{"id":528968,"date":"2025-11-25T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/?p=528968"},"modified":"2025-11-25T08:40:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:40:40","slug":"aaa-reveals-the-best-and-worst-times-to-travel-this-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/things-to-do\/travel\/2025\/11\/25\/aaa-reveals-the-best-and-worst-times-to-travel-this-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"AAA Reveals the Best and Worst Times to Travel This Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Getting ready to travel this Thanksgiving<\/a>? Prepare for significant traffic. AAA\u2019s annual traffic prediction study<\/a>\u00a0anticipates\u00a0that there will be\u00a0nearly\u00a082\u00a0million people\u00a0traveling at least 50 miles from home\u00a0\u2014\u00a0likely leading\u00a0to delays on the roads.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s domestic travel forecast shows 1.6 million more travelers than last year, setting a new record. About 73 million of those (89.6 percent) will travel by car, 1.3 million more than last year, AAA predicts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanksgiving travel numbers are always impressive because this holiday has become synonymous with heading out of town to spend time with loved ones,\u201d Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel said in a statement. \u201cPeople are willing to brave the crowds and make last-minute adjustments to their plans to make lifelong memories, whether it\u2019s visiting extended family or meeting up with friends.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the best day and times to travel will be Tuesday before noon, Wednesday before 11 a.m., or Thanksgiving Day. The worst travel times will be noon to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Thanksgiving, the best times to travel are Friday or Sunday before 11 a.m., Saturday before 10 a.m., or Monday after 8 p.m. The worst times are Friday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Monday from noon to 8 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the DC Metro area, AAA says that the peak travel time will be on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. with a 166 percent increase in travel time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hopefully lessen the traffic, the Capital Beltway’s new express lanes<\/a> near the Dulles Corridor Interchange are now open. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature image, stock.adobe.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Domestic travel is predicted to set a record with 1.6 million more travelers than last year.","protected":false},"author":1001963,"featured_media":523158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAAA Reveals the Best and Worst Times to Travel This Thanksgiving<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AAA\u2019s annual prediction study\u00a0anticipates a record\u00a082\u00a0million people\u00a0traveling at least 50 miles from home this Thanksgiving.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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