Around 24,000 people will jet out from Cardiff over Christmas

Roads, train stations and airports are all expected to be busy as people head home or abroad over the festive period.

More than 24,000 passengers will fly out of Cardiff Airport over the Christmas period.

It is not yet clear whether predicted snow will affect travel on the roads.

BBC Radio Wales travel presenter Peter Lees said this year's weekend Christmas might well bring delays on the roads late on Christmas Eve.

He said: "We have seen this before where Christmas Day falls on a Saturday.

"You tend to find a lot of people work right up to Friday, Christmas Eve lunchtime, and then there's a big getaway."

He said the busiest routes were likely to be the M4, with long queues at the Severn tolls, and the A55 expressway in north Wales.

Cardiff International Airport spokesman Vincent Ray said the top destinations for travellers this year included Tenerife and the Canary Isles, followed by Edinburgh, Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Malta.

Around 70 Post Office staff will walk out over having to working late

He said: "Christmas is proving a very popular time to go away, as always, and has become progressively so over the years."

He said shorter haul destinations like Amsterdam, Paris and Prague had also proved very popular.

On the railways, there are no Arriva Trains services available on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with only Saturday services running on weekdays until the new year.

Meanwhile, strike action by Post Office workers is due to see a city centre office in Cardiff close early on Christmas Eve.

The office in The Hayes is set to be the worst hit by a walk out of 70 staff across Wales who were being asked to work until 1600 GMT.

Their union said it was a long-standing tradition that main post offices closed on Christmas Eve at 1230 GMT.

The Post Office said: "The call for strike action is unnecessary and unjustified."

The dispute centres on the request for staff to work later than usual in recent years on Christmas Eve.

The Royal Mail said it wanted to keep its crown offices open until 1600 GMT to give people more time to collect pensions and child benefits.

But the Communication Workers Union has said it was unreasonable to change staff's traditional working pattern on Christmas Eve.

Two other offices - Aberystwyth and Bridge Street in Newport - will remain open until 1600 GMT but managers will take over running the desks for the afternoon.