Cheapest Month to Travel: Region-by-Region Matrix (2027)

In this guide

• Which month is cheapest in each region?
• Why do the datasets disagree?
• Europe
• Mexico and the Caribbean
• Japan
• United States
• Southeast Asia
• Which holidays and events break the pattern in 2027?
• How do you use this to pick dates?
• How was this matrix built?
• FAQ
• How we checked

South of the equator, January is peak summer: Bounce's 2022 data, now older than two years, put Sydney and Hamilton, New Zealand, at their cheapest in July.

No single study settles this, so we put them side by side. This page covers hotel prices only. Flights are outside its scope.

South America, Africa and Oceania have no row of their own, because we found no current dataset with monthly rates for them. The closest we have are two lines in Go2Africa's text, South Africa cheapest in June and Australia priciest in December, and the Sydney and Hamilton reading above.

Which month is cheapest in each region?

Northern cities are usually cheapest between December and February. Beach and desert destinations are usually cheapest in their hot or stormy season, roughly June to October. An empty cell below means the dataset doesn't state that figure. We don't estimate.

"Gap" is our own math: how far the low sits below the high. Rates are per room per night, in each source's currency.

Place	Cheapest	Priciest	Gap	Dataset	Period	Sample
Worldwide	January; November close			KAYAK searches	Jan 1, 2025 to Mar 18, 2026	Not published
Worldwide, by country	November, in 25 countries	December, in 38 countries		Go2Africa, booking-site prices	Completed Jan 2025	Every country, "millions of hotel prices"
Europe, by country	November: France, Norway, Sweden			Go2Africa	Completed Jan 2025	Every country
Spain, national	February, €112.50	August, €155.70	28%	INE official survey, revenue per occupied room	2025	National hotel survey
London	January, $209			Hotels.com, via Travel + Leisure	Published Mar 2026	Not published
Paris	February, $208			Hotels.com, via Travel + Leisure	Published Mar 2026	Not published
London, Amsterdam, Berlin	January			Bounce, using KAYAK, 3-star hotels	Nov 2023 (older than two years)	70 destinations
Paris, Milan	February			Same	Nov 2023 (older than two years)	70 destinations
Dubrovnik	December, $89	July, $824	89%	Bounce, using KAYAK, 3-star hotels	Jan 2022 (older than two years)	70 destinations
Italy		July		Go2Africa	Completed Jan 2025	Every country
Caribbean	September, $234.29 (lowest we could read)	December, $457.32	49%	STR, via Caribbean Journal, paid rates	Sep to Dec 2025	2,114 properties
Cancún resorts	October, $288	December, $484	40%	KAYAK, user searches	12 months to Nov 2026	Not published
Mexico, national		December		Go2Africa	Completed Jan 2025	Every country
Kyoto	February, ¥15,987	April, ¥30,640	48%	Kyoto City Tourism Association, paid rates	2025	105 to 115 hotels
Tokyo	January, $177			Hotels.com, via Travel + Leisure	Published Mar 2026	Not published
Japan, national	August, $197	March, $254	22%	KAYAK	Read Nov 6, 2026	Not published
Japan, national		December		Go2Africa	Completed Jan 2025	Every country
US, national	January, $138	October, $174	21%	Engine, lowest public rates	Mid-2024 to mid-2026	About 129 million prices, 50 markets, business accounts
Scope not stated by Hotels.com	January	Second week of October		Hotels.com booking data	2026 index	Booking data plus a survey of 11,000 travelers
Las Vegas	July, about $155	October, about $204	24%	LVCVA, paid rates	2025	Over 75% of hotel inventory
Las Vegas	June, $132	October, $180	27%	Engine, lowest public rates	May 2024 to Apr 2026	Business-account searches
Singapore	June, S$253.80	October, S$311.40	18%	Singapore Tourism Board, official	2025	Gazetted hotels
Bangkok	June, $176	December, $243	28%	KAYAK	Read Nov 7, 2026	Not published
Phuket	September, $152	December, $469	68%	KAYAK	Read Nov 7, 2026	Not published
Hanoi	August, $158	April, $204	23%	KAYAK	Read Nov 7, 2026	Not published
Ho Chi Minh City	October, $161	June, $215	25%	KAYAK	Read Nov 7, 2026	Not published
Bali, Indonesia	November, $233	July, $342	32%	KAYAK	Read Nov 7, 2026	Not published
Thailand		December		Go2Africa	Completed Jan 2025	Every country
Phuket, Chiang Mai		December		Bounce, using KAYAK, 3-star hotels	Nov 2023 (older than two years)	70 destinations
Dubai	June, $106	December, $256	59%	Wego, rates on clicked offers	12 months to Aug 2026	Not published
Doha	September, $113	November, $218	48%	Same	12 months to Aug 2026	Not published
Abu Dhabi	April, $121	November, $280	57%	Same	12 months to Aug 2026	Not published
Riyadh	March, $132	November, $208	37%	Same	12 months to Aug 2026	Not published

