The Black Girl’s Guide To Travel: Where To Go This Holiday Season And When To Book

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to book your holiday getaway, or straight-up procrastinating, it’s time to start looking. Booking holiday travel is often two fold–where are you going and when is the best time to secure your ticket? If you’re struggling with both, these new Google Flights 2026 holiday travel insights may help.

Google’s latest analysis, which includes five years of aggregated flight data, offers insights into the best times to snag the lowest fares and the most popular destinations people are searching right now.

It’s a no-brainer that people are seeking out warmer destinations during colder months. Additionally, surprisingly, people are drawn to smaller or mid-sized cities this time of the year. For Thanksgiving, the destinations seeing the biggest year-over-year increase in Google Flights searches include Hilo, Hawaii; Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Punta Gorda, Florida; and Greenville, South Carolina.

If you’re looking to indulge in holiday festivities outside of the U.S., Google’s trending international destinations include Athens, Greece; Québec City, Canada; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Now onto the question of the best time to book flights. If you’re traveling for Thanksgiving, you need to start shopping in the coming weeks. Google says fares for Thanksgiving travel typically hit their lowest point about 34 days before departure. The lower-price window typically falls around 21 to 57 days out.

Christmas travelers should also have a sense of urgency because they have an even earlier window this year. The lowest average fares tend to appear around 56 days before departure, with the low-price range being 33 to 67 days out. That means the best opportunity to get Christmas deals are from late October to mid-November.

Beyond the holidays, for the year-round jet-setters, Google found that domestic flights generally reach their lowest average prices about 39 days before departure. Conversely, international flights tend to hit their lowest around 89 days out. For international trips, however, it’s noted that waiting within the broader low-price window doesn’t yield significant savings, so booking earlier may be the best move.

There are ongoing debates about the best days to book a flight, but according to Google data, Wednesday is technically the cheapest day to book. But the differences are marginal—it’s only cheaper by about 1.4% compared with Sunday, the most expensive day.

What’s more important is the day you fly versus the day you book. Travelers who head out on Monday and return Tuesday or Wednesday can save about 14% compared with weekend flights, according to Google. And if you’re willing to trade a direct flight for a connection, you could save even more, considering nonstop flights cost about 20% more on average.

That said, happy planning and happy holidays in advance!