If ‘fall is really the new summer,’ are there any autumn travel deals left?

Heather Wright has long been a fan of off-season travel, when the weather cools, crowds thin and prices drop significantly.

At least, that used to be the pattern heading into fall.

Wright, a tax accountant from Seattle, has been looking to take a trip with friends to Europe in November, possibly to Malta or Madeira. She plans to fly into whichever major European airport she can comfortably reach from the US for a good deal and take shorter flights onward from there. But she’s not finding the savings she expected.

“This fall is kind of weird. It just feels like the prices are a lot higher later into the season than they have been in the past,” said Wright, who has focused mostly on tracking airfare.

Surging jet fuel prices caused by the war with Iran sent fares way up this year. And the broader travel savings long associated with the shift from summer to fall have been shrinking for several years as demand for autumn travel grows. Finding fall value is still possible, some experts say. But travelers will need to be more flexible and strategic.

It’s clear that the “secret season” is no longer a secret, especially among luxury travelers.

“Our perspective is that fall is really the new summer,” said Misty Belles, vice president of global public relations for Virtuoso, a network that specializes in luxury and experiential travel.

Virtuoso is seeing a 59% increase in fall 2026 bookings over last year, with the amount of money generated off fall bookings up 69%. Virtuoso’s bookings to Europe this fall have climbed 49%, even as rates rose more than 7%, “showing that travelers are choosing the season for what it offers rather than what it saves,” Belles noted in a recent presentation. (Virtuoso’s figures are based almost entirely on high-end hotel insights).

Higher prices aren’t limited to international luxury travel. In the US, autumn savings on domestic airfare have pretty much dried up.

“It seems like this year, there is not going to be a shoulder season for domestic travelers,” said Hayley Berg, lead travel economist for travel technology platform Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS).

HTS shows average domestic fall airfare is up 39% compared to last year ­— putting ticket prices in line with peak summer months for the first time in years.

Four years ago, the cost of US domestic airfare in the fall was about 20% less than peak summer. This year, it’s 1% higher, according to HTS. The company points to this year’s fuel shock, increased demand driven by flexible remote work arrangements and less competition from low-cost carriers as factors in the disappearance of discounts.

Expedia has found that prices this fall in its top 10 US destinations, including New York, Miami and New Orleans, are higher than this summer, with lodging costs up an average of 20% and flight prices 2% higher. But the travel company also pointed to US beach and mountain destinations where significant fall savings are possible, including Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and Aspen, Colorado.

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

US travelers aren’t the only ones facing high autumn prices. Expedia also found that fall hotel stays in destinations across the United Kingdom are, on average, slightly higher than summer, with some spots up as much as 20% to 30%. But some destinations in Portugal’s Algarve region and the Greek islands offer significant savings, the company pointed out.

“Fall travel savings aren’t gone, but they’re not automatic,” said Melanie Fish, head of public relations for Expedia Group.

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As dynamic pricing has spread more widely into the lodging sector, largely gone are the days when hoteliers automatically dropped prices as calendars flipped to September. For fall savings “it’s just as much about flexibility for where you go as scheduling that trip right after Labor Day,” Fish said.

Travelers are searching on Expedia Group sites such as Expedia.com and Hotels.com using budget filters, Fish said, and “they’re using their rewards, they’re bundling perks and other ways to stretch the value of a trip” beyond just picking a date after the holiday weekend.

Berg says looking at different airports within the same state or region can yield savings. Being flexible on your destination within the framework of a certain type of getaway — a beach vacation, for example — helps. And choosing dates that don’t make for the very popular Thursday-to-Sunday trip can be a cost-saver.

“Sunday is typically the cheapest day of the week to stay,” Fish said. “So if you can plan your shoulder-season trip over a Sunday, then you have a double chance of getting some savings there.”

Airfares will drop for most international regions going into fall, compared to summer 2026 fares — but by less than in recent years. In 2023, Europe fares dropped by 33% from summer to fall; this year HTS says that summer-to-fall drop will be 22%.

“So the savings percentage versus summer is still there. It’s just that prices are so much higher across the board that you’re still going to be paying more this year,” Berg said. Airfares to Europe this fall are up 33% compared to last fall, according to HTS.