Why do the datasets disagree?

The studies disagree because they measure different things. They differ on place, on who is looking, on what price they record and on when they looked. "Cheapest month" is a different question in each one.

Climate can flip the calendar. Winter is the low season only where winter is unpleasant. In Wego's 12 months to August 2026, Dubai ran from $106 in June to $256 in December, and Doha from $113 in September to $218 in November. Phoenix does the same in Engine's data, at $96 in August against $246 in February and March. Bounce's 2022 data, older than two years, put Sydney and Hamilton, New Zealand, at their cheapest in July.

Countries and cities give different answers. Go2Africa calls December Japan's priciest month. Kyoto's own hotel data says April, and KAYAK's Japan page says March. A national average blends many cities, so a single destination can peak at a different time.

November and January come from different counts. Go2Africa's November means only that more countries bottomed out then than in any other month: 25, with an average drop of 3.51%. June's average drop was larger, at 3.88%. Go2Africa itself says November "could be classed as shoulder season." KAYAK's January is a single answer for hotels in the US and internationally, and it gives no monthly prices.

December is a peak in one dataset and a low in another. December is the priciest month in 38 countries in Go2Africa's data. In Engine's 50 US markets, which cover business accounts only, December is the cheapest month in 14. Our reading: holiday demand lifts the first figure and quiet corporate calendars lower the second. New York has both forces in one city, at $196 in January and $541 in December, and Engine says its swing "follows the corporate and holiday calendars, not the weather."

Some figures are paid and others are advertised. The official series and STR report what hotels actually earned per room sold. Engine, KAYAK and Go2Africa report prices shown on screen. Wego reports clicked offers and calls its figure "a booking-demand signal." Hotels.com cites booking data but doesn't say which price it averages. Kyoto's tourism association warns that its average differs from booking-site prices, so a paid average is a guide to the season and not a price you can book.

Las Vegas shows the effect in one city. LVCVA's survey makes July the low point, at about $155 in 2025. Engine's public rates make June the low, at $132. Both agree on summer and on an October peak, so the conflict is one month and about $23, not a change of season. Hotels.com's city table, reported by Travel + Leisure, gives a third answer, August at $162. It also falls in summer, but we weigh it less, because the same table puts Orlando's and Miami's cheapest months above their yearly averages.

Old data can carry a new date. Bounce's January ranking sits on a page dated October 2025, but its prices are "accurate as of 20/01/2022." Its second study is dated October 2024, with prices "correct as of 16/11/2023." January led 19 of 70 destinations in the first run and 15 in the second, when February led 12 more. January and February together took only 27 of 70.

Europe

The European cities these datasets name are mostly cheapest in January or February, but Go2Africa's country ranking points to November. Mediterranean countries peak in July or August in the national figures we read. Spain has the cleanest figures: in INE's official survey, hotels billed €112.50 per occupied room in February 2025 and €155.70 in August.

Go2Africa names France, Norway and Sweden among the countries cheapest in November, and says Southern Europe "can be surprisingly affordable in late March or November." A city and its country can part ways here: Paris is February in Hotels.com's figures, while France is November in Go2Africa's.

Spain's real lesson is the length of the cheap stretch. Every month from October to May stayed between €112.50 and €120.50, so spring and late fall cost nearly the same as midwinter. A year later, August 2026 reached €166.90.

Some places peak outside July and August. Austria rises 198% in December in Go2Africa's data, though the study gives no baseline for that figure, and Munich was one of the cities Bounce found priciest in September in its 2022 data. At country level, the Mediterranean peaks in summer instead: Italy rises 58.25% above its average in July, and Croatia carries a 47.78% premium.

