Editing Vacation in shoulder season

Libby Kane / Business InsiderThe view from our balcony at sunset in Fira, Santorini. There is nothing more tedious than spending hours scouring the internet trying to find the best price on every component of your vacation. <br>So I don't. <br>Instead, I make a single choice that saves me a fortune: I select to travel in "shoulder season. "<br>This period of time is the months leading toward or away from the high season. <br>In the Caribbean, high season is the winter. In most of Europe, it's the summer. <br><br>It's the time when that place is best proven to its advantage, so people go see it.  <br>It's also the priciest time to go because the tourism business knows what's up. <br>By choosing traveling six to eight weeks before or right after high season, I save money upon flights, accommodations, car rentals, and most everything else by making one decision and not thinking about it again. <br>It seems obvious, but a lot of people don't do it. <br>It isn't the off-season. I'm not going during monsoon season or blizzards. Really, the only difference is really a few degrees - a light sweater, or removal thereof. <br><br>And the financial benefits are huge. For instance, a friend and I went to the Cyclades Islands in Greece a few years ago, choosing to go in early May rather than summer, the peak season. <br>When I plug a 12-day trip for the same dates into Kayak : leaving on the last day of April, the same days we journeyed - the cheapest flight with one particular layover is $562: <br>Kayak. com<br>In early August, the results are almost twice the price, even though we'd become booking further in advance: <br><br>Kayak. com<br>Bear in mind that isn't a perfect assessment. It involved no acrobatics to find the cheapest possible flight, nor direct comparisons of flights leaving plus arriving at the same time on the same day from the week, nor analyses of how airline prices fluctuate. It took me all five minutes - which is kind of the idea. <br><br>Here's another basic illustration: Lodging were cheaper, too. On Santorini, we stayed at - the particular marvelous - Atlantis Hotel in Fira, which charges 240 euros, about $262, per night for the incredible caldera-view room in early Might. <br><br>Atlantis Hotel  <br>Using the same Sunday-through-Wednesday dates within August, that hotel is wondering 320 euros - about $350 - per night: <br>Atlantis Hotel<br>Admittedly, I don't have children and was not limited by the school calendar, plus my job isn't so highly seasonal that I wouldn't be able to take a trip in May rather than August, so Now i'm lucky enough that this strategy is easily doable. Plus, I generally don't thoughts that I have to put a windbreaker over my bikini to see the cliffs of Santorini or the town of Mykonos. <br><br>It's less expensive, less crowded, and just as lovely.  <br>If you have your heart absolutely set on tanning on a yacht, I concede that this strategy might not be for you. Although if jooxie is talking Mediterranean, you could try September! <br>I could keep giving examples - I used the same strategy when I visited the Balearic Islands off the coastline of Spain in late May/early 06 last year with another friend : but there's really no need. Simply by traveling in the shoulder season rather than the high season, I've consistently had the opportunity to save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on incredible trips by making a two-minute choice. <br><br><br>SEE FURTHERMORE: I took advantage of the strong US dollar to spend 11 days touring Spain, and it was totally worth it