Top 10 Cheapest Travel Spots for 2026 Include Italy and Bahamas; Canadians Avoiding U.S. and Booking Domestic Travel

According to travel app Skyscanner’s latest research, while 66% of Canadians are planning to head abroad in 2026, only 48% have taken the plunge and booked their flights. Destination indecision and concerns over cost are reported as the biggest booking barriers, as nearly half (45%) share they are still deciding on destination, and 43% are still trying to find the best deals.  

Canadian travellers’ perception of flight pricing in 2026 is not the reality of the great value deals on offer. While 69% of Canadians think their round-trip flights are going to cost more than $500 this year, Skyscanner has crunched the numbers, across thousands of routes and millions of bookings, to reveal the top 10 cheapest destinations for 2026 – some with average round-trip flight prices of less than $484. In fact, a whole-month search on Skyscanner today reveals flights to top-rated Punta Cana from as little as $349 for a round trip this February.  

The top 10 cheapest destinations for 2026:  

1. Vancouver, BC

• Average Return Flight Price: $315
• Fancy Vancouver in February? You can find flights from as little as $49 round-trip.

2. Nassau, Bahamas

• Average Return Flight Price: $484
• Fancy Nassau in March? You can find flights from as little as $313 round-trip. 

3. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

• Average Return Flight Price: $555
• Fancy Punta Cana in January? You can find flights from as little as $335 round-trip. 

4. Madeira, Portugal

• Average Return Flight Price: $564
• Fancy Madeira in February? You can find flights from as little as $696 round-trip. 

5. San José, Costa Rica

• Average Return Flight Price: $573
• Fancy San José in April? You can find flights from as little as $419 round-trip.

6. Yellowknife, Canada

• Average Return Flight Price: $597
• Fancy Yellowknife in April?You can find flights from as little as $159 round-trip. 

7. Madrid, Spain

• Average Return Flight Price: $677
• Fancy Madrid in February? You can find flights from as little as $604 round-trip. 

8. Fort-de-France, Martinique

• Average Return Flight Price: $706
• Fancy Fort-de-France in May? You can find flights from as little as $526 round-trip.

9. Rome, Italy

• Average Return Flight Price: $864
• Fancy Rome in April? You can find flights from as little as $662 round-trip. 

10. Tokyo, Japan

• Average Return Flight Price: $1,183
• Fancy Tokyo in March? You can find flights from as little as $584 round-trip. 

Skyscanner launches NEW Cheapest Destination Planner  

Fifty-four per cent of Canadian travellers shared they feel overwhelmed at the prospect of booking travel for 2026 with worry over costs (77%) the biggest contributing factor to this. Skyscanner’s NEW Cheapest Destination Planner is on hand to help banish this stress, revealing the cheapest places to travel every single month, including average flight price and the cheapest day to travel.  Think trending Toronto in February with average flight price of $160 round-trip or a fashion and culture city break to Paris and onward adventure to Toulouse in May with average flight price of $239.  

How does the Cheapest Destination Planner work?  

1. Simply select the month you want to travel  

2. The tool will reveal the top 10 cheapest destinations (on average) for that month – you’ll see the top reasons to visit and average price for a round-trip flight alongside the cheapest days to travel

3. Made your choice? You can click through to explore flights and/or hotel options for your chosen destination

Sunday is the cheapest day to fly, on average, in 2026  

The cheapest day to fly? It might surprise you. According to Skyscanner’s analysis, the cheapest day, on average, to fly in 2026 is a Sunday. Only three per cent of Canadians surveyed thought Friday would be the cheapest with 29% thinking Tuesday and 25 % Wednesday. The reality, of course, is that the cheapest day to fly varies according to route and month. Handy Skyscanner tools like ‘Whole Month’ allows travellers to quickly compare which dates offer the best value.    

More smart ways to save on travel in 2026  

• Drops: Checks flight prices and reveals anomaly price drops of at least 20 per cent for real bargains!    

• ‘Everywhere’ search: The all-time favourite – find the cheapest flights to anywhere in the world.  

• Price Alerts and Saved: Still in decision making mode?  Save your routes and keep track of the flight fluctuations.  

ALLIANZ SAYS CANADIANS READY TO  TRAVEL: DOMESTIC TOURISM TOPS THE BILL

Canadians are feeling optimistic about travel in 2026 as leading travel insurance provider Allianz Global Assistance Canada (Allianz) unveils findings from its ninth annual Vacation Confidence Index Study. 

Seven in 10 Canadians say they are confident they will take a vacation this year, a significant nine-point increase from last year. This confidence is strongest among families with children (77%) and high-income earners ($100K+, 85%), as well as younger generations, with 71% of Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X planning trips compared to 63% of Boomers. At the same time, 70% of Canadians believe annual vacations are important for their wellbeing, with even higher importance among parents and younger demographics.

Allianz’s Vacation Confidence Index Study also highlights a notable shift in destination preferences. Domestic travel remains the top choice at 38%, followed by Mexico and the Caribbean (24%) and Europe (15%). Travel to the U.S. has dropped eight points from last year, reflecting changing geopolitical and economic considerations.

CANADIANS CONTINUE TO SHUN U.S. TRAVEL

As per the Allianz note above, the latest numbers from Statistics Canada show that Canadian travel to the U.S. continues to struggle badly.

For December of last year, car travel from Canada to the U.S. was down 30.7% compared to December, 2024, while air travel was down 18.7%. This marks the 12th month in a row that Canadian visits to the U.S. have fallen. It’s a big deal for US destinations, as Canadians make up the largest percentage of visitors to the States.

By contrast, Canadian overseas trips were up 10.4%, which suggests Canadians are travelling to places like the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe instead of the States.

StatsCan said US visits to Canada in December were down 9%, but that overseas visitor numbers were up 6.6%.

The December, 2025 numbers aren’t terribly dissimilar from November of last year. StatsCan previously reported that air travel from Canada to the US was down 19% in November of 2025 when compared with the same month in 2024, while auto traffic was down 28.6%.