Mexico and the Caribbean

Among the months we could read, Caribbean hotels are cheapest in September and October and priciest from December to March. Cancún points to September or October too, though KAYAK's pages disagree. STR's figures, reported by Caribbean Journal, show $234.29 a night in September 2025 and $249.70 in October, against $457.32 in December and $457.13 in March 2026. We could not find August or November 2025, so a lower month may exist.

The discount has a reason. Occupancy was 46.1% in September 2025 against 80.5% in March 2026, and the cheapest weeks fall in the Atlantic hurricane season. NOAA says the season "runs from June 1 to November 30," with the peak on September 10 and most activity from mid-August to mid-October.

May to July is a middle ground. Rates in 2026 ran from $325.10 to $331.14, about 28% below the March figure. June and July are in hurricane season but before NOAA's busiest stretch.

Mexico has no free monthly rate series that we could find. The Datatur figures we could read, reported by Tourism Analytics, cover occupancy, not price: Cancún hotels were 61.5% full in September 2025 and 74.0% in November.

KAYAK's Cancún pages contradict each other. Resorts are cheapest in October and priciest in December, budget hotels in September and November, and the South African site's hotels page says July and February. Treat "September or October" as the direction, not a promise. For resort stays, the room rate is only part of the math, so check whether an all-inclusive pays off in the month you pick.

Japan

Kyoto is cheapest in January, February and June to September and priciest in April and November, while KAYAK's national figure points to August. Kyoto is the best evidence, because its tourism association publishes actual rates from over 100 hotels every month. In 2025, Kyoto ran from ¥15,987 in February to ¥30,640 in April, the first time the survey passed ¥30,000. November was second at ¥29,085.

Summer is as cheap as winter. June to September all sat within 10% of February's low, at ¥16,863 in August and ¥16,903 in September. "Go in winter" therefore misses four of Kyoto's six cheapest months.

Month	Rate	Month	Rate
January	¥16,942	July	¥17,572
February	¥15,987	August	¥16,863
March	¥24,366	September	¥16,903
April	¥30,640	October	¥24,859
May	¥23,667	November	¥29,085
June	¥17,286	December	¥21,638

Four nights at the average rate would come to ¥63,948 in February and ¥122,560 in April, a difference of ¥58,612. For Tokyo we have only one monthly rate: Hotels.com's January low of $177.

United States

Most US cities are cheapest from November to February, with October as the national peak, in a dataset of business-account searches. Engine finds 40 of 50 markets cheapest from November to February and none cheapest in March, April or May. It limited the data to business accounts "so the numbers reflect corporate demand," so read these figures as the shape of each city's year, not as a leisure price. Hotels.com agrees on January and says the "priciest rates are found during the second week of October," though its release doesn't say whether those two findings are US or global.

Ten of Engine's 50 markets break the November-to-February pattern, and those exceptions "sit almost entirely in the Sun Belt." Nine of them bottom out in August or September, such as Phoenix, Tampa and Miami, and Las Vegas in June. Other warm markets, including San Diego, Dallas and Atlanta, are still cheapest in December.

Orlando is a hot-weather example, at $101 a night in August and September against $150 in February, which Engine puts down to "convention winter peaks." Those are business travelers' searches and can't show what a family would pay, so use our family vacation cost guide for the whole bill.

City	Cheapest	Priciest	Gap
New York	January, $196	December, $541	64%
Boston	January, $166	October, $458	64%
Chicago	January, $127	June, $319	60%
San Diego	December, $156	July, $292	47%
Miami	September, $128	February, $267	52%
Orlando	August and September, $101	February, $150	33%
Phoenix	August, $96	February and March, $246	61%
Honolulu	November, $169	July and December, $211	20%
Las Vegas	June, $132	October, $180	27%

Las Vegas needs one extra check. A cheap room rate can still carry a nightly resort fee, so compare totals. LVCVA also shows how much location matters: in August 2026 the Strip averaged $153.15 and Downtown $85.68.

Southeast Asia

Most Southeast Asian cities we could read are cheapest between June and October: June in Bangkok and Singapore, August in Hanoi, September in Phuket and October in Ho Chi Minh City. Bali is the exception, with its low in November. These are city answers, not a regional average.