It’s no surprise that the increasingly relentless heat of summer is a key driver of the shift toward fall travel. Crowds are another huge factor. And travelers have more flexibility.

Even families tied to school calendars are increasingly taking advantage of short school breaks spread throughout the year, according to Jo-Anne Redwood, a travel adviser in southern California with Luna World Travel, which is a Virtuoso member.

Redwood was reminded this summer of why she never suggests August to her clients.

She spent a few sweltering weeks in Europe in July and August, in part to participate in what’s known as a “familiarization trip” to learn more about offerings from a luxury cruise line. Peak summer was the only time it was available.

“It was miserable,” she said. On a tour she took in Budapest, one woman fainted. Redwood said the temperature was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit with 80% humidity.

Redwood’s affluent clients are prioritizing the comfort that fall offers, both through lower temperatures and fewer crowds.

Courtesy Jo-Anne Redwood

“September has really replaced August and October is replacing September … I’m very, very busy right now with late September, October and even November cruising,” Redwood said.

And prices are reflecting the high demand for fall trips.

She was researching river cruises for late October and early November recently and she said prices are 15% to 20% higher — about $1,000 more — for those dates than they are for early September this year.

And hotel rooms at smaller luxury properties with fewer rooms are becoming increasingly scarce. “I just tried to book the Rosewood in Tuscany for October, and the only room that’s left is $17,000 a night,” she said.

While that highest-end price is eye-popping, increases are evident across the spectrum.

“So on the higher end, yes, I am finding availability is a challenge in October. On the lower end, I think there’s still a lot of availability, but you’re just paying more for it,” Redwood said.

The surge in interest among some travelers doesn’t necessarily mean that overall travel volume has been spiking this year.

According to data tracked by analytics firm Cirium, a significant sample of airline booking data from online travel agencies and the global distribution system (GDS) for airlines suggests that bookings from the US to Europe for this July declined by about 6% from July 2025. And data for tickets booked over the summer for travel this fall suggests a similar nearly 6% autumn dip for travel from the US to Europe, compared to the same period last year.

But Belles noted generally that bookings look higher in the luxury market, where traveler appetites closely mirror the performance of the stock market, which has been booming this year. She also pointed to the continued trend of prioritizing experiences over goods. And the experiences many Virtuoso travelers are seeking involve having more of a destination to themselves.

That could be why interest in traveling in November is surging, too.

Belles said it used to be a month that travelers mostly skipped over because of US Thanksgiving, “so now to see that we’re up like 70 and 71% for bookings and sales for November is really pretty staggering to me,” she said.

Wright, the Seattle accountant, clearly has plenty of company as she eyes a late-fall break in Europe.

Wright is hoping to fly premium economy or business class, but only if she can find a good deal. She’s planning to use credit card miles for at least part of her fare.

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Wright has noticed that one-way cash prices, which she has typically found to be closer to the price of a roundtrip fare, are now closer to half the roundtrip price. She’s thinking about mixing and matching one-way tickets, possibly in different cabin classes, paid for through a combination of cash and loyalty miles, to make her trip happen.

But Wright is also noticing plenty of empty seats on the flights she’s been considering and is confounded by the high prices.

“I’m just wondering if there’s a standoff between travelers and the airlines, where everyone is waiting to see who will blink first,” she said in an email to CNN Travel.

Courtesy Heather Wright

“I suspect the airlines, knowing that fall travel is now much more popular than in the past, and that certain pockets of the population are still doing really well, are trying to sell as many expensive seats as early as they can, while waiting to see what happens with fuel costs,” Wright said.

For now, she said she’s “in a holding pattern,” monitoring tickets to see what kind of fall value she can find.

“I just don’t want to break the bank for a November trip. That just seems crazy to me.”

