10 Cheap Labor Day Destinations (And What Travelers Actually Paid)

Labor Day 2026 lands on Monday, September 7, which gives you a three-day weekend from Saturday the 5th, or Friday the 4th if you can sneak out early. It's the last long weekend of summer, and it's the one people actually use.

Most Labor Day roundups guess at where you should go. We didn't have to guess. We pulled what travelers booked on Wanderu over Labor Day weekend last year, along with what they paid, and built this list out of that. Every price below is a real fare somebody bought, not an estimate.

One thing the data made obvious right away: Labor Day travel on Wanderu is a Northeast Corridor story. New York alone took more than four times the seats of the next city on the list. So that's where this starts, with a few longer hauls at the end for anyone who wants to cover more ground.

Every search link on this page is already set to Saturday, September 5 out and Tuesday, September 8 back, which was the cheapest pattern in last year's data. Here's why.

The cheapest day to travel over Labor Day weekend

Friday out, Monday back. That's what almost everyone does, and it's the most expensive way to do it.

Here's what travelers actually paid for bus tickets between New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore across Labor Day week last year:

Monday was the priciest day of the week and Friday wasn't far behind. Saturday came in about 7% under Friday, and the Tuesday after the holiday was the cheapest day of the whole stretch, roughly 13% below Monday.

Leaving Saturday and coming back Tuesday instead of the standard Friday-to-Monday trip saved travelers about 10% on a round trip last year. If you've got a flexible Tuesday, that's the easiest money you'll save all weekend.

Bus or train: which one costs less

On the same corridor over the same holiday weekend, the bus ran cheaper. Travelers paid a median of $34.99 for a bus seat and $41.00 for a train seat, so the bus came in about 15% below the train.

Take the bus. The train earns its extra few dollars mainly on Labor Day Monday, when the corridor fills up and the train sails past the traffic. Wanderu searches both at once, so you'll see them side by side.

10 cheap Labor Day destinations

These are the ten cities travelers booked most over Labor Day weekend last year, in order. Fares are what people paid for a one-way seat. Round-trip figures are just double that, so treat them as a ballpark rather than a quote.

1. New York, NY

New York runs away with Labor Day travel on Wanderu. Late summer is when the city gets good and cheap at the same time. Central Park and the High Line cost nothing, the Staten Island Ferry is free and gives you the skyline and the Statue of Liberty on the same trip, and the Rockaways are still swimmable in September.

Labor Day itself is a big day here. Brooklyn's West Indian American Day Carnival runs on the holiday every year, and the US Open is usually still going out in Flushing. Check dates before you commit to either.

Median: $39.99 one way, $80 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $7.
Pull up fares from Washington, from Boston or from Philadelphia, or see every bus ticket to New York.

2. Boston, MA

Boston in early September is about as good as Boston gets. The humidity breaks, the students haven't fully taken the city back yet, and the Freedom Trail is a free two and a half miles of history you can walk off a bus and start immediately.

Spend an afternoon on the Esplanade along the Charles, take the ferry out to the Harbor Islands for a beach most visitors never find, or get cheap standing-room seats at Fenway if the Sox are home.

Median: $38 one way, $76 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $5.66.
Search from New York or from Washington, or browse all bus tickets to Boston.

3. Washington, D.C.

No city on this list gives you more to do for zero dollars. Every Smithsonian museum is free, the National Zoo is free, and the monuments are free and best after dark when the crowds thin out and the marble goes gold under the lights.

When you need a break from the Mall, Rock Creek Park is a genuine forest inside the city, and the food halls around Union Market are a cheap way to eat well.

Median: $38.99 one way, $78 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $7.
Check it from New York or from Philadelphia, or browse all bus tickets to Washington, D.C..

4. Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia was the cheapest major city on this list last Labor Day, with a median fare of $28. From New York it's the shortest hop on the corridor, and travelers regularly paid low twenties for it.

Reading Terminal Market handles lunch. Independence Mall handles the history. The Art Museum steps handle the obligatory photo, and the Schuylkill Banks trail behind them handles the walk you'll need after the market. Spruce Street Harbor Park is usually still open along the Delaware at the end of summer, so check before you go.

Median: $28 one way, $56 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $8.
Fares from New York or from Baltimore, or every bus ticket to Philadelphia.

5. Baltimore, MD

Baltimore is the value play on the corridor. Somebody got a seat here for $6.67 last Labor Day weekend, and the median was $32.

