This week's budget trip math: Cali is the $327 route that prices a week at $377 (2026)

Fare screens collected on October 27, 2026 put a five-night trip to Cali, Colombia, at $377 — the lowest total this column has carried in October. The next one up, Guayaquil, costs $159 more.

The ticket order misleads once. Saint Lucia's $536 fare undercuts Krakow's $670 fare by $134, and Saint Lucia's week costs $191 more.

Every fare below is a one-adult, roundtrip economy fare from the U.S. airport named, with no checked bag. KAYAK's screens reflect searches run in the days before collection, so read them as price-check thresholds rather than quotes.

Three fare bands

The bands sort airfare only. Typical ranges are KAYAK's own range for that city pair.

Fare band	Route	Current roundtrip	Typical range	Why price it
Value corridor	Miami–Querétaro	$305, one stop	$404–$781	25% below the floor, the deepest cut on the page.
Value corridor	Miami–Cali	$327, one stop	$409–$584	20% below the floor; the $336 nonstop is under its own.
Value corridor	Miami–Castries	$536, one stop	$649–$998	17% below the floor, for 32 hours of flying.
Middle ground	Miami–Guayaquil	$366, one stop	$321–$527	14% above its floor; the $389 nonstop flies in about 4h 30m.
Middle ground	Miami–Kingston	$409, one stop	$417–$582	$8 under the floor; the daily nonstop costs $526.
Middle ground	New York JFK–Madrid	$461, one stop	$505–$850	9% below the floor; the $547 nonstop is 7h 05m.
Premium window	Miami–Castries nonstop	$614 nonstop	$646–$1,000	5% under the nonstop floor, in 3h 32m.
Premium window	Chicago–Krakow	$670, one stop	$673–$1,030	At the floor; the $730 nonstop runs one day a week.

Seven of the eight screens sit at or below their route's usual floor; Guayaquil is the only one paying above its own. The deepest cut is Querétaro at 25% under, and the shallowest is Krakow, $3 beneath a $673 floor.

Two of the cheap fares are long in the air. Querétaro's $305 spends 21 hours 47 minutes reaching Mexico and 20 hours 44 minutes coming back, both legs through Monterrey. Saint Lucia's $536 spends 32 hours 20 minutes outbound through Toronto.

The itinerary behind each screen: Querétaro March 11–17, Cali March 12–27, Castries November 29–December 7, Guayaquil November 18–22, Kingston April 3–10, Madrid February 28–March 22, Castries nonstop January 19–29, Krakow January 14–28.

Guayaquil is the one screen priced above its own history. Querétaro is the only route here with no nonstop at all.

Ten international fare targets

Going's October 15, 2026 ranking weights three things: 30% average deal price, 35% discount off the normal fare, 35% how often deals appeared. The list is unchanged since that update.

Read the average as your alert threshold for the year, and the sample deals as the level to wait for.

Rank	Destination	Average Going deal	Sample deal range	Use
1	San José, Costa Rica	$333	Fort Lauderdale $185, Newark $191, Denver $222	Sub-$200 is the historical signal.
2	Guatemala City	$268	Houston $159, New York City $188, Las Vegas $248	The lowest average on the list.
3	Calgary	$241	Denver $129, Nashville $142, San Francisco $144	Low-$100s fares still appear.
4	Montego Bay	$344	Tampa $240, Detroit $268, New York City $278	Mid-$200s is the target.
5	Liberia, Costa Rica	$343	Fort Lauderdale $196, New York City $210, Los Angeles $282	Under $300 is worth comparing with lodging.
6	Vancouver	$255	Chicago $124, Phoenix $131, Atlanta $155	Low-$100s is the benchmark.
7	Bogotá	$302	Miami $238, Chicago $281, Austin $285	Around $250 is the deal line.
8	Punta Cana	$336	Miami $220, Chicago $240, New York City $247	Price transfers and resort fees with it.
9	Auckland	$793	Los Angeles $453, Miami $526, Boston $550	Sub-$600 is the value signal.
10	Tokyo	$732	Seattle $353, Pittsburgh $531, Denver $589	Under $600 is the comparison point.

The same page breaks the list down by travel month, which is the faster cut once you have dates. November's cheapest international roundtrips are Calgary at $269, Grand Cayman at $340, Oranjestad in Aruba at $349 and Christiansted in the U.S. Virgin Islands at $309. December's are Calgary at $266, Grand Cayman at $341 and Liberia at $349.

November starts on Sunday, which makes that month's list the useful one for a trip booked in the next two weeks.

Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos is October's third-cheapest at $357, and it drops off November's list. This week's Miami–Providenciales screen printed $508, so the calendar beats the route page on that island by $151.

Five trip screens

Each row is one traveler: the route fare plus five nights of lodging and five days of food at that destination's budget tier.

Rows are ordered by the visible subtotal, which leaves out checked bags, local transit, activities, airport transfers and taxes.

