Memorial Day Weekend Travel Guide

Memorial Day weekend is quickly approaching, and many travelers are planning to kick off the summer season with a long weekend getaway! Americans looking for a good deal on airfare should book soon, with prices expected to spike $10 every day after this coming Friday, May 10th.

Summary

When To Buy

• If you haven’t booked yet, be sure to purchase by Friday, May 10th; expect a moderate price increase of $5 per day until this date.

• In the final 2 weeks before Memorial Day Weekend, expect prices to begin spiking $10 per day until the holiday weekend begins.

When To Fly

• Airfare for weekend trips in the US are currently averaging $326 for a round trip ticket, down 4.5% from last year.

• Flexible travelers should book departures on Saturday, May 25th to save up to $50 on peak prices.

• International getaways will cost travelers a bit more, around $816 for a round-trip ticket, but prices are 8.6% less expensive compared to 2018.

• Flexible travelers should book departures the Thursday before the holiday (May 23), to take advantage of the lowest prices.

Trending Destinations

• Most popular domestic destinations for millennials include: Las Vegas, Miami, and Los Angeles.

• Most popular international destinations for millennials include: Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Destinations on Sale

• Top 5 domestic include: Minneapolis ($261 round-trip); Denver ($262 round-trip); Boston ($268 round-trip); Atlanta ($270 round-trip); Cleveland ($275 round-trip)

• Top 5 international include: Vancouver, Canada ($410 round-trip); Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ($433 round-trip); San Jose, Costa Rica ($438 round-trip); Nassau, The Bahamas ($491 round-trip); Panama City, Panama ($504 round-trip)

When to Buy

If you haven’t booked yet, be sure to purchase by Friday, May 10th. Expect a moderate price increase of $5 per day until this date. In the final 2 weeks before MDW expect prices to begin spiking $10 per day until the holiday weekend begins.

Figure 1: As Memorial Day weekend nears, prices for long weekend getaways will begin to rise, as can be seen on analogous dates last year.

When to Fly

Figure 2: Round Trip domestic flights are cheapest on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, while international flight prices are lowest on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend.

Trending Destinations

Which destinations are Americans watching for Memorial Day weekend? Here are the top 10 most watched domestic destinations for a Memorial Day getaway on Hopper.  

Americans are also traveling internationally, with a whole range of countries topping the long weekend bucketlist. Here are the top 10 most watched international destinations for a Memorial Day getaway on Hopper.

Destinations On Sale

Want to get away? Looking for last minute deals? It’s not too late to snag a deal on a domestic or international long weekend getaway!

Domestic Destinations

Round-trip flights to these trending destinations are below the Memorial Day Weekend average ticket price for a domestic trip.

International Destinations

Grab your passport and get away! Round-trip flights to these trending destinations are below the Memorial Day Weekend average ticket price for an international trip.

Methodology

Unless otherwise noted, flight prices represent weighted average prices for round trip tickets departing the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. The data presented in this study comes from Hopper's real-time feed of 25 to 30 billion daily airfare price quotes and its historical archive of several trillion prices from over the past several years.