Phuket has the widest swing here, from $152 in September to $469 in December on KAYAK's Phuket page. KAYAK's Bangkok page runs from $176 in June to $243 in December. Go2Africa names December as Thailand's priciest month, and Bounce's November 2023 run says the same of Phuket and Chiang Mai.

In Vietnam, Hanoi runs from $158 in August to $204 in April, and Ho Chi Minh City from $161 in October to $215 in June.

KAYAK's page for Bali, Indonesia gives November at $233 and July at $342. Take care with search results: a KAYAK page titled only "Bali" covers Bali on Crete, in Greece, so its months don't apply to Indonesia.

KAYAK's Bangkok and Hanoi pages also carry a season box that names different months from the monthly answer: October and September in Bangkok, November and June in Hanoi. We use the monthly answer, because it comes with a price. All KAYAK figures here are Nov 7 readings and can change.

Singapore is the only Southeast Asian market here with an official monthly rate series we could read, and its swing is small. In Singapore Tourism Board figures, June is the cheapest month both in 2025 (S$253.80) and in the first nine months of 2026 (S$260.70). That low contradicts Go2Africa, which lists Singapore as cheapest in November.

Singapore's peaks fell in event months. October 2025 hit S$311.40 in the month of the Singapore Grand Prix. February 2026 reached S$290.10 in the month of Chinese New Year.

For Malaysia we have one older figure: Bounce's November 2023 run has Kuala Lumpur falling 12.6% from December to November. If the whole trip matters more than the month, start with daily budgets by travel style.

Which holidays and events break the pattern in 2027?

A cheap month stops being cheap on specific dates. These are the ones the data supports.

When	What	Where it shows up in the data
Feb 6–7, 2027	Chinese New Year	Singapore's February 2026 rate was its highest of the first nine months of 2026
Mar 26, 2027	Good Friday, so Easter falls in March	INE analyzes March and April together because Easter moves
Late March to April	Cherry blossom	Kyoto's April peak
Apr 29 to May 5, 2027	Japan's Golden Week holidays	Kyoto's May rate, ¥23,667, stayed 48% above February's
Mar 10 and May 17, 2027	Eid holidays, listed by Singapore as Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji	Wego says Makkah and Madinah follow the Hijri calendar, shifting about 11 days earlier each year
From Sep 18, 2027	Oktoberfest in Munich	Bounce's priciest month for Munich was September (2022 data)
Second week of October	Fall breaks and foliage	The Hotels.com priciest period
Late December	Christmas and New Year	Go2Africa reports a 15.31% increase in US costs at Christmas, with no baseline stated

An event month can stand out from its season. Singapore's monthly rate fell from S$311.40 in October 2025, the race month, to S$271 in November.

How do you use this to pick dates?

Use the matrix to choose a window, then price your actual dates.

1. Find your place, not your region. Use the city row if one exists, because a national average can hide a city's peak, as Kyoto shows.
2. Prefer recent rates that guests actually paid. Trust official series over rows marked older than two years.
3. Check the event table. Move your dates if one lands on them.
4. Weigh the reason for the discount. Heat, storms or closures may explain a low price.
5. Price the whole trip. Put the room, taxes and fees into the trip budget calculator for two candidate months and compare totals.

How was this matrix built?

We read each study's own page on Nov 6, 2026, and KAYAK's Southeast Asian pages on Nov 7, recorded each period and sample, and left a cell blank where a source gave no figure. We calculated the gaps ourselves as the high minus the low, divided by the high. Studies more than two years old are marked.

STR's subscription data and Hotels.com's city figures were read through the publications named in the table, not at the source. The London, Paris and Tokyo figures come from the same Hotels.com table as the third Las Vegas answer, so they carry the same caution. We have not stayed at or tested any of these hotels, and your rate will differ.

FAQ

Is January or February cheaper for travel?

They are close, and the answer depends on the city. KAYAK and Hotels.com name January, Bounce's 2023 data split 15 destinations to January and 12 to February, and Spain's 2025 rates differed by only €0.30. Pick whichever avoids a local holiday.

What is the cheapest month to go abroad?

January is the best single answer for hotels, per KAYAK, which found it cheapest both in the US and internationally. For beach trips the answer shifts to September or October in the Caribbean and to June in Dubai.

Is November a cheap month to travel?

