pandoraone

A rare chance has come up for my family to all travel together this winter. We are available from 12/22-1/3(for any amount of days) and want to spend the time in a nice place together.

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on where to go for as cheap as possible (in terms of airfare + overall cost).

We are interested in seeing unique places, cool architecture, and somewhere it is hopefully not too cold. Interested in history but also relaxing.

Ideally Asia/South America would be awesome but flights are quite expensive at close to $2000 X5 = 10,000 just for the flights.

Our ideal budget would be like $1000 per flight and maybe the hotels and living done for $2500.


Places that interest us - Ankor wat, Singapore (BKK), Spain, China, any southwest Asian country, Argentina.

Everyone age 16+.

Any suggestions for cheap travel? Flying out of NYC

Thanks!

WillTravel

Probably the cheapest thing to do would be to base in one spot, with an apartment. Then you could use public transit, or rent cars as appropriate on particular days, and go out from there. For example, maybe you could go to Seville and see the Andalucian region? Or maybe Madrid or Barcelona? I would also consider Portugal.

Tchiowa

Did you really mean SouthWest Asia? Kazakhstan? Iran?

Singapore is going to be way too expensive. Try staying the entire time in Thailand. You can do side trips to Singapore for a day or 2. And Angkor Wat. And other neighboring sites.

UAPremExecflyer

Can I suggest that you start by matching your expectations with reality. You want to travel at one of the very busiest and most expensive times of the year - over Xmas and New Year holidays. All of the cheap seats, if there were any, are long gone.

wharvey

I agree with the previous poster, it is going to be almost impossible to find any cheap flights anywhere good at this point.... you might have luck if you are willing to travel on Christmas Day...

So, you probably need to narrow down quickly where you want to go... and then check to see what you can find. You might consider splitting up and not all travelling on the same flight. Check for fewer tickets because, if you put in five travelers, most search engines will only book you into a fare class that has five seats available.... and that will raise the price.

WillTravel

There can be cheap flights during the holiday season, and they can crop up even later than now, but you have to act quickly and be very flexible.

I notice that Mexico is not on the list. Surprisingly, I was able to get a cheap fare to Cancun for the holiday period when purchasing (I think) in November, but hotels in Cancun were ridiculously expensive. No problem, as I went to Tulum and Merida instead. Merida in particular has great bargains, and it is a beautiful city. Of course, there are numerous other places in Mexico that would be great for a family trip.

RustyC

You're really swimming against the tide on those dates. Just about ANY other time of year would be cheaper, maybe on the order of 50%+ or more. Also goes for hotels in many of the places...even in a reasonable-cost place like Thailand you're looking at the highest occupancy week of the year.

Sometimes deals can pop up, though for Asia it's likely to be on underbooked Asian carriers releasing seat blocks and not on ones like DL and UA that have thin schedules anyway.

I think the best thing to do would be to cast a wide net and be driven by what deals you could find. Thailand or Cambodia lodgings would be tolerable still if you could make the airfare work, as would a place like Argentina or Peru. You're just at the worst possible time for demand and airlines will take maximum advantage of it.

Another factor: If you go to a non-Christian country you'll probably have an easier time with ground transportation within the country and things generally operating as normal (Christmas is just another day in Thailand, and you have to go to foreigner-oriented places to see the difference). In a Christian country like much of South America you could run into places closed for the week or lots of people on buses and trains going home and back.

EmailKid

You beat me to it - this is very good advice.

Sadly, if this is the time you can all take a vacation, prices go WAY up at this time of the year for most destinations. And it's high season in South East Asia, as many Europeans take their two MONTHS of vacation to get away from winter.

And agree with poster who said that if you can fly on Xmas Day, that is the day to find deals. Origin / return fares, well, that's another story

Tchiowa

Christmas is just another day in Thailand? I have to disagree. I have lived in Thailand full or part time for 20 years. Christmas is a big deal in Bangkok and all the tourist cities of Thailand. Hotel rates are high. Hotels are full. Roads are packed with shoppers.

parkball2

You can get direct flights to Cancun (CUN) pretty cheap. Akumal,Tulum, and Puerto Morelos are great places to visit in the area and have plenty of activities for the family at a reasonable price.

cargo13

There are lots of fun and interesting itineraries on cruises in South Asia:
http://shop.cruisedeals.com/cs/forms...F1%2F2014&pg=1

Its affordable for a family. You could cruise part of the trip to get a wide perspective of many cities/ports and go further inland for highlights you want to focus on. River cruising is an option as well which is like a hotel on a river but its more expensive. Viking sails in SE Asia.

tommy2tone

Why not consider Mexico or other parts of Central America? There is plenty of adventure, history, and culture, plus you can spend a few days in the sun. Its probably a bit cheaper than Asia too.

Romelle

For hunting down those better airfare prices, you can cast a wide net with ITA - http://matrix.itasoftware.com . You can code it for multiple destinations.

Kayak's Explore option is also handy for looking at flight options.

As previous posters have mentioned Christmas Day can be a less expensive travel day, and also New Year's Day.

Although there are a number of good cruise search sites, I like www.vacationstogo.com for its Custom Search. You can pick ports, dates, lines and ships, etc. And a cruise could be a very good solution. Lots of possibilities.

Kayak's Explore option is handy for looking at flight options.

If you get your destination and dates pinned down, bidding for hotels via Priceline can save some money. And you can get how-to advice on www.betterbidding.com.

A budget option for lodging is www.airbnb.com .

Romelle

EmailKid

From my many trips to Asia and Latin America I have found that low cost Asian countries like Thailand or Philippines are cheaper.

WillTravel

Yes, but for a relatively short trip, if the airfare is say $500 more per person (for a family of 4), that cost difference between Mexico vs. Thailand/Philippines likely evaporates.