希瑟·赖特一直很喜欢淡季旅行，因为那时天气凉爽，游客稀少，价格也大幅下降。

至少，过去秋季来临前通常是这样的。

来自西雅图的税务会计师赖特计划11月和朋友们一起去欧洲旅行，目的地可能是马耳他或马德拉岛。她打算先飞往美国附近交通便利、机票价格合适的欧洲主要机场，然后再从那里转机前往其他地方。但她并没有找到预期的省钱方法。

“今年秋季有点奇怪。感觉到了季末，价格比往年高得多，”主要关注机票价格的赖特说道。

受伊朗战争影响，航空燃油价格飙升，导致今年机票价格大幅上涨。此外，随着秋季出行需求的增长，以往夏季到秋季出行带来的旅行优惠也已连续数年减少。一些专家表示，秋季出行仍然有可能找到性价比高的机票，但旅客需要更加灵活和策略性地安排行程。

很显然，“秘密旅游旺季”已经不再是秘密了，尤其是在高端旅行者中。

“我们认为秋季实际上是新的夏季，”专注于奢华和体验式旅行的网络公司 Virtuoso 的全球公共关系副总裁 Misty Belles 说。

Virtuoso 预计 2026 年秋季的预订量将比去年增长 59%，秋季预订带来的收益也将增长 69%。Virtuoso 今年秋季前往欧洲的预订量增长了 49%，即便房价上涨超过 7%。Belles 在最近的一次演讲中指出：“这表明旅行者选择这个季节是看重它所提供的体验，而不是价格。” （Virtuoso 的数据几乎完全基于高端酒店的市场洞察。）

价格上涨并非仅限于国际豪华旅行。在美国，秋季国内机票的优惠活动也几乎已经结束。

“今年国内游客似乎不会有淡季了，”旅游技术平台 Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS) 的首席旅游经济学家 Hayley Berg 表示。

HTS数据显示，美国国内秋季机票平均价格比去年上涨了39%，这是多年来机票价格首次与夏季高峰月份的价格持平。

四年前，美国国内机票秋季价格比夏季高峰期便宜约20%。据HTS公司称，今年秋季价格却上涨了1%。该公司指出，今年的燃油价格冲击、灵活的远程办公安排带来的增长需求以及低成本航空公司竞争的减少，都是导致折扣消失的因素。

Expedia发现，包括纽约、迈阿密和新奥尔良在内的美国十大热门旅游目的地，今年秋季的价格高于夏季，住宿费用平均上涨20%，机票价格上涨2%。但这家旅游公司也指出，在美国的一些海滩和山区旅游目的地，例如佛罗里达州的沃尔顿堡海滩和科罗拉多州的阿斯彭，秋季的旅游价格则有显著的优惠。

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

面临秋季高价的并非只有美国游客。Expedia 的调查也显示，英国各地秋季酒店住宿价格平均略高于夏季，部分地区涨幅甚至高达 20% 至 30%。但该公司指出，葡萄牙阿尔加维地区和希腊群岛的部分目的地则能提供显著的优惠。

“秋季旅行优惠并没有消失，但也不是自动生效的，”Expedia集团公关主管梅兰妮·菲什表示。

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随着动态定价在住宿行业的普及，酒店在九月到来之际自动降价的时代已经基本结束了。菲什表示，秋季省钱的关键在于“出行目的地的灵活性，以及​​在劳动节后立即安排行程”。

Fish表示，旅客们正在Expedia集团旗下的Expedia.com和Hotels.com等网站上使用预算筛选器进行搜索，“他们不仅选择在节假日周末之后出行，还会利用他们的奖励、捆绑优惠和其他方式来提升旅行的价值”。

伯格表示，在同一州或地区内选择不同的机场可以节省开支。如果想进行某种类型的度假——例如海滩度假——并且目的地灵活一些，也会有所帮助。此外，选择避开热门的周四至周日出行日期也能省钱。

“通常来说，周日是一周中最便宜的住宿日，”菲什说。“所以，如果你能把淡季旅行安排在周日，那么你就有双倍的机会省钱。”

与2026年夏季相比，秋季大多数国际地区的机票价格将会下降，但降幅小于近年。2023年，欧洲机票价格从夏季到秋季下降了33%；HTS预测，今年夏季到秋季的降幅将为22%。

“所以，与夏季相比，价格节省的比例依然存在。只是整体价格上涨幅度太大，今年你最终还是要支付更多费用，”伯格说道。据HTS的数据显示，今年秋季飞往欧洲的机票价格比去年秋季上涨了33%。

