The Most Budget-Friendly Time To Travel For Spring Break 2024

Whether heading to a warm place to spend quality time with buddies, taking your family on a trip while the kids are off school, or looking for the biggest beach bash in history, spring break can get expensive. Many Americans first learn about and experience spring break in their early childhood. It's generally about one to two weeks off from school, sometimes coinciding with the movable Easter holiday, and other times, simply near it.

Later, many individuals who enroll in college use spring break to visit a warmer locale or, at the very least, travel to spend time with their friends. This period also has an infamous association with partying. As far back as 1986, MTV had specials covering spring break with celebrity attendance and some wild festivities, further mythologizing the holiday.

Like the type of experience, the cost of spring break can vary, partly depending on when you decide to travel. With saving money on many people's minds, you're probably looking for the most wallet-friendly time to schedule your adventure. Thanks to a factor unique to 2024, you may need to adjust your plans and be flexible to get the best deal.

While some parents with kids and college students may have a fixed week off, that's not the case for everyone. Maybe you just want to take a break somewhere warm after a long and cold winter. If you can vary when you travel, the best time to take your spring break trip this year is the beginning of March or the end of April, according to research conducted by online travel marketplace Hopper. Generally you're going to get the best prices booking your airfare one or two months before your trip, and a month before, for your hotel, as CEO of HotelPlanner Tim Hentschel told USA Today. It's a bit late for the beginning of March, but the end of April gives you a lot of leeway.

Several factors have made early March and late April the ideal spring break time frames. First, Easter 2024 will fall on Sunday, March 31, making that week the most expensive in terms of airfare, as people may be taking a long weekend to visit family and friends. The solar eclipse, which will occur on April 8, with visibility from Texas to Maine, has also driven up prices. Some travelers have chosen to combine their spring break trip this year with watching the eclipse, leading to greater demand for plane tickets and accommodations.

If you want to get the cheapest flights, there's some good news about airfare pricing, whether you're staying in the United States or heading to a faraway locale. According to Hopper, March and April 2024 prices are lower than last year during the same periods. They're down 2% for the U.S., with the average domestic flight costing around $262 the first week of March. By comparison, the average domestic flight will cost about $345 for Easter week and drop again for late April. Flights to Europe have decreased approximately 7% against last year's prices, while flights to Mexico and Central America have gone down by 11% compared to the previous year, averaging around $447.

Another thing you can do to save money is carefully choosing what day you leave for your trip. While the advice about booking a flight on a Tuesday is outdated, leaving on a Tuesday can save you around 15%, as Expedia travel expert Christie Hudson explained to Condé Nast Traveler. If you're looking for the best budget-friendly spring break destinations, Explore has some ideas for you as well.