This may be the hottest Mid-Autumn Festival on record.

Driven by a wave of workers combining leave days to create an extended 13-day break, many travelers who originally planned to depart during the National Day holiday moved their trips up to September 25, converging on the roads alongside those returning home for family visits and those taking short nearby getaways.

According to Qunar travel data, the top 10 cities with the highest hotel check-in volumes on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival were: Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Qingdao, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guangzhou, and Jinan.

This week, searches related to "Mid-Autumn moon viewing" and "autumn sightseeing trips" rose 3.1 times compared with the previous week.

On September 25, the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, domestic flight bookings grew more than 60% year on year, making it arguably the hottest Mid-Autumn Festival ever.

The extra-long holiday and opportunities to find last-minute deals have also made travelers more spontaneous in how they plan their trips.

Because there is room to snag bargains on flights and hotels during the holiday period, more than 20% of travelers simply chose to "book only the outbound leg and play it by ear," creating a unique pattern across the holiday of "peaking on day one with no obvious concentrated return rush."

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, multiple styles of travel heated up simultaneously, with some combination products such as "chasing autumn plus tasting seasonal flavors" and "moon viewing plus gourmet experiences" selling out half a month in advance.

On the first day of the 13-day extended window, bookings for boutique small-group tour products grew 2.2 times year on year.

Among them, 5-8 day itineraries with groups of 2-8 people and a cap of around 10 became mainstream, with per-customer spending exceeding that of traditional bus tours, and long-haul destinations such as the Northwest Loop, western Sichuan, and Xinjiang proving the most popular.

Just after the autumn equinox, nighttime temperatures at the northernmost edge of the map have already dropped to single digits, while daytime temperatures in the south remain around 30 degrees Celsius, making a "north-south swap" and "great autumn migration" spanning thousands of kilometers a striking phenomenon.

Some travelers headed north and west to chase autumn colors at their "peak appreciation period," driving a 170% week-on-week increase in searches for "autumn-chasing flight routes."

According to Qunar travel data, golden birch forests in Altay, hay harvesting on the grasslands of Xilinhot, the snow-capped mountain and colorful forest season in Nyingchi, and ripe golden rice waves in Xizhou, Dali, all contributed to doubled flight booking growth to those destinations on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Many of these were long-haul "autumn-chasing" trips, and Qunar data showed that long-distance autumn-chasing routes departing from South China and East China grew significantly. On the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, bookings from Guangzhou to Lanzhou increased 2.1 times year on year, while Hangzhou to Urumqi rose 1.6 times.

In contrast to the "autumn chasers," a large number of travelers who did not want to endure the cold too early chose to head south to "catch the tail end of summer," or rush to the seaside before temperatures dropped completely.

Qunar travel data showed that flight volumes to Mangshi, with its warm and pleasant climate, increased 1.9 times, while Luzhou, Qionghai, and other places also achieved growth of more than double.

Family and parent-child groups launched a relaxed "escape the cold and chase the sea" mode, with bookings on the Beijing-Haikou route rising 2 times year on year. Travelers from the southwest also rushed to the coast before the autumn chill settled in, with bookings from Chengdu to Qingdao increasing 2.7 times year on year.

The feeling of autumn is not only in the scenery but also on the tip of the tongue.

Travelers headed to Xiangshan in Zhejiang to taste the first catch of East China Sea swimming crabs, went to Yixian in Anhui to sample Huizhou-style autumn sun-dried sliced pork and stinky mandarin fish, and ventured deep into Hongya in Sichuan to enjoy autumn bamboo shoots and old duck soup.

On the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a large number of "seasoned foodies" followed seasonal delicacies to county towns and checked directly into autumn itself, driving hotel check-ins in "flavor-seeking small towns" up more than 5 times year on year.

Small towns carry the best of autumn.

Young office workers who normally shuttle between office cubicles showed no hesitation in paying for "checking into autumn" when faced with quiet, natural, and pristine county towns.

Qunar travel data showed that on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, travelers on the platform checked into hotels in more than 1,000 county towns across the country.

The "autumn-viewing small towns" with the highest check-in volumes were: Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, Burqin in Xinjiang, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, Antu in Jilin, Anji in Zhejiang, Yixian in Anhui, Tonglu in Zhejiang, Xiaojin in Sichuan, Habahe in Xinjiang, and Fusong in Jilin.

"Chinese-style romance" became a traffic magnet, with the popularity of Chinese-themed parks overtaking that of major international IPs.

According to Qunar travel data, Gexian Village in Shangrao, Jiangxi, known for its grand lantern festival and prayer night tours, even surpassed Shanghai Disneyland in ticket bookings on September 25.

Yang Han, a researcher at the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, analyzed that as a traditional Chinese festival, more travelers are willing to climb mountains and admire the moon on Mid-Autumn Day, immerse themselves in traditional Chinese aesthetics, and experience Mid-Autumn folk customs, making many Chinese-themed parks top draws.

Qunar travel data showed that on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the top 10 scenic spots nationwide by ticket bookings were: Gexian Village in Shangrao, Shanghai Disneyland, Hetou Old Street in Tangshan, Jiuzhaigou in Aba, Universal Beijing Resort, Wuyuan Huangling in Shangrao, Jiangxi, Huangshan in Anhui, Huai'an Journey to the West Park, Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, and Wugong Mountain in Pingxiang.

In terms of visitor demographics, before the 2026 double holidays, more than 50 universities announced a combined 13-day break for the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, spawning a massive wave of student travel.

Qunar travel data showed that on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, ticket bookings by "student groups" aged 13-18 and 19-22 led all age brackets in growth, with year-on-year increases exceeding 2 times for both groups.