Top 10 Off-Season Travel Destinations (and Exactly When to Go)

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• Also see: The Holiday Season, Sorted: Every Top 10 in One Place
• Also see: Top 10 Ways to Beat Christmas Overspending

Quick answer: Go in the shoulder season — the weeks just either side of peak — for the best balance of weather, price and crowds. Europe’s coasts and islands empty out from November to March; ski towns are cheapest and best in summer; Japan is at its cheapest and most beautiful in late autumn. Expect 30–50% off accommodation, and remember the savings are in the hotels, not the flights.

Peak, shoulder, off — and why the middle one usually wins

Travel has three seasons, and only one of them is the sweet spot:

• Peak. School holidays and the best weather. Highest prices, longest queues, and the version of a place everyone has seen a photograph of.
• Shoulder. The weeks on either side. Weather is usually still good, crowds are halved, and prices drop first here.
• Off-season. The quietest and cheapest, but the weather is a gamble and some places genuinely shut down.

The reason most savvy travellers pick the shoulder rather than the deep off-season is that the discount from peak to shoulder is already large — often a third — while the weather penalty is small. The extra saving from going deeper into the off-season is real, but so is the risk of a washed-out week.

type: bar
title: Typical accommodation price, by season (index, peak = 100)
x: Peak, Shoulder, Off-season
Index: 100, 68, 45

That is the whole economic case in one picture: the same room is roughly a third cheaper on the shoulder and under half price off-season.

The ranking

1. Santorini and the Greek islands. Off-season November to March. The famous sunset is quieter, the hotels are cheaper, and the trade is that most coastal hotels and inter-island ferries close from about November.

2. Venice, Italy. Off-season late November to February, avoiding the Christmas and Carnival spikes. Cold, atmospheric, sometimes flooded (the acqua alta), and infinitely better than the summer crush.

3. Amalfi Coast, Italy. Off-season November to April. The cliff towns are beautiful in the quiet season and the lemons are still on the trees; many seafront hotels shut, so check before you book.

4. Kyoto, Japan. Off-season winter, January to February. Cherry-blossom spring and autumn-foliage November are the peaks; winter is cold, quiet, cheap, and the temples in snow are the reward.

5. Iceland. Off-season November to March. It is dark, cold and cheap, and it is the only season for the northern lights. September is the quieter shoulder if you want daylight too.

6. Dubrovnik, Croatia. Off-season November to March. The old town in summer is a crush of cruise passengers; in winter it is a quiet walled city at a third of the price.

7. Bali, Indonesia. Off-season November to March — the rainy season, which is why it is cheapest. The dry season (April to October) is peak. Good for a resort holiday; bad for a trekking one.

8. Banff, Canada. Off-season late April to May and November — the gap between the ski season and the hiking season, when hotels are cheapest and the lakes are still spectacular.

9. Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru. Off-season December to February, the rainy season. Fewer hikers on the trails and the lowest prices, at the cost of mud and a wet Inca Trail.

10. Aspen and the ski towns (in summer). The off-season for a ski resort is summer: the lifts still run, the trails are green, and the same expensive lodging costs a fraction of its winter rate.

type: bar
title: Typical accommodation saving vs peak (%)
x: Santorini, Amalfi, Dubrovnik, Iceland, Aspen summer, Bali, Banff, Venice, Kyoto, Cusco
Saving: 55, 55, 50, 45, 50, 35, 40, 40, 25, 30

Notice that the biggest discounts are on the destinations with the most extreme seasons — a Greek island that half-closes, a ski town that empties. The smallest discounts are in cities that stay busy all year, like Kyoto and Venice, where the off-season is quieter but not cheap.

The savings calculator

Put in what a room costs in season and how long you are staying, and see roughly what the same trip costs on the shoulder and in the off-season.

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<body>
  <h4>Peak vs Shoulder vs Off-Season</h4>
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    <div><label>Peak nightly rate</label><input type="number" id="rate" value="220" min="20" max="5000" oninput="calc()"></div>
    <div><label>Nights</label><input type="number" id="nights" value="7" min="1" max="60" oninput="calc()"></div>
  </div>
  <table id="t"></table>
  <script>
    var seasons = [['Peak', 1.0], ['Shoulder', 0.68], ['Off-season', 0.45]];
    function money(n) { return '$' + Math.round(n).toLocaleString(); }
    function calc() {
      var rate = parseFloat(document.getElementById('rate').value) || 0;
      var nights = parseFloat(document.getElementById('nights').value) || 0;
      var peak = rate * nights;
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        var total = rate * s[1] * nights;
        html += '<tr><td>' + s[0] + '</td><td class="s">' + money(rate * s[1]) + '</td><td class="s">' + money(total) + ' <span style="color:#7d766a">(save ' + money(peak - total) + ')</span></td></tr>';
      });
      document.getElementById('t').innerHTML = html;
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Watch it explained

This short video walks through why peak, shoulder and off-season prices differ so much, and how to use that to pick your dates.

The one rule for booking off-season

The shoulder season is the safe bet; the deep off-season is the gamble. The first third of the discount costs you almost nothing in weather; the last third costs you a week of rain if you get unlucky. So check what “off-season” actually means for the specific place — dark and cheap (Iceland), wet and cheap (Bali), or simply closed (a Greek island in January) — before you let the price decide for you.

• Also see: Top 10 Ways to Beat Christmas Overspending
• Also see: The Holiday Season, Sorted: Every Top 10 in One Place