The great Easter getaway

FLIGHTS

A record 2.3 million people will fly abroad this weekend, with Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands being the most popular destinations.

Over 600,000 passengers will travel with the low-cost airline easyJet - a 20 per cent increase on the average April weekend.

Favourite budget breaks are Alicante, Barcelona and Nice.

AIRPORTS

Today will be the busiest day for UK airports, with 500,000 passengers leaving from Heathrow;

262,000 leaving from Gatwick;

172,350 from Stansted;

60,000 from Luton;

12,000 from Southampton;

51,000 from Glasgow;

56,800 from Edinburgh;

17,800 from Aberdeen;

26,000 from Belfast;

110,000 from Manchester;

37,500 from Newcastle;

14,000 from Leeds Bradford;

45,000 from Birmingham;

and 26,000 from Nottingham East Midlands.

TRAINS

80,000 will take the Channel tunnel to escape the UK.

Today and Easter Monday afternoon will be the busiest times on the railway, with the busiest destinations being: London, the West Country, the south coast and Scotland.

Virgin trains expect a 30 per cent increase in passengers, with London to Glasgow being the busiest route.

Expect trains to be emptier at 8am, with no commuters, and busier by 10 am, the Association of Train Operating Companies said.

ROADS

18 million motorists will be on the roads over the weekend, with the number of drivers up 25 per cent by lunchtime today, according to the AA.

Black routes: expect heavy delays on the M25 around London; the M1 northbound; the M4 westbound; the M6 through the West Midlands and north of Manchester/Liverpool; the M5 northbound in the Midlands and southbound around Bristol.

Delays where major roadworks are continuing:

M60 in Greater Manchester between junctions 5 and 8;

M6 in Staffordshire between junctions 15 and 16;

M1 in Hertfordshire where works are continuing between Junctions 6A and 10 and the M4 in south Gloucestershire, at Junction 20, the Almondsbury Interchange.

The Highways Agency said that it had lifted 53 miles of roadworks at 27 locations over Easter, but to expect delays at the Dartford tunnel, where one tunnel will be closed overnight for maintenance.

80,000 breakdowns are expected over the holiday period. The AA will have extra patrols on the roads.

FOOD

Tesco expects to sell 1.8m Easter eggs, 7.5 million packets of hot cross buns and 10,000 Simnel cakes. A total of 35,000 packs of Mr Kipling Simnel Cake Slices have already sold out. This year is also the busiest ever for turkeys. Fresh turkeys went into stores on Monday and sales were double that of the first day last year.

Sainsbury's expect to sell 25m Easter eggs.

Waitrose expects record sales of fish over the weekend, including cod, haddock and New Forest barramundi. Champagne sales are already up 20 per cent compared to this time last year, and sales are expected to increase over the next couple of days.

GOING OUT

The National Gallery expects 15,000 extra visitors compared to other weekends in April, based on last year's figures, when 80,735 people visited the gallery.

Alton Towers expects 60,000 people at the theme park over the weekend.

London Zoo: 36,000 visitors are expected over the weekend - an increase of 50 per cent on an average weekend.

Whipsnade Wild Animal Park is expecting 26,000 visitors, an increase of 50 per cent on an average weekend.

The Baltic Gallery, Tyneside, expects an extra 1,000 visitors over the Easter weekend, with a total of 5,000 visitors.

STAYING IN

DIY will feature in one in three people's holiday plans according to Alliance & Leicester Personal Loans.

WEATHER

It may not be as dreary as many bank holidays, with temperatures reaching 16C in the Midlands.