Europe Unlocked Research
Best time to book flights from Edinburgh? Typical fares, the bargains we found and what booking early or late did, one airline at a time, in 2026.
Written By Rick Blyth
Happiest at 36,000ft as the sun rises above the clouds
6 min read
Published on 12th November 2026
In our trip search on 12th November 2026, Edinburgh had more places for a city break than any other Scottish airport: 85, with 32 of them under £50 return.
Wondering about the best time to book flights from Edinburgh? Here's the good news first, from our trip search, then what booking early or leaving it late did to fares in our 2026 fare tracking, one airline at a time.
This page is the Edinburgh part of our study of the best time to book flights to Europe.
Here's what we found when we searched for city breaks from Edinburgh: return trips, flights only.
85places for a city break from Edinburgh, in 31 countriesMore than any other Scottish airport
32of them under £50 return, and 65 under £100More than any other Scottish airport
City break in EuropeGran Canaria1 night in December, from £30 return
City break in IrelandKnock3 nights in December, from £30 return
City break in the UKBelfast6 nights in December, from £30 returnReturn trips, flights only, per person, from our trip search on 12th November 2026. Fares move, and you book each flight directly with the airline. Compared with the other UK airports our trip search covers, searched the same day: we only say "more" when an airport is well ahead, and "cheapest" when it's at least £5 lower.
See every city break from Edinburgh →Here's how much lower fares were 6 to 8 weeks before departure than in the final days or six months ahead, airline by airline.
From EdinburgheasyJet£28 lesstypically, 6 to 8 weeks out than in the final 3 days
From EdinburghRyanair to Dublin£58 lesstypically, 6 to 8 weeks out than in the final days
From EdinburghRyanair, other routes£44 lesstypically, 6 to 8 weeks out than in the final days
From EdinburghJet2£26 lesstypically, 6 to 8 weeks out than 6 months ahead
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The full figures, for journalists and anyone who likes the detail, start here. This is the typical one-way fare on the flights we tracked from Edinburgh, booked 6 to 8 weeks before departure, one airline at a time. Typical means the middle one: half cost less, half cost more.
From EdinburghRyanair to Dublin£30typical fare one way, booked 6 to 8 weeks ahead
From EdinburghRyanair, other routes£62typical fare one way, booked 6 to 8 weeks ahead
Each flight is compared with its own fare 6 to 8 weeks before it left.
From EdinburgheasyJet40% higherin the final 3 days, about £28 more a flight
786 flights tracked, departures 1 March to 7 November.
From EdinburghJet236% lowerin the final 3 days, about £50 less a flight
335 flights tracked, departures 2 March to 7 November.
From EdinburghRyanair, other routes73% higherin the final days, about £44 more a flight
759 flights tracked, departures 1 March to 7 November.
Each point covers 100 or more flights. One-way base fares for one person, without bags, on the flights we tracked from Edinburgh.
What happened to fares in the last days before departure, airline by airline:
What booking about six months ahead did, against booking 6 to 8 weeks out:
In our fare tracking, Ryanair to Dublin is the one route we can fairly compare between airports, because it's the same airline on the same route. From Edinburgh:
Here it is from the 12 UK airports where we tracked enough Ryanair flights to Dublin, in alphabetical order. These are increases, not fare levels.
Edinburgh’s rise was clearly different from Birmingham, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted and Newcastle. It wasn’t clearly different from Bristol, Glasgow or Manchester, so we don’t compare it with those.
It depends on the airline, so we looked at each one on its own. In our 2026 fare tracking: Among the 786 easyJet flights we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), fares 6 to 8 weeks out were typically about £28 lower than the same flight's fare in the final 3 days. Among the 696 Ryanair flights to Dublin we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), fares 6 to 8 weeks out were typically about £58 lower than the same flight's fare in the final days. Among the 759 Ryanair flights (leaving out Dublin) we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), fares 6 to 8 weeks out were typically about £44 lower than the same flight's fare in the final days. Among the 226 Jet2 flights we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 5 July to 6 November), fares 6 to 8 weeks out were typically about £26 lower than 24 to 26 weeks out.
Booked 6 to 8 weeks before departure, in our 2026 fare tracking: Among the 497 Jet2 flights we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 2 March to 7 November), the typical fare 6 to 8 weeks before departure was £144 one way. Among the 935 Ryanair flights (leaving out Dublin) we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), the typical fare 6 to 8 weeks before departure was £62 one way: 11% were under £30 and 35% under £50. Among the 851 Ryanair flights to Dublin we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), the typical fare 6 to 8 weeks before departure was £30 one way: 49% were under £30 and 82% under £50. Among the 943 easyJet flights we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), the typical fare 6 to 8 weeks before departure was £77 one way.
In our 2026 fare tracking, yes. Among the 696 Ryanair flights to Dublin we tracked from Edinburgh (departures 1 March to 7 November), fares in the final days were typically 170% higher than the same flight's fare 6 to 8 weeks out, about £58 more. 91% were dearer and 6% cheaper.
Yes. Media outlets, websites and other publications are welcome to use them, but must credit Europe Unlocked with a link to this page. Journalists can also get the press pack from our full study.
We've done the searching, so you don't have to. Find city breaks from Edinburgh, or read the best time to book flights to Europe, our full 2026 study.
