North Africa and southern Spain are popular with Easter holidaymakers

About 2.2 million people were estimated to be taking a foreign trip, with the Association of British Travel Agents speaking of a "travel boom".

On the roads, Thursday's rush hour started early, and the RAC warned that Good Friday would also be busy.

Lengthy delays due to road works and sheer weight of traffic were reported on the M25, M20, M62 and M11.

The RAC said up to 17 million cars would be on the move over the weekend.

Weather forecasters said Good Friday would see the best weather, with temperatures as high as 18C (64F) in southern England.

Although Saturday is likely to be dry and sunny in places, cooler and showery weather was expected on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

'Disposable income'

The large number of people heading abroad reflected a growing trend, said ABTA.

The AA says the Easter getaway is "weather driven"

"There has been a travel boom with a year on year increase in the number of people going abroad," a spokeswoman said.

"There is more disposable income and going on holiday is not just a luxury anymore, it is something everybody does."

In 1997 only 1.5m people went abroad at Easter.

ABTA said that as the holiday was early this year many people were going skiing.

North Africa, New York, Dublin, Tenerife and southern Spain were also popular destinations.

'Horrible weather'

The AA said about 18 million motorists travelled last Easter, but that this year could be even busier as good weather was forecast.

"People have just come out of some horrible weather and are just starting to see the turn of spring," a spokeswoman said.

It predicted that it would attend 50,000 breakdowns over the weekend.

The Highways Agency has suspended a number of road works on major routes in England, but some remain in place, including those on the M25 near Heathrow airport - the busiest stretch of the country's busiest motorway.

Road works at junction 6 on the M6 in Birmingham will also stay over the weekend.

One of the biggest traffic hotspots is the M20 in Kent, where police have implemented Operation Stack.

It is an operation to close complete sections for lorry parking in the case of disruption to cross channel freight traffic - in this case due to industrial action in France.

On the railways, there will be widespread engineering works, with many trains being replaced by buses.

Network Rail said the work was being done at Easter as it would only be carrying half the normal number of passengers.