Cheap Easter Flights UK 2026 — Best Last-Minute Deals from London, Manchester & Edinburgh

Cheap Easter flights from UK airports are harder to find than they were a month ago, but not impossible. Good Friday is April 3 and Easter Monday is April 6 — that's 9 days away, and most popular routes have repriced sharply. Gatwick–Malaga on easyJet is showing £130–£160 one-way for April 3 departures. Stansted–Dublin on Ryanair is around £60–90 one-way, up from its usual £25–40.

That said, not all hope is lost. Less-saturated routes and mid-week Easter departures — Tuesday April 7 returns especially — are significantly cheaper than the core bank holiday window. If you can shift your travel dates by even 48 hours either side, you'll pay noticeably less on cheap Easter flights.

The best remaining value is on routes served by multiple carriers where one hasn't yet matched the others' peak pricing. Amsterdam (AMS) from Stansted is one example: Ryanair is still showing some seats from around £55 one-way for April 4 departures as of today.

Amsterdam (AMS) from Stansted — Ryanair and easyJet both serve this route. Look for April 4–5 departures; some seats still around £50–75 one-way. Return on April 8 (Wednesday) is markedly cheaper than April 7.

Brussels (BRU) from Gatwick or Stansted — Often overlooked at Easter. Ryanair flies Stansted–Charleroi (CRL, 60km from Brussels) with fares still in the £40–70 range for April 4–5 departures. City centre by bus in 60 minutes.

Lisbon (LIS) from Gatwick — TAP Air Portugal and easyJet compete here. April 4 departures on TAP are showing around £90–120 one-way — expensive, but Lisbon at Easter is genuinely worth it.

Porto (OPO) from Stansted — Ryanair's Stansted–Porto route still has seats in the £70–100 one-way range for April 4. Often cheaper than Lisbon and equally rewarding.

Kraków (KRK) from Stansted — Ryanair's strongest value route at Easter. Fares from around £35–55 one-way for April 4 departures are still available. Kraków is exceptional for a long Easter weekend.

The cheapest Easter flights aren't always from London. Manchester Airport offers strong competition on key Easter routes, and for anyone north of Birmingham, the journey time saved versus getting to Stansted or Gatwick often makes Manchester the smarter choice even if the fare is marginally higher.

Manchester to Kraków (KRK): Ryanair direct, around £40–65 one-way for April 4–5 departures. Comparable value to Stansted and no London transport to factor in.

Manchester to Alicante (ALC): Jet2 from Manchester, around £95–130 one-way. Jet2 includes bags, which narrows the real-cost gap considerably versus budget carriers.

Manchester to Amsterdam (AMS): KLM direct from Manchester, around £80–110 one-way — pricier than Stansted but premium legroom and no Ryanair extras.

Edinburgh (EDI) to Amsterdam: KLM direct, around £85–115 one-way. Edinburgh is one of the strongest departure airports in Scotland for Easter — fewer routes but the ones that exist are well-served.

Edinburgh to Dublin: Ryanair, around £40–65 one-way. A city break with no currency exchange and genuinely good food — underrated Easter option from Scotland.

Some routes are simply too far gone to recommend at this point. Barcelona (BCN) from any London airport is showing £150–200+ one-way for Good Friday departures — that's peak summer pricing for a spring weekend. Pass unless you have specific reasons to go.

Palma, Mallorca (PMI) is similarly repriced — Jet2 and TUI have filled their Easter seats at £120–180 one-way from Manchester and London. Alicante (ALC) from Gatwick on easyJet is £110–145 one-way for core Easter dates. Not terrible, but not the deal you'd want.

Rome (FCO / CIA) is brutally expensive this Easter — Ryanair's Stansted–Ciampino fares have gone past £130 one-way for peak dates. Wizz Air's Luton route is similar. Skip Rome for now and go in May instead, when fares drop back to £50–70 one-way on the same routes.

Search Tuesday April 7 or Wednesday April 8 returns. The cheapest return legs right now are midweek in Easter week rather than Easter Monday. This alone can save £30–60 on the return.

Consider the Tuesday April 1 outbound. Flying out on April 1 (Tuesday before Easter) gives you the same long weekend but costs considerably less than Good Friday. You arrive two days early at off-peak prices.

Check connecting routes via secondary hubs. If direct Gatwick–Lisbon is £110, check whether Stansted–Porto via a brief connection is cheaper. Occasionally a two-leg itinerary through a less-busy airport undercuts the direct route at this stage.

Set a price alert and check twice daily. Airlines release unsold seats at reduced rates in the 7–10 days before departure. Check prices morning and evening — a route showing £90 today might drop to £65 by Sunday if the flight is underselling.

Luggage adds up fast. At these prices, carry-on only is essential. Ryanair charges £24–40 for a checked bag at booking on short-haul Easter routes; easyJet similarly. Factor that into every price you compare.

Stansted consistently produces the lowest headline fares for Easter, because Ryanair's UK base there means the most competitive routes and highest frequency. The trade-off is getting to Stansted — from central London it's 47 minutes by train from Liverpool Street (£10–18 each way), which adds £20–36 per person to a round trip.

Gatwick is better positioned for south London and Surrey, and easyJet's strong presence there creates genuine competition on popular Easter routes. The Gatwick Express (£20 each way) is more expensive than the Stansted Express, but Gatwick tends to offer better baggage-inclusive deals on some routes.

Manchester is the best value departure point in the North for Easter, full stop. Jet2's inclusive pricing beats the budget carrier game for families, and the route coverage from Manchester to Easter-popular destinations is comprehensive. Anyone based from the Midlands northward should price up Manchester before defaulting to a London airport.

Birmingham and Bristol both offer a subset of Easter routes — fewer destinations but useful for avoiding Ryanair's Stansted congestion at peak times. Bristol to Porto and Bristol to Seville are both consistently well-priced on Ryanair.