夏季酷暑难耐，这无疑是促使人们转向秋季出行的主要因素之一。人潮拥挤也是一大影响因素。此外，秋季出行也让旅行者拥有更大的灵活性。

据 Virtuoso 会员 Luna World Travel 的南加州旅行顾问 Jo-Anne Redwood 称，即使是那些受学校日历约束的家庭，也越来越多地利用全年分散的短暂假期。

今年夏天，雷德伍德再次意识到为什么她从不向客户建议八月出行。

七八月份，她在欧洲度过了几个酷热难耐的星期，部分原因是参加所谓的“考察之旅”，以更多地了解一家豪华邮轮公司提供的服务。只有盛夏时节才有这样的机会。

“真是太糟糕了，”她说。在她带队游览布达佩斯时，有一位女士晕倒了。雷德伍德说，当时气温接近华氏100度，湿度高达80%。

红木酒店的富裕客户们更看重秋季带来的舒适感，包括较低的气温和较少的人群。

图片由 Jo-Anne Redwood 提供

“九月已经取代了八月，十月又取代了九月……我现在非常非常忙，因为九月下旬、十月甚至十一月都有邮轮航行，”雷德伍德说。

价格也反映了秋季旅游的高需求。

她最近在研究十月下旬和十一月初的河轮旅行，她说这些日期的价格比今年九月初的价格高出 15% 到 20%——大约贵 1000 美元。

而那些房间数量较少的小型豪华酒店，房源也变得越来越稀缺。“我刚才想预订托斯卡纳的瑰丽酒店十月份的房间，结果只剩下一间了，每晚要17000美元。”她说。

虽然最高端的价格令人瞠目结舌，但各个价位的产品价格都在上涨。

“所以，高端房源在十月份确实很难订到。低端房源虽然还有很多，但价格也更高，”雷德伍德说道。

部分旅行者兴趣的激增并不一定意味着今年的整体旅行量出现了激增。

根据分析公司Cirium追踪的数据，来自在线旅行社和航空公司全球分销系统（GDS）的大量航班预订数据显示，今年7月从美国飞往欧洲的预订量比2025年7月下降了约6%。而夏季预订的秋季机票数据显示，与去年同期相比，今年秋季从美国飞往欧洲的旅行量也出现了类似的近6%的降幅。

但贝尔斯指出，总体而言，高端市场的预订量更高，因为旅行者的需求与股市表现密切相关，而股市今年一直一片繁荣。她还指出，人们越来越重视体验而非商品。许多Virtuoso旅行者所追求的体验，就包括拥有更多属于自己的旅行目的地。

这或许也能解释为什么人们对11月份的旅行兴趣激增。

贝尔斯说，过去由于美国感恩节，旅行者大多会避开11月，“所以现在看到11月的预订量和销售额增长了70%到71%，这真的让我非常震惊，”她说。

西雅图会计师赖特显然并不孤单，很多人都和她一样，计划在秋末去欧洲度假。

赖特希望乘坐高级经济舱或商务舱，但前提是能找到合适的特价机票。她计划至少用信用卡里程抵扣一部分机票费用。

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

赖特注意到，单程现金票价（她通常认为单程票价接近往返票价）现在接近往返票价的一半。她正在考虑将不同舱位等级的单程机票组合起来，用现金和里程积分相结合的方式支付，以实现她的旅行计划。

但赖特也注意到，在她考虑的航班上有很多空位，并且对高昂的票价感到困惑。

“我只是想知道旅客和航空公司之间是否出现了僵局，大家都在等着看谁先让步，”她在给 CNN 旅游频道的电子邮件中写道。

图片由 Heather Wright 提供

赖特说：“我怀疑航空公司知道秋季旅行现在比以往更受欢迎，而且某些地区的经济状况仍然非常好，因此正在尽早尽可能多地出售高价机票，同时等待燃油成本的走势。”

她表示，目前她“处于观望状态”，密切关注球票走势，看看能否找到合适的下跌价值。

“我不想为了十一月的旅行而倾家荡产。我觉得那太疯狂了。”