The end of the year is approaching, and for Singaporeans that doesn’t just mean Christmas presents and New Years’ Eve parties, but also: clearing leave.
It’s time to join all your colleagues in a race to use up your annual leave before it gets forfeited.
Luckily, Skyscanner has compiled a list of the cheapest flights for the remainder of 2017, arranged according to how many days of leave you need to take.
So before your company’s leave calendar gets all booked up, here’s how you can buy a ticket outta here at minimal cost, no matter how many or how few days of annual leave you have left.
Take a 9 day trip with 5 days of annual leave
Taking leave from Monday to Friday gives you great bang for your buck, since you get 4 free vacation days with just 5 days of annual leave. With at least 9 days to travel, you can go all the way to Europe.
Our top pick: London is one of the cheapest long-haul options this holiday season, provided of course that you book ASAP. Some flights in November are under $700 right now. There’s something for everyone in London, whether you’re into musicals, vintage clothes, history, museums or partying.
Travel for almost a week with 3-4 days of annual leave
So you don’t have that many days of leave left, but still want to get out of Southeast Asia. Taking 3-4 days off before or after a weekend lets you enjoy a 5-6 day trip. Or, if you take 4 days off the week of Christmas/New Year, you get a cool 9 days to travel.
Our top pick: While flight prices to Australia shoot up in December when the school holidays start, it doesn’t cost as much to go to Okinawa. Dubbed the Hawaii of Japan, Okinawa is all about beaches, watersports and partying. Do note that temperatures hover around 15 degrees in winter, which is colder than your typical tropical beach vacation.
Go on a weekend getaway with 1-2 days of annual leave
So you don’t have much annual leave left, or maybe you can roll your leave over to next year and aren’t in a hurry to use it up. That doesn’t mean you can’t go on a quick getaway. Flights to some Southeast Asian destinations are still reasonably priced, but book soon or they’ll shoot up in the lead up to Christmas.
Our top pick: Hanoi remains one of the best destinations to fly to in the lead up to public holidays as ticket prices don’t get that inflated. What’s more, the city itself is a fantastic tourist destination which warrants repeat visits—there’s so much more to eat than pho, and more to see than Halong Bay.
You ran out of leave, but that doesn’t mean you can’t travel
Just because you’re out of annual leave—or your boss refuses to let you take it because he’s booked up the entire month for his own holidays—doesn’t mean you’re trapped on this island for the rest of the year. Take a cheap flight to a nearby city and you can be back by Sunday evening.
Our top pick: Flights to Kuala Lumpur are consistently cheap almost all year round, and the best part is that there are so many flights per day that you can easily arrange to arrive on Friday night or Saturday morning, and leave on Sunday evening. For Singaporeans, KL is all about shopping, eating and partying at lower prices than they’d pay back home.
Where are you going this holiday season? Share your travel plans in the comments!