(NEXSTAR) — It’s been a busy year for air travel, and it only seems to ramp up around the holidays.
With winter setting in, and more tourists flocking to the area to enjoy Denver’s plentiful holiday offerings and area skiing, you too may be looking to jet off for a little bit.
Feeling constrained by your wallet and not sure where to go? Fear not, for there are many (mostly warm), spots you can fly to from Denver for under $500 (for what it’s worth, the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Transportation shows the average airfare at Denver International is about $345).
Using the Google Flights “explore” feature, we’ll set a couple more caveats: you’re going to fly nonstop to your destination, leaving on Friday, December 20, and returning Sunday, December 22. This may make the trip more expensive, especially because it is right before Christmas, but it hardly limits your options. (You can tweak your own hypothetical vacation here.)
You’re also flying by yourself, in economy, with one carry-on bag.
Ready?
The farthest you’ll be able to fly, with all of those constraints, is Cancún, Mexico, for just $336, round-trip.
If you’re looking to stay in the U.S., here are the next-farthest spots you can reach, as well as their pre-tax, round-trip airfare costs.
| Destination | Pre-tax airfare |
|---|---|
| New York City | $458 |
| Philadelphia | $472 |
| Orlando | $431 |
| Tampa | $441 |
| Washington, D.C. | $384 |
Other far-out destinations include Pensacola, Florida; New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte and Houston.
Expanding your budget by an additional $100 results in multiple new options. That includes Fort Myers and West Palm Beach in Florida; Boston; and Toronto, Canada. At $700, you could also reach San José del Cabo and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico; Miami; and Charleston, South Carolina.
Regardless of where you’re flying from, there are a few tips you can follow to increase your chances of cheaper domestic airfare. For example, departure flights booked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are usually cheaper than those booked on weekends, Google Flight data has found. Accepting layovers and booking roughly 44 days out from your flight also appears to be fiscally beneficial.
Google Flights also recently launched a new option to find the “cheapest” flight itinerary, though it may come with different costs, like longer layovers, booking through multiple airlines, or leaving from one airport and returning at another.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
