The best January travel deals, including a week in Portugal for £136 and flights to Corfu for £24

Annabel Fenwick-Elliott
The Algarve: there are good package deals to be had - Smileus
The Algarve: there are good package deals to be had - Smileus

Welcome, 2019, and hello to the January sales. Now is an excellent time to be booking your getaways this year, with deals on flights and holiday packages cropping up left right and centre. Here is our round-up of the best so far.

Ryanair

Unsurprisingly, Ryanair is coming out with the lowest fares this sale season - though watch out for its supremely strict new baggage allowance rules. You’ll have to pack light, queue longer at the airport and buy nothing on board to take full advantage of these rock bottom ticket prices, but if you can manage that - you could be off to Oslo for £4.88, Berlin for £9.78, Venice from £12.73, Seville from £16.65, Marrakesh from £21.55 and Corfu from £24.50 - all one-way from London Stansted. You can view the full list here.

The budget carrier is also offering 30 per cent off hotels and resorts this summer in destinations such as Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and La Palma, along with a 10 per cent refund on bookings in flight credit; as well as 20 per cent off hire car.

Book soon - Ryainair's Early Bird deal covers one million seats and only lasts until midnight on January 3. Last year, the airline flew more than 129 million passengers.

EasyJet

Both the airline itself and its easyJet Holidays offering have launched a 20 per cent off sale on 400,000 flights and destinations.

Advertised fares include one-way flights from £22.49 to destinations including Menorca in March; Milan, Nice and Geneva in April; and Reykjavík in May - all departing from London Gatwick. Spend an extra 51p and for £22.99 you can fly to Paris and Copenhagen in April, and Venice in June. Check out the rest of the deals here.

As for the company's holiday packages, tempting offers include a seven-night stay at the four-star Paraiso Albufeira hotel in Portugal's Algarve for £136pp, departing April 2; a three-night city break in Prague at the four-star Hotel Kinsky Garden on a B&B basis for £102pp, departing February 10; and a five-night summer holiday at the four-star Asterias Village Hotel in Crete for £179pp, departing June 22. All include flights and are based on two people sharing. Book here.

Magical Prague: there's a city break on offer for £102pp - Credit: istock
Magical Prague: there's a city break on offer for £102pp Credit: istock

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin's sale is now on for fares booked before the end of January 2019. Fancy heading to the US? Return flights to New York and Miami start at £279; while tickets to Los Angeles and San Francisco are from £289 - all on select dates. Caribbean fares include Jamaica from £352 return and Barbados from £385; and flights to South Africa (Johannesburg) are from £415.

The airline's hotel and flight packages are also worth a look. Spend an extra £134, for example, and spend four nights in Johannesburg this coming May at the four-star Holiday Inn Express Pretoria-SunnyPark from £549pp. Or enjoy a seven-night holiday in Barbados this June from £499pp, staying at the Time Out Hotel near St Lawrence Gap.

Other advertised flight and hotel packages include a three-night stay in New York from £379pp in January; the same deal for Boston in March; and for £399pp, a four-night Las Vegas stay in February.

There's an extra £50 off if your booking exceeds £1,500. See all the deals here and use code SAVE50.

British Airways

British Airways' sale is also on until January 31, with a big emphasis on combined flights and hotel packages. To fly to Las Vegas in November 2019 costs from £297 return, for example, but throw in five nights at the Circus Circus Hotel, Casino & Theme Park for the same month and spend just £380 for the package. That works out at a room rate of £16 per night.

European beach packages currently on sale, all for seven nights in a four-star hotel departing in April 2019, include the Algarve from £179pp, Crete from £219pp, Tenerife from £258pp and Lanzarote from £270pp.

Further afield, return flights to South Africa - a firm favourite among our readers according to the Telegraph Travel Awards - start at £415, and if you take on their seven-days car hire offer, from £449 all-in.

There are also some pretty generous flights-only fares to be had, among them return flights from London to Sydney from £609 on selected dates from February to June (Australia's low season) but also from £607 in November, when it's turned to summer down under.

Book here.

Crete: another appealing option - Credit: istock
Crete: another appealing option Credit: istock

Norwegian

Norwegian regularly announces flash sales throughout the year, but has discounted its fares on all long-haul flights from the UK and Ireland this month, and is touting the UK’s cheapest direct flight to Brazil with fares from £199 one-way.

Current non-stop, one-way fares the carrier is pushing from London include New York from £144 (with return fares as low as £109); Los Angeles from £169; Rio de Janeiro from £199; and Buenos Aires from £244.

This sale closes at 11pm on January 14. Book here.

The airline is also promoting its new direct routes, all which launch on March 31 - with one-way fares starting at £149 to Miami, £164 to San Francisco, and £229 to Rio de Janeiro.

These are all selling out fast, so don't wait around. You can find the full list here.

Rio: a new route for Norwegian - Credit: istock
Rio: a new route for Norwegian Credit: istock

Lastminute.com

This site is currently offering deals on flights, hotels and Eurostar city breaks and requiring only a 20 per cent deposit to secure your booking (the rest being due 30 days before departure) - so it's a good option if Christmas has diminished your funds, which it probably has.

These deals are changing hourly, but as of right now, good round-trip fares include those from London to Edinburgh for £14 in January, to Barcelona for £23 in March, to Bangkok for £294, also in March, and Miami for £256 in February. You can find them all here.

Summer holiday package deals, the best of which are all here, include four nights at the five-star Grand Muthu Forte do Vale resort in the Algarve from £199pp, departing May 6; seven nights in Ibiza at the three-star all-inclusive Fiesta Hotel Cala Gracio for £359pp, departing May 9; and for some last-minute winter sun, seven nights in the four-star Sol Tenerife resort from £459pp, departing January 12.

As for Eurostar city breaks, which include hotels plus train fare, packages to Paris and Lille are starting at £99; and Amsterdam and Bruges from £149. See the full list here - and make sure to check other flight comparison sites too, each of which have their own advantages, as you'll see below.

Bag a deal: more advice from our experts

For Telegraph Travel's ultimate guide to holiday deals in 2019, covering everything from tours to cruises, click here.