The Most Affordable Destinations to See the 2024 Solar Eclipse, According to Kayak

These cities offer the best flight, hotel, and car rental deals during April’s celestial event.

One of this year’s biggest travel trends is chasing the sun — or rather, the moon blocking the sun. Travel search engine Kayak alone has seen a 304 percent jump in flight searches and 15 times higher hotel searches for travel around the April 8 solar eclipse.

Demand tends to also mean skyrocketing prices and interest in this particular event is even higher than normal since the next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. won’t occur until 2044. But there are still solar eclipse destinations in the U.S. and Canada, each of which will experience at least two minutes of totality, that are affordable, according to new data released by Kayak.

For those looking to fly into areas near that prime pathway, St. Louis offers the best roundtrip economy flight prices, with a $337 average airfare per person. Here, the moon will block out 99 percent of the sun.

Other great air deals are to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which will have a 97 percent coverage and still has a $349 average airfare, as well as Cincinnati, with 99 percent coverage, for $362. Louisville, Kentucky, which will have 98.5 percent coverage, has $378 average airfare.

For those willing to pull out their passports and cross the $400 airfare mark, Montreal, Canada, has a $422 average airfare — and will experience totality downtown. This is a major event since the last time there was such a solar eclipse in town was in 1932 and the next won’t be until 2205.

Kayak’s remaining top 10 eclipse destinations for airfare deals have averages of $435 to Cleveland; $437 to Dallas; $495 to Indianapolis; $501 to Burlington, Vermont; and $509 to Buffalo, New York.

Of course, airfare isn’t the only consideration when traveling, so when taking hotels and car rentals into consideration, it turns out Montreal just might be the most strategic since it also came at the top of the list for both, with $217 average nightly hotel rates and $59 average daily car rental rates.

Other eclipse destinations with hotel deals are Little Rock, Arkansas, with a $232 average nightly rate; Dallas with $247; Indianapolis with $289; Cleveland with $321; Buffalo with $324; Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with $368; Lake Placid, New York, with $390; Erie, Pennsylvania, with $407; and Hot Springs, Arkansas, with $417.

The cheapest places to rent a car in the totality path after Montreal are Indianapolis with a $72 average daily rate; Pittsburgh with $77; Burlington with $78; St. Louis, with $80; Louisville and San Antonio, Texas, both with $89; Cincinnati and Cleveland, both with $90; and Dallas with $93.

Altogether, besides Montreal, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Dallas, also ended up in the Top 10 of all three lists, while Pittsburgh, Burlington, St. Louis, Louisville, and Cincinnati each hit two of them.

To come up with its top 10 in each category, Kayak first curated more than 20 destinations that will each have at least two minutes of totality on April 8, and then searched for travel dates between April 5 and 10, comparing them between searches on Jan. 13, 2023, and Jan. 12, 2024.

"This really is an event to travel for," Kayak said in a press release obtained by Travel + Leisure, explaining that "the sky darkens, everyone holds their breath in awe."

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