Ultimate guide to shoulder season travel: top deals and smart tips for fall 2025.

Summer can keep the sunburn. Shoulder season (or what the normies call “fall travel”) is where travel gets hot. From post-Labor Day to late fall, prices and crowds tend to cool and you finally get some elbow room.

With KAYAK on deal patrol 24/7, we’ll find the good stuff, you take the credit. Ready to swap lines for more time? Your post‑summer escape starts here.

How shoulder season travel stacks up.

33%↓

avg. international airfare

Shoulder season vs summer 2025

Here’s the deal: shoulder season isn’t just about fewer crowds, it’s about paying way less for the parts of your trip that really add up. International airfares drop by 33%, and domestic airfares fall 21%. Rental cars? They’re a sweet deal too, with prices down 19% both at home and abroad. Hotels follow suit with prices for international stays down 10% and domestic hotel prices down 3%.

If you’re flexible on timing and destination, shoulder season can let you save big on the essentials, and that means more travel for your buck.

Rear view of a woman at the airport holding a passport with a boarding pass as she walks to her departure gate

Europe leads the way in travel deals.

Boats gracefully glide along a serene canal, embraced by buildings on either side.

Europe is the star for US shoulder season travel, often offering beautiful weather and prices that have dropped so hard they practically need a band-aid. Airfare to Europe during shoulder season is currently 37% lower, compared to the peak summer months.

But it’s not just Europe where you could save. Here’s a quick look at how much you can currently save on flights to each region during shoulder season compared to peak summer:

Top deals: Why Spain is owning shoulder season.

Looking for the biggest airfare drops? Spain is crushing it this shoulder season for US travelers, with four cities in the top ten for flight price cuts – with lower airfares by nearly 47% for shoulder season compared to peak summer. That’s a serious deal for some of Europe’s hottest spots.

A busy public square in front of a clock tower with a bell on top.

Domestic travel deals worth knowing about.

Shoulder season doesn’t just shine internationally, it’s packed with domestic travel bargains too. Whether you’re chasing city vibes, beach breezes or mountain air, this is your chance to save serious cash on flights across the country.

Here are the top 10 domestic cities with the biggest airfare drops this shoulder season:

A tranquil river meanders through a lush forest, adorned with a marina where boats rest peacefully, while a charming town emerges amidst the verdant trees.

And here are the 10 most affordable domestic destinations by average airfare in shoulder season:

Tips for saving big during shoulder season.

Ready to make the most of shoulder season? Here are our tips to help you lock in the best deals via KAYAK.ai (beta), our innovation sandbox — a place to experiment, uncover what resonates with travelers, and roll those best AI discoveries into KAYAK.com and our core travel tools.

Start with an idea, not a destination.

You don’t need your destination locked in. Just tell KAYAK.ai the vibe and budget (sunny and under $300? Cultural but low‑key?) and it’ll do the searching for you.

Spot the best days to fly.

Our tool can recommend the best days to travel for any destination. No need to scroll through the calendar.

Get your trip ready in seconds.

KAYAK.ai pulls together destination ideas, price estimates and travel tips into a quick, personalized snapshot, making trip planning faster, easier and a lot more fun.

If you’ve been holding out on booking those trips, shoulder season just made it a lot easier to say yes. Lower prices, smaller crowds and great weather combine to create the perfect travel sweet spot.

Start searching on KAYAK today for flights, hotels and rental cars and get ready to make your post-summer getaway a reality.

Methodology

Flight insights in this report are based on flight searches made on KAYAK in the period between 04/15/2025 and 07/31/2025 for flights with departure between 09/15/2025 and 11/15/2025 (shoulder season) from any US airport. They were compared year-over-year to searches made in the same search and travel period in 2024.

For the seasonal comparison, these were also compared to searches made between 01/01/2025 and 04/15/2025 for flights with departure between 06/01/2025 and 07/31/2025. All flight prices are average prices for economy, round-trip tickets (except average prices for other classes).

Insights relating to hotels and car rentals are based on searches made on KAYAK for the same search and travel periods as for the flight searches. These are then compared to the same periods in 2024 and July and August 2025. All hotel prices are average for one night in any star category for a standard double room. All car rental prices are daily averages on rental cars.

All prices may vary and savings cannot be guaranteed. Percentages for changes in searches are approximate.

The ultimate guide to shoulder season travel: save big, avoid crowds.

In this article

How shoulder season travel stacks up.

Europe leads the way in travel deals.

Top deals: Why Spain is owning shoulder season.

Domestic travel deals worth knowing about.

Tips for saving big during shoulder season.

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