How travellers are working around pricey flights for winter holidays

For Delhi-based Tobit Pinto, a New Year holiday in Goa was non-negotiable. Paying nearly ₹1 lakh for three return flight tickets, however, wasn't.

When Pinto checked airfares for the year-end break, Delhi-Goa return tickets were selling for over ₹30,000 per person. Rather than abandon the holiday, he made the journey a part of his vacation. He, along with his sister and brother-in-law, plans to drive to Goa from Delhi, turning what would have been a routine beach vacation into a multi-city road trip.

The trio will travel in their SUV, stopping in Indore for its famous street food and Nashik for its vineyards before reaching Goa. After a week at the beach destination, they will return via Mumbai.

“This plan has added two unique destinations to our itinerary, while bringing down transportation costs considerably,” said Pinto, a UI/UX designer.

Pinto is among travellers finding creative ways to enjor their winter holidays despite soaring airfares. Some are swapping flights for trains and road trips, while others are choosing domestic destinations over international ones.

Rather than necessarily cutting holiday budgets or compromising on experiences, they are changing how they spend, instead of blowing a large part of their budgets on airfare.

According to Yatra Online, domestic airfares have risen by 30-40% in just one year due to higher aviation fuel costs, a weaker rupee and constrained flight capacity.

“This year, we expect travellers to be more mindful of their budgets and more deliberate in their planning. This could translate into advance bookings, shorter trips and greater consideration of destinations within driving distance of major cities,” said Bharatt Malik, executive vice president, consumer business.

When the journey becomes the holiday

Pinto's road trip will take three days to reach Goa, with overnight stops in Indore and Nashik. The estimated fuel expense for the entire journey is ₹25,000-30,000, if the family alternates between CNG and petrol. “If we drive exclusively on petrol, fuel costs will jump to ₹50,000,” he said. They have not accounted for tolls, but expect to pay around ₹6,000-7,000 both ways.

The two overnight stops in Indore and Nashik along with meals and experiences along the way add another ₹15,000 to their budget. That puts the estimated road trip expenditure at ₹46,000-70,000 for three people, compared to spending about ₹1 lakh for return flights alone.

The calculation works because three people are sharing the vehicle expenses. Unlike airfares, which multiply with every additional passenger, the cost of fuel and tolls remains the same in the case of a road trip. However, driving isn't an outright substitute for flying. It demands more time, physical effort and careful planning. Travellers must also account for miscellaneous expenses like parking and vehicle wear and tear.

Trading air miles for experiences

Mumbai-based Neerav Shah has taken a different approach. His five-day December holiday will combine two experiences—watching Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play an India-Sri Lanka cricket match in Ahmedabad and tracking tigers at Ranthambore National Park.

Shah, who is travelling solo from 19 to 23 December, has built the entire itinerary around trains. "I like anchoring my trips around experiences. Watching RoKo (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) play and then doing multiple safaris trying to track tigers and just appreciating the sounds, sights, and smells of the forest is what excites me," he said.

Train tickets for the entire journey, which includes 2AC, cost ₹5,500. Four canter safaris in the national park will cost ₹4,000, while four-star accommodation in Sawai Madhopur, including meals, has been booked for ₹8,000. He expects cricket match tickets to cost ₹1,000-2,000, stadium food another ₹1,000 and has earmarked additional miscellaneous expenses around ₹2,000.

His estimated expenditure is under ₹25,000.

The itinerary wasn't his original first choice. “Had airfares been more reasonable, I would have done a 10-day holiday in Assam, particularly Kaziranga National Park,” said Shah. Return flights from Mumbai to Guwahati around the same dates as Shah is traveling are selling for about ₹25,000, roughly the same as Shah’s entire holiday budget.

But booking trains during the year-end rush was not easy. “For the Ahmedabad-Sawai Madhopur leg, I couldn't find convenient options for my preferred journey. I had to book a longer route from Gandhidham to Kota in second AC, and then the final one-hour stretch from Kota to Sawai Madhopur, though in the same train, is in sleeper class,” he said.

Shah's experience highlights an important trade-off in train journeys—it can dramatically reduce transportation expenses, but securing seats during peak season requires flexibility with boarding stations, classes and sometimes even routes. "It takes some mental gymnastics with the IRCTC website to book tickets," he said.

For travellers willing to navigate these complications, the savings can be redirected towards accommodation and activities rather than merely reaching a destination.

The domestic holiday trade-off

For Noida-based Dinesh Rathi, the challenge was to decide whether an international holiday justified the additional expense and uncertainty. Rathi began planning for a Christmas-New Year vacation with three other families in September. The first choices were Sri Lanka and Vietnam, but return airfares from Delhi to either destination were around ₹50,000-53,000 per person. "I had a budget of ₹3-3.5 lakh in mind for my family of four, but flights alone would have consumed over ₹2 lakh,” Rathi said.

A weakening rupee added another concern. International accommodation, food and activities would become more expensive in rupee terms, while visa and foreign exchange costs would add to overall planning.

The group eventually settled on Kerala, where return flights are nearly half the price at ₹28,000 per person. For Rathi's family, that means spending around ₹1.12 lakh on airfare, against ₹2-2.12 lakh for Sri Lanka or Vietnam.

While the savings on flights are substantial, Rathi is cautious about calling the domestic holiday significantly cheaper. “Luxury hotels in Kerala are expensive, and most of the money saved on airfares will be spent on costlier hotels," he said.

Despite this, the decision also came down to how much financial planning the holiday would demand for Rathi. An international trip involving 14 people would mean keeping track of exchange rates and coordinating visa applications.

Even after booking flights and hotels, the final expenditure could change depending on the rupee's movement, especially in a country like Sri Lanka, where most expenditures are USD-denominated. “International holidays have added expenses such as international roaming, travel insurance, forex charges and some unforeseen surprises.”

Kerala removes several of these variables. The group can estimate most major expenses in rupees before departure, making it easier for the four families to agree on a budget. “The domestic trip feels lightweight as it’s predictable and we won’t have to optimise everything. It feels less financially complicated,” he said.

Until airfares rationalise, being flexible about destinations and prioritising budgets can help travellers keep costs in check without compromising on experiences. Pinto gets two additional cities to explore, Shah has packed his itinerary with experiences he enjoys, and Rathi has opted for a holiday that requires less financial planning.