Why You Should Take Your Vacation in the Fall  – Info Tips and Tricks

If you’ve just realized it’s August and you still haven’t been anywhere, don’t despair. Fall isn’t just about wearing cute jackets—it’s about travel deals.

Summer is basically over, so let’s make the best of nature’s cycle and enjoy the price drops on almost everything from airfare to event tickets. Creditcards.com recommends a number of ways to save just by starting your vacation right when everyone else is getting serious about work again. But there’s lots of good reasons besides cold hard cash to get a week off in late September.

Weather

I’ve been traveling around the last month, ranging across the states from North to South. You know what all the places I went to had in common? They were hot as hell. Some were a humid hot, some were a dry hot, some places were hot even though barely any buildings had air conditioning. Climate change is a nightmare. On the bright side, things will start to cool down (hopefully) as the seasons change.

You don’t have to go on a foliage tour of Vermont to appreciate that change. Go someplace like the Grand Canyon for hiking, or to Santa Fe, or other places where it’s an average of ten degrees cooler in October. That ten degrees will make a big difference if you enjoy outdoor pursuits, but it won’t be so cold that the kayak rental place is closed. It’s perfect.

Crowds

Unlike you, most people have been foolishly slogging through the heat to get their tourism fix, even though the giant balls of twine and historical landmarks will still be there in a few months. If you have kids, you probably need to take them with you, and their school vacation is in summer. But even folks with children could enjoy a weekend getaway in the fall that includes fewer people competing to take a picture in front of whatever iconic mural you’ve found.

If you don’t have kids, go wild! Crowds are greatly reduced, according to U.S. News. There’s more space in hotels, restaurants, and at special attractions. Not only is this more relaxing, it has an added bonus: things are cheaper.

Saving Money On Your Destination

There are a lot of places that lower their ticket prices in autumn because they know fewer people are traveling and they want to attract customers. That includes Disney World, where ticket prices are about the same, but hotels nearby frequently offer a 30 percent discount, according to Douglsa Stallings, the editorial director of Fodor’s.

Stallings also suggested an entire continent that will show a price drop come fall—Europe:

“A lot of Europe is seasonal, so after Labor Day, prices go down – and they can go down as much as 40 percent,” says Stallings, who admits that fall and early spring are his favorite times to travel there.

He does remind people to check the weather, because things can get rainy and cold in northern Europe after mid-October, but in the south, the weather is beautiful and there are often beaches to enjoy in countries like Italy, Greece and Croatia. Sounds pretty good.

Saving Money On Airfare

Also in cahoots with this fall travel push are the airlines. Because fall is a less popular time to travel, many flights are considered off-peak, which means they’re cheaper. If you have a bunch of airline miles, it’s a good time to use them, because there are more flights accessible to you. You’ll have to redeem fewer miles for your airfare.

If you’re convinced and about to book that vacay, keep one warning in mind: it is hurricane season in a number of places, so you probably want to invest some of those savings in travel insurance and pick a place less affected by rainy weather. Then consider that some places fit in festivals during the end of year months. You probably don’t want to go to Germany during Oktoberfest. Or maybe you do, but in that case, splurge.