Best Winter Holiday Destinations – Cold or Warm

With lower temperatures as well as extra snow and rain predicted for the upcoming winter that are sure to delight cold-weather lovers and fans of snow sports, the personal-finance website WalletHub looked at 2016’s Best Winter Holiday Destinations to supplement our recent money-saving report on the Best Travel Credit Cards.

To help winter travelers plan their getaways, WalletHub’s analysts compared 69 of the largest metro areas to find the best cold and warm winter holiday destinations. We did so by analyzing each destination across 26 key metrics, ranging from “cost of the cheapest flight” to “number of attractions in each winter vacation spot.”

Best vs. Worst

• The average flight to a popular cold winter destination costs $326, lasts a little more than four hours and has 0.38 connections, whereas the average flight to a popular warm winter destination costs $455, lasts a little less than six hours and has 0.64 connections.
• Among cold destinations, Albuquerque, N.M., has the lowest price for the cheapest three-star hotel room, $41, which is 2.9 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest, $119.
• Among warm destinations, Killeen, Texas, has the lowest price for the cheapest three-star hotel room, $42, which is 5.3 times lower than in Honolulu, the city with the highest, $223.
• Among cold destinations, New York has the most restaurants per capita, 10.76, which is 10.3 times more than in Bridgeport, Conn., the city with the fewest, 1.04.
• Among warm destinations, Orlando, Fla., has the most restaurants per capita, 6.12, which is 23.6 times more than in Deltona, Fla., the city with the fewest, 0.26.