Millions of people travel during the busiest travel weekend of the year

Millions of people are expected to head off on summer holidays on Saturday as airports and ports prepare for the busiest weekend of the year.

Motorists could also face a ‘weekend of misery’ as motoring body RAC predicts it will be the second busiest summer weekend since 2015.

A total of 3.6 million car journeys are expected on Saturday, and another 2.9 million on Sunday, as the school holidays begin.

The port of Dover is also expecting its busiest weekend, with 11,000 tourist cars on Saturday.

A port spokesman said traffic was “flowing freely” on Saturday morning and reported wait times at border control were just five minutes.

Brittany Ferries, which operates between the UK, France and Spain, said most overnight sailings were full this weekend, but there was still space on day trips.

Travel organisation Abta estimates that more than two million Britons will travel abroad this weekend, for the period from Friday to Sunday.

London Luton Airport expects 220,000 passengers to pass through between Friday and Monday, with a total of 2.5 million passengers expected during the summer holidays.

Clare Armstrong, head of guest experience at London Luton Airport, said Paris “clearly leads the way for city break destinations”.

She said there had been a 25% increase in the number of people travelling to the French capital over the past week and that this was “without a doubt” due to the Olympic Games.

Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona and Lisbon are also very popular, she added.

Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport is expecting its “busiest summer ever”, handling 250,000 passengers a day at peak.

The longest delays on the roads this weekend are expected on the M5 southbound between Bristol and Devon.

Transport analytics firm Inrix warned drivers wanting to avoid the worst delays not to travel between 12pm and 5pm on Saturday and between 11am and 1pm on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Eurostar passengers continued to be affected by arson attacks on the French rail network on Saturday in the run-up to the start of the Olympic Games.