The sun is out, rooftop bars are packed and sunscreen is wafting in the air – signs that summer is well and truly here! The Christmas and New Year break means peak road trip season in Australia, as city dwellers escape to the coast and countryside for a little getaway. The only catch? Our already busy roads tend to clog up fast. Luckily, we’ve got the insider tips to help you beat the summer holiday rush.
For starters, you’ll want to avoid hitting the road on Friday. With many Aussies eager to clock off and get straight into holiday mode, it’s the most popular day to depart. According to research by the car rental experts at Thrifty, more than one-fifth (22.7 per cent) of Aussie travellers choose to start their journey then.
Mondays are also busy on the roads, accounting for 19.3 per cent of departures. Meanwhile, Sunday is the quietest day to set off on your summer road trip, with only 7.6 per cent of people hitting the road then.
Timing is also key if you want to avoid school holiday congestion, with around one-third of travellers setting off in the morning. The single busiest departure time is 8am, and this peak window extends until 11am. Meanwhile, the quietest times are before 6am and after 1pm, when traffic drops significantly. You can see the busiest days and times to avoid across Australia’s capital cities below.
The busiest times to road trip in Australia this summer
- Adelaide – Fridays; 8.30am-11am
- Brisbane – Fridays; 8.30am-11am
- Canberra – Mondays, Wednesdays; 8.30am-11am
- Darwin – Saturdays, Wednesdays; 6.30am-8am
- Hobart – Thursdays, Saturdays; Before 6.30am or 11.30am-1pm
- Melbourne – Fridays, Wednesdays; 8am-11am
- Perth – Mondays, Fridays; Before 6.30am or 8.30am-11am
- Sydney – Fridays, Mondays; 8am-11am