The likes of Amsterdam, London, and Tokyo get a lot of love from North American travelers – and for good reason! Those places are amazing…but everybody's been there and posted about it already. So, what's left to explore out there?
What trip recap is going to crush at your next dinner party? What's going to make other travelers say, “Woah…”
Well, lately, some of the best flight prices we've seen are to places around the world that are a little off the beaten path. It's in these places where you stop seeing other American tourists and start seeing pockets of the world you've never even thought about.
Let me be clear: I'm not talking about lesser destinations, just smaller ones. The places I'm referring to offer can get you a five-star ski trip experience for $7-a-day lift tickets, a lie-flat seat to some world class beaches on the South American coast, or fares in the $400s to the next great travel destination in the Atlantic.
The latest pricing trends show that these unique destinations are getting cheaper, and that means a flight directly into these smaller airports is more accessible for travelers. We've been finding and sending flight deals to some of these obscure destinations for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members, and we've already heard from many of them that are taking some of these flights.
So what exactly are we talking about? I'm glad you asked.
Georgia (The Country)
Let's play a game called “Pick Your Georgia.”
Option 1: Georgia the country for $545 roundtrip.
Option 2: Georgia the state for $399 roundtrip.
No offense to our friends in the Peach State, but for just $146 more, you could visit a place where you can stretch your dollar to the absolute maximum with incredibly cheap five star hotels (like less than $100 a night in many cases) and even – my favorite – $7-a-day lift tickets in the world class ski destinations of the Caucasus Mountains.
Georgia the country has been a fascination of mine for a long time, but this flight deal we sent our members turned it into a full-blown obsession.
Just $587 roundtrip would be enough to fly you to Tblisi (TBS) and back in Delta and through its SkyTeam partners.
The cheapest ski trip you can book from the east coast isn't to Colorado – it's to Georgia.
Uruguay from $549 (in Economy or Biz Class)
Santiago, Rio, Lima, Cartagena – South America is full of tried-and-true tourist cities, but I have a sneaking suspicion that real South America travelers are trying to keep Uruguay a secret from us.
The legendary beach town of Punta del Este, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Colonia del Sacramento, and the city of Montevideo would team up to make for an epic vacation.
But it can be epic before you even get there if you fly American Airlines Business Class...
These lie-flat fares to Montevideo (MVD) are some of the lowest to South America that we've seen!
But if you want to pay cash instead, the airlines also started competing in the back of the plane, too. Some of these fares – especially from Detroit (DTW), Minneapolis (MSP), and Salt Lake (SLC) are near record lows!
Think about how hard your Uruguay travel story will go at the next function when everyone else gets back from Phoenix and Florida. Just sayin…
Faroe Islands from $414 RT
The Faroe Islands are the next Iceland. They're even more remote and a little harder to get to, but by all accounts, the Faroe Islands are even more breathtaking as a travel destination.
And equally breathtaking, are the fares Icelandair is selling to take you there from the U.S.
$414 roundtrip for a flight to Europe is a run-don't-walk situation for air travelers – especially the adventurous types who want to book something this memorable and exotic.
Get to the Faroe Islands before they get popular. Then you can be all hipster about it in a few years when your friends catch on.
Rwanda & Uganda from $846 RT
Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa get a lot of love from safari-bound travelers, but Rwanda and Uganda offer a special kind of safari most travelers would only dream of: Gorilla trekking.
To see these fabled creatures, a trekking adventure in one of these two countries is the best way, but Uganda and Rwanda flight deals are not a slam dunk.
But when we find fares in the $800s roundtrip from the U.S. to Entebbe (EBB) and Kigali (KGL), we always round them up and send them to our members.
We put them together with these fares from Nairobi (NBO) for an East Africa airfare roundup.
Biz Class to Taipei from 52k Points Each Way
If you want to fly biz class to Asia, the best place to aim for is Taipei (TPE). Why? That's where all the best business class award availability can be found.
And while Taipei is an ideal jumping off point to fly to the reset of Asia, it might be worth exploring the world class city all on its own – especially if you can secure a fancy ride like this…
Starlux Business Class looks incredible. And considering you can use your Alaska miles to book, I'm really excited to someday enjoy this product across the Pacific for just 75,000 Alaska miles each way.
But competition is king, and China Airlines also wants to be the one tot take you to Taipei…and by the looks of their setup, you should probably let them!
Best of all, you can book these China Airlines flights with Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles! One of my favorite currencies, you can transfer your points from from American Express, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Wells Fargo.
And with frequent transfer bonuses, you can stretch as few as 52,000 points each way into the 62,000-73,000 miles you'll need to book them.
Part of the reason competition to Taipei is so fierce is because Delta Air Lines entered the fold a few years ago – flying nonstop from Seattle (SEA).
When Delta flies it, it's always ripe for a Delta SkyMiles flash sale, and no destination has been a more frequent target of these flash sales than Taipei (TPE).
Everyone's in Japan, right? Find a different story to tell with a trip to or through Taipei (TPE) instead.
Biz Class to Lapland, Norway's Fjords, & More for 63k Each Way
OK, OK. Perhaps a bit of disclosure bias is in order. I booked a similar deal to this one a few months ago, which is why I'm flying to Finland's famous Lapland region next month to see the Northern Lights.
Booking Finnair Business Class using Finnair Avios – just 63,000 of them each way! – was good enough reason, but the far reaches of Northern Europe offer so much to travelers who are tired by your friends' trips to London, Athens, and Rome every year.
Helsinki (HEL) is an underrated city in itself, but you can connect on to Lapland in Rovaniemi (RVN), up to Trondheim, Norway (TRD) to see the fjords, or pop down to Riga, Latvia (RIX) or Vilnius, Lithuania (VNO) for some of the best prices in Europe in these charming, historic cities.
The best way to fly to the North Pole is in Finnair Business Class – and what a story that would be!
Bottom Line
Our team of flight deal experts is seeing unusually good value flying to hidden gem cities right now, and it's a great time to book your trip.
Lapland, Uruguay, Georgia, the Faroe Islands, and more are all well within reach this year – in economy or business class.
