Where do you vacation when your on a tight budget?

When our children were small, and money was tight, flying somewhere wasn't an option. One year, we rented a cabin on a lake. Other times we did driving trips within a few hundred miles of home, satyed in moderately priced motels, had picnics for lunch.

Agree with the road trip idea. From here you can do Boston/New England or DC for almost free (since hotels can be Pricelined/special found for little - and you have to eat at home anyway).

I'm sure Florida would love to have your business, since we've been inundated with storms these past few months. I recently drove Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale and would not recommend making plans for that section of the State. Also, stay away from the Panhandle (Tallahassee) area. If you go on the east coast, St. Augustine and Jacksonville are intact and doing well (I heard tonight on the news that the beaches took a beating in St. Augustine, though.) I suppose the only areas unscathed by the hurricanes was Southeast Florida (my section of the State.) Stick with a location from Boca Raton, south to the Keys and you'll be okay.

If you want a beach vacation on a budget, consider staying in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, just north of Ft. Lauderdale beach area. You can rent an efficiency or apartment for a week and you'll have a kitchen to cook some of your meals. Consider having breakfast and lunch in your apartment and going out for a reasonable dinner. Look for a location on El Mar Drive and you won't be sorry. You will be a short walk to the ocean/beach areas.

The only other suggestion I can think of is to stick close to home and see the local sights. I love playing tourist in Ft. Lauderdale & Miami. I go to the touristy places like museums, tours, etc.

Our family always does Mexico when the wallet is thin...

Have fun!
Mark

We go to Charleston, SC because we can drive there rather than fly and the accommodations and dining choices are reasonable.

A week at a beach house. We can eat in as much as we choose and the entertainment is right out the back door. It's the cheapest and most relaxing vacation ever.

Go camping! We paid $19 for a tent site at Shenandoah National Park in August and had a blast!

We had to cancel a trip abroad last minute in Oct. 2001 due to frantic family members to we went to Michigan (we live in Chicago) Ann Arbor, Mackinac Island, Tecuhmenon Falls, Traverse City area and Harbor County. The colors were gorgeous, our rooms were dirt cheap since it was off season and we had a great time.

My inlaws have a lake house they let us use on Lake Norris in TN so that's free - can't get any more budget friendly than that. But you can rent houses/cabins in KY & TN for very little anyway and we're in Ohio so it's a pretty easy drive. There is no beach or big city attractions, but the natural beauty of these two states is wonderful. It's also quite an experience to spend a few days in these parts as folks and the culture is quite different than what most of us are used to. Dh and I always joke we should take my cousins from Boston to TN some day - it would be a whole new world to them!!

We do road trips, rent a cabin by a lake, or go camping when money is tight.

If you can get cheap airfare (ff miles?) to a destination like Mexico or Jamaica where it is cheap once you get there, then that will help you budget. I'm not sure how Jamaica fared with this last hurricane but I think she escaped the fury. And camping is a great idea.

For cheap in Florida, go after Memorial Day and before Labor Day. You can get some reasonable rates at beachfront hotels in Treasure Island, Daytona, Cocoa, Ormond, Flagler Beach, and Melbourne. I don't agree at all with accessments of hurricane damage in FL in a previous post -- only Punta Gorda and Pensacola have been hit really hard. Other than that it's business as usual.

I'm crazy for Cashiers NC. Renting a house on Lake Glenville is awesome. Beautiful sunsets, the lake is great.

Florida off season (Sept-Christmas exluding Thanksgiving) and Mexico same off season time.

Florida is such a beautiful diverse state and I wonder how many people realize that?

Washington DC is good for free attractions. Very few sights charge admission fees.

I'd suggest the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea option. The motels aren't very expensive and I'd guess a vast majority of them have some kind of kitchen. I know Coral Key does (I've stayed there twice) and the 1 BD is spacious and there is a mall with a Publix within easy walking distance from El Mar Drive. Just keep on checking airfares daily for the next 1-2 wks, they change everyday and when you find a good airfare $200 or less, go for it. I can't tell you if any of LBTS has been seriously damaged by the hurricane, I hope not, its a great little beachtown.

You can usually fly to New Orleans and get a nice hotel for pretty cheap mid-summer as well. The heat doesn't seem bad when you are wandering the streets with a cool hurricane in your hand. However my budget tends to get out of hand there once I start eating out (though there are plenty of reasonable spots if the budget is really tight).

Right now always go to Michigan and stay at my lake house/entertain. Tons to do, grapes being harvested now and lots of wine tasting- but we find much more to do overall than we do at the sand beaches. Tons of water sports, fishing and hiking ops. Out of work at 5 central time, on my deck overlooking absolute beauty by 9 or so Michigan time. We have done the light house tour all the way around Lake Michigan a couple of times, similar to swalter518.

In the past we went on long drives to Ohio (Cedar Point), Iowa (skiing), Minnesota, and the most times to western Illinois (Galena) and the Illinois River (Starved Rock N. Park) areas. Always on drive vacations and stop where we want, with some priceline reservations thrown in the middle or at the end. St. Louis was one enjoyable drive and very reasonable. Saw the city, saw a ball game, toured the Cahookia Mounds / U.of I. itself etc. on the way back.

There are "back roads" guide books for every area. You would be surprised the interesting and varied things you can enjoy closer to home.