Steam crabs at Fell's Point, walk the Inner Harbor, then go to the American Visionary Art Museum, which is one of the strangest and best museums in the country and gets nowhere near the traffic it deserves. Hampden is where to go for cheap food and secondhand shopping.

Median: $32 one way, $64 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $6.67.
Run a search from New York or from Philadelphia, or browse all bus tickets to Baltimore.

6. Providence, RI

Providence is small and eats like it isn't. Federal Hill is a full Italian neighborhood you can eat your way through on a small budget, and the city's art school keeps the whole place more interesting than a city this size has any business being.

WaterFire, the installation that sets braziers alight down the middle of the rivers downtown, runs on select nights through the warm months, so check the schedule. Newport and its beaches are a short ride away if you want sand.

Median: $37 one way, $74 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $11.99.
See what's leaving from New York, or browse all bus tickets to Providence.

7. Chicago, IL

Chicago is the one big non-coastal city that shows up in the Labor Day numbers, and early September is the right time to be there. The lake is finally warm, and the beaches along it are free.

Millennium Park is free, the architecture boat tour is the rare paid attraction worth the money, and the neighborhood festival calendar runs straight through the holiday weekend.

Median: $47.98 one way, $96 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $11.98.
Start from Madison, or browse all bus tickets to Chicago.

8. Richmond, VA

Richmond has whitewater running through the middle of it, which no other city on this list can say. Belle Isle and the James River Park System give you swimming holes and rock scrambles inside city limits, and Labor Day weekend is still warm enough to use them.

Carytown is where to eat and shop. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is free, and there are murals all over the city if you'd rather just walk.

Median: $38 one way, $76 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $13.
Search from Washington, or every bus ticket to Richmond.

9. Toronto, ON

Toronto is the priciest trip on this list at a $64.37 median, and it needs a passport, but somebody still got there for $12.35 last Labor Day weekend.

Canada takes the same Monday off, and the Canadian National Exhibition traditionally wraps up on Labor Day, so the city is busy in a good way. Take the ferry to the Toronto Islands for beaches and a skyline view, then eat through Kensington Market.

Median: $64.37 one way, $129 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $12.35.
Fares from New York, or browse all bus tickets to Toronto.

10. Portland, ME

Portland gave up seats for as little as $8 last Labor Day weekend with a $30 median, which makes it the cheapest way on this list to get somewhere that feels like an actual vacation.

The Old Port is walkable straight off the bus, the lobster is the whole point, and the Casco Bay ferries will take you out to the islands for the price of a sandwich. Portland Head Light is a short ride south and worth the detour.

Median: $30 one way, $60 round trip. Lowest fare sold: $8.
Hop on from Boston, or browse all bus tickets to Portland.

What travelers paid on the busiest routes

These were the highest-volume Labor Day weekend routes on Wanderu last year. The median is what a normal trip costs and the low is proof of what turns up when your timing is loose. Every route links to a search for Saturday, September 5 out and Tuesday, September 8 back.

How to spend less on your Labor Day trip

Move your travel days before you move anything else. Nothing else on this list saves as reliably. Saturday out and Tuesday back beat Friday out and Monday back by about 10% last year, and it costs you nothing but a day of PTO.

Search the whole corridor, not one route. Philadelphia’s median was $28 and Providence’s was $37, and both are a few hours from New York. If your plan is "somewhere else for three days," the destination is the variable with the most money in it.

Check bus and train in the same search. The bus ran about 15% cheaper on the corridor last Labor Day, but the gap was narrow enough that individual trips went either way.

Don’t wait until the last two days. On most of the busiest routes, seats sold within 48 hours of departure went for more than the ones sold a week out. There’s no reward for booking two months ahead either, so a week or two of lead time is the sweet spot.

Skip the pre-dawn bus. Time of day barely moved the median fare across most of the day, with one exception. Buses leaving before 6am were the most expensive window by a wide margin, running about 24% above the mid-afternoon departures everybody assumes are the overpriced ones.

Labor Day weekend FAQ

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Prices move. The fares above are a guide, not a promise. Search your dates and see what's really there.

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Fare and volume figures come from Wanderu bookings for travel between August 27 and September 3, 2025, covering Labor Day weekend 2025. Medians are per-seat one-way fares actually paid; round-trip figures are double the one-way median, rounded, and are an estimate rather than a quoted fare. Day-of-week, time-of-day and bus-versus-train comparisons are limited to trips between New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore so that the same routes are compared across days.