These Are the Fourth of July Best & Worst Times to Travel in 2024

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“We’ve never projected travel numbers this high for Independence Day weekend,” Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, said in a press release. “What this tells us is that despite inventory being limited and some prices 50% higher, consumers are not cutting back on travel this summer. Many of them heeded our advice and booked early, another sign of strong travel demand.”

In fact, the AAA projects that the Fourth of July weekend will set a new record for the number of Americans traveling by car, with an estimated 43.2 million people on the roads — an increase of 2.4% over 2022 car travel and 4% higher than 2019. The AAA also projected that 4.17 million Americans will fly over the holiday weekend, setting a new air travel record that is 11.2% higher than estimates in 2022 and 6.6% higher than estimates in 2019.

But it’s not all delays and bad news. To help make your holiday travel plans as pain-free as possible, the AAA provided a set of recommendations for when travelers can expect to see the most and least congestion. So if you’re already stressed about what time you should get to the airport, keep this info handy.

Overall, the best days to travel, according to the AAA and INRIX, a provider of transportation data and insights, are July 2 and July 3, which the brands both project will see minimal traffic compared to the holiday itself. Another general rule of thumb? If you’re driving over the holiday week and weekend, you should aim to hit the road before midday or after 6 p.m.