Destination	Route and fare	Five nights on the ground	Visible subtotal
Cali	MIA–CLO $327	Lodging $15 plus food $35, Cali budget tier	$377
Guayaquil	MIA–GYE $366	Lodging $70 plus food $100, Guayaquil budget tier	$536
Kingston	MIA–KIN $409	Lodging $135 plus food $100, Kingston budget tier	$644
Krakow	ORD–KRK $670	Lodging $85 plus food $50, Krakow budget tier	$805
Saint Lucia	MIA–UVF $536	Lodging $280 plus food $180, Saint Lucia budget tier	$996

The spread runs from $377 to $996, and the ticket order holds until the last two rows. Saint Lucia's fare is $134 below Krakow's, and its week costs $191 more, because a budget bed in Saint Lucia runs $56 a night against $17 in Krakow.

Treat the ground figures as floors. Budget Your Trip's Cali page prices budget lodging at $3 a person a night in double occupancy and budget food at $7 a day. Five nights of both come to $50.

Cali's average traveler spends $38 a day, which puts the same five nights at $190 and the week at $517. That lands between the $377 floor and Kingston's $644.

The mid-range tier moves these weeks the same way: Cali to $452, Guayaquil to $776, Kingston to $949, Krakow to $1,000 and Saint Lucia to $1,631. Kingston's page was updated September 7, 2026 and Krakow's on September 8.

Booking timing that fits these routes

Going's October 15, 2026 guide puts the international booking window at two to eight months ahead, the domestic one at one to three months, and peak-season international trips at four to ten months.
January and February are the year's cheapest months to fly, with September and October the strongest runners-up and July and December the priciest. October ends on Saturday.
Fares jump because of how airlines sell seats. Going explains that a cabin is split into 10 to 26 booking classes, the cheapest bucket sells first, and dynamic pricing recalculates against competitors and demand several times a day.
Fly Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday where plans allow. The day you buy barely moves the price, and Going cites Expedia's 2026 air-travel data showing a Tuesday domestic departure about 14% cheaper than a Sunday one.
Lead times differ by route. KAYAK's screens put the savings point at 13 weeks for Miami–Castries, about 49% below a last-minute fare; 14 weeks for Miami–Cali, 17%; 22 weeks for Miami–Guayaquil, 19%; 23 weeks for Miami–Kingston, 24%; 24 weeks for JFK–Madrid, 15%; 7 weeks for Chicago–Krakow, 20%. Miami–Querétaro prints no lead-time figure.
Each route has its own cheapest month. April is cheapest for Miami–Cali, 22% below the route average, and for Miami–Castries, 15%. February is cheapest for Miami–Guayaquil, 31%, and Chicago–Krakow, 35%. January is cheapest for Miami–Kingston, 19%, and JFK–Madrid, 34%. May is cheapest for Miami–Querétaro, 46%.
Do not wait for a last-minute drop. Going calls it the Bargain Bin Trap: prices usually climb in the final three weeks before departure. Decide your pull-the-trigger number before you start searching.
Set alerts in Going, Google Flights, KAYAK or Skyscanner and use the ten-target table above as the threshold. If you book directly with an airline at least seven days before departure, the U.S. Department of Transportation requires either a 24-hour fare hold or a penalty-free cancellation within 24 hours. The airline chooses which, and the rule leaves online travel agencies outside it. Read the rule.

Route of the week: Cali

KAYAK's October 27 screen found $327 roundtrip from Miami on Copa Airlines, one stop in Panama City, for a March 12–27 itinerary.

Against a typical range of $409–$584, the fare sits 20% below the route's usual floor. That is the second-deepest cut on the page, behind Querétaro.

The discount is paid in hours. That itinerary spends 12 hours 22 minutes reaching Cali and 13 hours 39 minutes coming home, both legs connecting in Panama City.

The nonstop changes the arithmetic. American and Avianca fly Miami–Cali daily in about 3 hours 51 minutes, and KAYAK's cheapest nonstop screen is $336 for February 28–March 7.

Against a nonstop typical range of $434–$615, $336 sits 23% below that floor. It costs $9 more than the connecting fare and removes about 17 hours of transit across the roundtrip.

On the ground, Budget Your Trip's Cali page puts budget lodging at $3 a person a night in double occupancy and budget food at $7 a day. Five nights of both come to $50, so the visible subtotal is $377.

Treat that as a floor. Mid-range takes the same five nights to $125 and the week to $452, and the city's average traveler spends $38 a day.

The timing cuts two ways. KAYAK marks April as Cali's cheapest month, 22% below the route average, and the $327 itinerary lands in Miami on March 27 — five days before April starts.

April is close enough to price your own dates against, and far enough that the $327 fare may not follow you into it.

Book direct if you want the 24-hour protection, because the rule covers airline-direct tickets and leaves travel agencies outside it.