User guide
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Holidays and travel
With copious comparison sites at our fingertips, we can now be our own travel agents. We'll show you how to maximise your chance of bagging that elusive best deal.
The cooler, darker months of autumn and winter may be cheered by booking a holiday, but is Black Friday the best moment to be vigilant for flight bargains and holiday reductions, or are there better times to book? And while we don’t like to dwell on what could go wrong on holiday, we will help you to find travel insurance that covers you for the essentials, without paying out for irrelevant extras. For travel advice all year around, our Travel newsletter has you covered.
What’s a good deal on holidays or travel during the winter sales period?
Travel agents still use the January sales season to promote ‘best ever’ deals, but when we researched this claim we found that ‘book early’ deals, last-minute deals and Black Friday promotions often didn’t translate into a cheaper holiday. In fact, in around half of the cases, the deal price was the same, or even cheaper, after the sale period.
Is it worth booking on Black Friday?
Black Friday has become (in)famous as a time to grab a bargain, but it often isn’t the best time to buy, whether that’s household products and tech, or flights and holidays. Even if the airlines and holiday companies might tempt you in their adverts, the discounts aren't all that good compared to any other time of the year.
When it comes to booking flights, research we carried out over a year showed that booking early, but not too early, was the best way to get the best price. We found that a 7 night stay in Greece including flights for July 2023 cost on average £1,067 nine months before departure, £1,021 seven months before and £1,263 one week before departure.
Research undertaken by comparison site Skyscanner showed that booking six months before travel from the UK gives you the cheapest deals overall. For some destinations, 12 months was even better, but for others, three months was best for getting a good-value deal.
So, it’s more about knowing some time in advance where you want to go and starting to track prices. You can set up a flight alert with Skyscanner, Kayak or Google Flights, who will send you an email if the price of the flight you’re interested in changes.
Don't rule out package deals
All-inclusive holidays may sound like they'd be more expensive than booking each part of your holiday separately. However, our research found that an all-inclusive beach holiday costs less in 7 out of 10 popular destinations. We compared flights, accommodation, plus food and drink costs for a range of short haul and long haul destinations.
The December 2023 edition of Which? Travel will include new research on booking around Black Friday and the best way to get a cheap deal. In the meantime, there are always tips and tricks worth trying out no matter when you're booking to save money on flights.
Join Which? Travel for independent reviews and recommendations for just £3 a month. After 30 days’ membership you can also call us for travel-related legal advice.
On average, Tuesday is the cheapest day of the week to fly.
Travel insurance explained and best providers
A reliable travel insurance policy that provides the level of cover you need without bumping up the premium unduly is what most holiday-makers are after.
In April 2023 we surveyed 56 travel insurance companies about their levels of cover and analysed 161 of their policies. We rated 67 key elements of each policy. This resulted in a 'policy score' that reflects how well each one did overall. The higher the score, the more comprehensive the cover.
The providers that stood out in our analysis were NFU Mutual, All Clear, Avanti, InsureandGo, Unity Travel, Sainsbury's Bank and Avion.
For all the detail head to Best and worst travel insurance to read more and listen to our travel insurance podcast.
Best UK Christmas markets
Soulless online browsing or drifting through big department stores can make Christmas shopping a joyless chore. Instead, turn it into a part of the seasonal fun by heading to a local market and soaking up some festive atmosphere while supporting local businesses.
York, Belfast and Edinburgh were top-rated destinations from our annual survey on city breaks, and all pull out the stops in the run up to Christmas, offering ice rinks, fairground rides and locally made goodies. Our article from last year gives more detail about excellent UK cities and their Christmas markets, and we'll be publishing this year's list soon.
Transform travel campaign
We’re calling for a major overhaul of the travel industry. We believe that the appalling way airlines have treated passengers by repeatedly cancelling flights at the last minute and not telling them about their consumer rights is unacceptable. Read more about our campaign.