Yes, in many places. KAYAK says it follows closely behind January, and Go2Africa ranks it first by number of countries. It isn't cheap everywhere: Kyoto's November was its second-priciest month of 2025, and Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi peaked then in Wego's data.

What months are the off season for travel?

In Northern Hemisphere cities, roughly November to February, excluding Christmas week. In the Caribbean, roughly May to October. Gulf cities split: in Wego's data Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah bottom out between June and September, while Abu Dhabi and Manama are cheapest in April, Riyadh in March and Kuwait City in October.

How we checked

We read the sources below, copied the published figures and dated them.

1. KAYAK: The best time to book a hotel (updated Apr 24, 2026), kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
2. Hotels.com: 2026 Hotel Price Index (press release on Hospitality Net), hospitalitynet.org, checked Nov 7, 2026
3. Engine: Every city has a season (50 US markets, mid-2024 to mid-2026), engine.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
4. Engine: Average hotel price in Las Vegas by month, engine.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
5. Go2Africa: The cheapest time to visit every country (data completed Jan 2025), go2africa.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
6. Bounce: The best times to travel 2023 (prices as of Nov 16, 2023), bounce.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
7. Bounce: The best times to travel (prices as of Jan 20, 2022), bounce.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
8. Wego: Cheapest and priciest months to book hotels in 11 Gulf and Middle East cities (Aug 2026), blog.wego.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
9. INE Spain: Hotel Occupancy Survey, February 2025, ine.es, checked Nov 7, 2026
10. INE Spain: Hotel Occupancy Survey, August 2025, ine.es, checked Nov 7, 2026
11. INE Spain: Hotel Occupancy Survey, April 2025, ine.es, checked Nov 7, 2026
12. INE Spain: Hotel Occupancy Survey, August 2026, ine.es, checked Nov 7, 2026
13. Kyoto City Tourism Association: Monthly hotel report, February 2025, kyokanko.or.jp, checked Nov 7, 2026
14. Kyoto City Tourism Association: Monthly hotel report, April 2025, kyokanko.or.jp, checked Nov 7, 2026
15. Kyoto City Tourism Association: Monthly hotel report, November 2025, kyokanko.or.jp, checked Nov 7, 2026
16. Kyoto City Tourism Association: Monthly hotel report, December 2025 and year 2025, kyokanko.or.jp, checked Nov 7, 2026
17. SingStat, Singapore Tourism Board: Hotel Statistics, Monthly, tablebuilder.singstat.gov.sg, checked Nov 7, 2026
18. Formula 1: 2025 Singapore Grand Prix, formula1.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
19. LVCVA: Year-to-Date Summary for 2025, revised (workbook), assets.simpleviewcms.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
20. LVCVA: Executive Summary, August 2026, assets.simpleviewcms.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
21. Caribbean Journal, STR data: September 2025, caribjournal.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
22. Caribbean Journal, STR data: October 2025, caribjournal.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
23. Caribbean Journal, STR data: December and full year 2025, caribjournal.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
24. Caribbean Journal, STR data: January to July 2026, caribjournal.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
25. KAYAK: Cancún resorts, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
26. KAYAK: Cancún budget hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
27. KAYAK South Africa: Cancún hotels, za.kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
28. KAYAK: Japan hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
29. KAYAK: Bangkok hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
30. KAYAK: Phuket hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
31. KAYAK: Hanoi hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
32. KAYAK: Ho Chi Minh City hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
33. KAYAK: Bali, Indonesia hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
34. KAYAK: Bali, Crete (Greece) hotels, kayak.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
35. Tourism Analytics, Datatur data: Cancún occupancy, September 2025, tourismanalytics.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
36. Tourism Analytics, Datatur data: Cancún occupancy, November 2025, tourismanalytics.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
37. Travel + Leisure on Yahoo: Hotels.com data for London, Paris, Tokyo and New York (Mar 17, 2026), travel.yahoo.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
38. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Tropical cyclone climatology, nhc.noaa.gov, checked Nov 7, 2026
39. Singapore Ministry of Manpower: Public holidays, mom.gov.sg, checked Nov 7, 2026
40. Cabinet Office of Japan: National holidays, www8.cao.go.jp, checked Nov 7, 2026
41. muenchen.de: Oktoberfest opening hours, muenchen.de, checked Nov 7, 2026

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