11/17/2025
This is a long article but worth the read if you love traveling.
On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, when the last of the pie is gone and the glow of Black Friday has dimmed, it’s time for serious travelers to trade leftovers for layovers and score big on Travel Tuesday deals. Flight alerts start pinging, inboxes begin to fill with promises of faraway beaches and city lights, and a new kind of fever takes hold. It’s Travel Tuesday: an entire day devoted to the best travel bargains on the market.
For most of the year, travelers chase small-scale deals like 10% off hotels or student rates on train tickets, but on Travel Tuesday, expect to save big. Born from a pattern noticed by the flight-booking app Hopper in 2017, Travel Tuesday has become the travel industry’s response to Cyber Monday. It began as a marketing experiment and has since become a global movement where airlines, hotels, and tour companies unleash their best offers of the year.
The appeal is obvious. After a weekend of shopping for products—electronics, clothes, and other usual suspects—Travel Tuesday tempts us to invest in something else entirely: experiences. A new passport stamp, a long-delayed reunion, or a luxurious weekend break are all just a click away.
Since Travel Tuesday is still fairly new, there’s plenty about it that remains a mystery to the average traveler. Here’s everything you need to know about my favorite day of savings, deals, and sales, including how to find the best offers and maximize your budget.
What is Travel Tuesday?
Travel Tuesday happens on the Tuesday (December 2 for 2025) after Thanksgiving, a 24-hour window when the travel industry offers some of its steepest discounts of the year. It falls just after the Cyber Monday sales, which means by this time, most people are done purchasing new TVs and laptops, and travel companies have the stage to themselves.
Unlike the broad sweep of Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday has a singular focus. The deals aren’t for gadgets or winter coats; they’re for flights to Iceland, villas in Tuscany, and overwater bungalows in the Maldives. Platforms like Expedia, Priceline, and Airbnb line up offers that sometimes rival those reserved for flash promotions or loyalty members. Expect savings on everything from hotels and flights to cruises and car rentals.
Behind the scenes, there’s a method to why brands can offer such exceptional prices. The week after Thanksgiving is one of the slowest booking periods of the year, so travel brands use discounts to jump-start interest for the coming season. It’s a win-win: they fill their calendars, and we get to plan something worth counting down to.
What’s the difference between all the Cyber Week deals, and why does Travel Tuesday stand out?
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday may dominate when it comes to gadgets and fashion, Travel Tuesday is where wanderlust meets real value. Airlines have reported getting up to 60% more bookings than on a typical Tuesday. Plus, major hotel brands and cruise lines roll out deeply discounted rates, free upgrades, and added perks like resort credits or complimentary excursions; think 20 to 30% off a boutique hotel in Lisbon or an unexpected bargain on a flight to Japan just before cherry blossom season.
Ultimately, Travel Tuesday stands out because it's the one day of the week that is completely focused on travel alone: there’s less decision fatigue, the steepest travel discounts of the year are on offer, and you don’t have to worry about focusing on shopping for anything else but your next trip.
How to make Travel Tuesday work for you
The secret to Travel Tuesday isn’t luck, it’s preparation. The best deals rarely wait around. Many appear in the first few hours of the day and vanish by evening. To score the most enviable offers, be sure to do your homework: know where you want to go, track prices in the weeks leading up to the sale, and set alerts so you can pounce the moment fares drop.
Flexibility helps. Maybe you dreamed of Paris, but Rome ends up being the city on sale. You may want a summer getaway, but the deal is for spring. The travelers who come out ahead are the ones who treat Travel Tuesday as part of the planning process, letting their vacation unfold around the offers that are available.
There’s also strategy in speed. Many experts recommend booking quickly if you find a fare that feels right, as cancellation policies often allow you to adjust later. The best tactic is to approach the day like an auction: know your limits, recognize a good deal when you see it, and act before someone else does.
What are the best Travel Tuesday deals?
There are plenty of spectacular deals expected for Travel Tuesday 2025 (many of which will remain secret until the days leading up to or the day of the sale), but there are a few already on my radar worth considering. Below, I've compiled a list of the best early Travel Tuesday deals currently available to book.
Whether you’re sailing toward the Arctic, unwinding in the Australian Outback, or simply following the open road, these early Travel Tuesday deals make it easier—and more enticing—to say yes to your next great escape.
—-Paris Wilson is a commerce writer at Condé Nast Traveler where she covers retail and booking content. Wilson has been covering Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales for Traveler for the last two years.
