Top Travel Destinations on a Budget: Winter 23/24
Bondi Icebergs, Sydney, Australia
Every winter I get.. itchy.
Maybe not in a literal sense, but the short days, long nights and cold temps have me ready to be anywhere but home.
Thankfully, Q1 (sans the overlap with the dreaded Spring Break) is a traditionally low travel period. From approximately January 8th to the end of February, you can go, see and do whatever you want for a relatively low cost. It’s a great way to kickstart your elite status earnings, especially on the few carriers that still track distance flying over dollar spend.
Unfortunately, the northern hemisphere is relatively chilly during this period, making the go-to road trips, Euro trips and flit to Seoul or Japan not quite as comfortable as one may like.
My best tip? Keep your eyes glued to the Southern Hemisphere and near-equitorial locations. You’ll get the best of both worlds with low-season flight and hotel deals, but summer-like conditions.
Here’s the best recommendations I have for you, based on previous year’s trips and how I booked them. Deals come and go, but the patterns tend to stay, so keep the ideas afloat as you search for cheap flights and award availability:
Rio Celeste Waterfall, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica was top of everyone’s list about 10 years ago, but it’s still a fantastic destination for family, couples or solo travelers. The two main airports are San Jose (SJO) and Liberia (LIR). Though Liberia is much smaller, it’s my preferred airport due to its location in Guanacaste where a lot of the magic of Costa Rica really happens.
As for how to get there? Southwest, Frontier and Spirit offer affordable options on a regular basis. Southwest has a direct conversion of points to dollars, but you can still expect to see this fare go for as low as 6k pts + taxes each way for Q1. Routing:
Liberia (LIR) Costa Rica, direct to/from:
Southwest (WN)
Baltimore (BWI)
Houston (HOU)
Denver (DEN)
6-14k pts each way + ~$80 in taxes with the best (current) rates to/from BWI (see below):
BWI to LIR:
From LIR back to BWI:
Feel free to get creative with paths on WN and other carriers if route availability is limited, especially in the case of BWI (which also happens to be the cheapest). With a direct DEN route, F9 makes a great pairing with WN.
Frontier (F9)
Atlanta (ATL) ($49.53 + $75.65 with the Go Wild Pass = $125.18 RT; courtesy of the1491club.com)
Honorary Mention: Spirit (NK)
Although Spirit doesn’t fly to Liberia (..Anymore? My memory serves that the maps on the in-flight cards show they do), they do fly twice daily to San Jose via Orlando (MCO) or Fort Lauderdale (FLL) for as low as 5,000 spirit points round trip plus $132 in taxes and fees ($82 if you have Spirit status).
Yes, these are the legendary 2,500 point one way redemptions the crew speaks of when they offer you the credit card in-flight. They do exist and are easier to find than one might expect.
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is a great jumping off point for any destination in Australia, or even for a two-for-one trip to New Zealand as well. If you’re planning to go down under, you might as well stay awhile. Fares can often look astronomical at first glance, so often Sydney is a place best left for redemptions. Let’s talk about it:
Alaska Airlines / Fiji Airways : Last year, we booked an award from the US to Australia with a stopover in Fiji via Alaska Airlines (Fiji / One World Connect) for 40,000 Alaska airlines miles + $180 in taxes per person, roundtrip. This route takes some time in advance to plan, but they brought the April 2022 promo back again in April 2023 for late bookings (e.g. November), so you can start earning Alaska miles now through the credit cards sign up bonuses or shopping portal to prepare for its almost inevitable return. Here’s more info on how to find/book the fares.
Delta (DL): Nobody loves Skymiles since they’ve been devalued to the point of worthlessness, but Delta has been pumping out the promos for the Southern Hemisphere this year. Between the opening of a direct route from LAX-AKL (which was available for as little as 37k skymiles RT) and a mid-December promo to Sydney, it might be worth keeping a 6 figure balance of Skymiles ready to hop on these flash sales when they do occur. Cash rates for the LAX-SYD route are as low as 60k miles RT (51k with a Delta card) or $985 cash with lots of availability through May:
Barranco, Lima, Peru
Lima, Peru
One of my absolute favorite places on the planet is none other than Lima, Peru, one of the gastronomical capitals of the world. Positioned right along the Pacific Coast, this city is a magical place to lose yourself in, between the art, handmade goods, and nightlife. Must visit restaurants includes Central, Astrid & Gaston, Maido, Mayta, and two of my favorite street restaurants - Canta Rana (for ceviche) and El Chinito. Call American Express concierge for reservations well in advance.
The absolute best month of the year to visit is February, because the weather is just perfect.
Routing:
Spirit (NK):
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) - Spirit has traditionally offered extremely low redemption rates (e.g. 17,000 spirit points RT) to and from Lima. Their operations in LIM are up in the air at the moment, so consider making this trip a 2-for-1 and flying to Bogota first. I’ve taken the Bogota roundtrip from IND for about $180 roundtrip, booked at the counter, so it can be done very cheaply. Otherwise, with points online for around 20k pts + $132 ($82 if you have status) RT.
Intra-LATAM you can fly LATAM if you typically go for SkyTeam, Avianca if you’re a Star Alliance, or whoever is cheapest! Up to you.
So many airlines fly to Lima, but the prices can range widely. For the most options, try searching from hubs like MIA/FLL or MCO so that you can position from these spots. For example, both Frontier and Spirit fly to either MCO (Orlando) and/or Fort Lauderdale (FLL) daily, so I know that I can snag a cheap route out of these locations and will easily be able to position to them on a ULCC.
Lodging + The Rest?
For lodging, I recommend booking according to your taste: Either:
AirBnb - Optimizing for Delta Skymiles ~ if you wish ~ or American Airlines miles/other miles with a giftcards.com purchased AirBnB card via the shopping portal (sometimes up to 3 miles/LPs per dollar spent on AA, also qualifies for 20-30% extra LP bonus during your bonus periods).
Booking.com - Usually I prefer this option as there’s more flexibility for lodging types, and you can almost always earn 3 miles/$ through the shopping portal with AA, 4% via Rakuten (either cash back or Amex MR points), or sometimes up to 12% via other cash back methods.
Hyatt Redemptions - Some places will be better than others for redemptions vs. Airbnbs/Booking.com, but Hyatt is always a sweet spot for redemptions, with most redemptions at or above 3 cents per point. You can earn via Hyatt cards or stays, or transfer from Chase or Bilt.
Costa Rica: Secrets Papagayo or Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo are both fantastic redemption options. Inventory may open up just a few days before, so keep an eye on them even if they seem out of reach now. (Inventory below courtesy rooms.aero)
Other Redemptions - If you’ve had your eye on a specific property for awhile and you’ve got the points, now might be the time!
Conclusions
My January - March is usually booked up every year with cheap travel deals, the cheapest of which typically arrive in the last week before the New Year, to help carriers beef up their bottom lines before the books close. What’s the best deal you’ve scored and what’s your favorite winter travel location?
Next up.. Shoulder Season!
