months ahead of travel date).
Long-haul flights for next Christmas
Bookings for British Airways flights open 354 days ahead of departure. Book on the opening day for key routes such as Sydney and Cape Town.
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