Camping on one of the Great Lakes or staying at a friend's cottage on a small lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Also easy on the wallet is Toronto, a five hour drive, where the dollar goes far.

We go to the Adirondacks each year and rent a cabin right outside Old Forge at Palmer point - three bedroom, fireplace and beach for $450 for the week (and that's the most expensive place!) We only eat out one dinner and one lunch and the rest we BBQ! Can't get much cheaper than that!

I didn't catch if you have children or not, but off season in Las Vegas is cheap. You can tour the National Parks nearby, eat at almost any price range and be entertained free. People watching, Bellagio fountain shows and a happy and exciting atmosphere will cost you nothing. Most hotels offer great deals from $49 per night and if you do your homework by reading reviews you can plan 4 days on the cheap.

We will be there in early Nov. for a convention but had we planned a trip for October it would cost us much less. I'm making a travel folder of the things we can do for free and the entertainment we can catch for free as well. Since we have expense allowance we can use the extra cash for dining out, or any other entertainment we think is worth the money.

We started a tradition for our anniversary of a weekend trip in-state(in addition to any other vacations). First year we went to Telluride, then Estes Park for the 2nd (and we alternate each year which one plans the trip as a surprise). This year we had to skip it entirely because we are building a new house and have no spare money. Usually we spend probably less than $1,000 for the trip and we stay in pretty nice accomodations. We have lots of great mountain towns to visit in Colorado so it's fun and still a getaway for us.

Anymore?

Actually, when things are tight, we go to Florida. The beauty of Florida is that you can go resort 5 star or on a budget and still have a great time. We used to use the Entertainment book a lot to get 50% off on room rates and free dinners. In Fort Lauderdale, you can still get an oceanfront room for a reasonable price.

When we are on a tight budget I hit on my wife's parents for extended weekends (without my wife). After the first day you can get past all the yapping and gilt trips. When you take over the TV remote you have complete control. The parting gifts and invitations to return next year are wonderful just in case you need a place to crash again.

A cottage on a lake, as others have said, is always a good budget option. Small towns are the best, and cheapest. Look for places that aren't on the regular tourist route, like Erie, PA (lots of lake cottages) or Conneaut Lake, PA or Chautauqua, NY, or Findley Lake, NY.

Its actually a good thing to vacation cheap reminds of the corners you should try to cut even when you don't have to. When I am on a tight budget I remember the college days of travel and look for either pensions in Europe or bid for travel hotels in the U.S. Last November on Venere.com I found an 11 century palace in Florence, Italy that was converted to a B&B. It was only $45 a night. Now this place was far from a palace in the 21century but it reminded me that I was not entirely above lodging that primarily basic, clean and safe.

P.S that trip to Italy took place in the off season so the airfares will coinside with the hotel breaks. I think I paid $480 last November. After November 2 everything in Italy comes down in price in the hospitality industry. You can take your savings and some pasta with truffles as they will be in season
.

Depends on what you want to do on your vacation. For beach vacations on a budget, the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico represents a great value compared to other Caribbean destinations. Take a look at Isla Mujeres or Playa Del Carmen. Canada can also be a bargain. I don't know where you are but for us from the west coast, we like to go to British Columbia. Flights to Vancouver are usually pretty cheap and with a favorable exchange rate, your vacation dollars go farther. Within the U.S., maybe a road trip to visit national parks?

I'd say we go to Vegas for a cheap getaway. You can always find some type of cheap deal from Detroit to sin city. Sometimes we can find cheap airfare to Florida too.

We always stayed at my parents' summer house near Cashiers, NC. We still spend a month there almost every summer. We live in Fl and the kids would rather vacation in NC than just about anywhere. There are also very nice rentals throughout that area that are affordable.

Frankly, I wait until I have enough money to spend so that I'm not on a tight budget.

Sarah-- do you know the name of that 11th century palace B&B? I am collecting info for a trip to Italy that has been rescheduled and now down-graded from four star to funky and affordable.

We started camping so we could afford to go on vacations once the children came along. Now we camp in an RV because we love that way of traveling.

Utahtea

Here today gone to Mauai. I think it was the Medici 2 star on venere.com. Not certain though will reference business card later. Aldini at venere also comes highly regarded and most likely a step up from the hotel I suggest. Room five was nice where I stayed some rooms need work and are very basic. Will come on later running out the door.
www.venere.com

This past spring I was looking for a budget-minded girls' trip for myself, my mom & my sister. Discovered the Gulf Islands, off the coast of Vancouver Island. They are just north of the San Juans, but less developed and less expense (esp. with Canadian exchange rate). We rented a lovely 3 bedroom cottage ON the ocean for $700 U.S. for 7 nights, but there were many nice places for even less. This was off season, but summer rates were also quite reasonable. Search "gulf islands" on the Canadian forum.

Once, we decided we didn't have enough time to go away, but really needed a break.

My husband took a couple of days off for a long weekend and "vacationed" in our hometown. The rules were: no household chores of any kind could be done (I arranged for the cleaning lady to come back for an extra day over the weekend)and no meals could be cooked. Only plastic cups, plates and flatwear were used, and we basically did all the things around town that we never got a chance to do, went to dinner, to the movies, long walks on the beach, etc. We even took a cab one night to dinner so we could both have a few drinks and not worry about driving home.

It turned out to be the most relaxing and defnitely the cheapest vacation we've ever had!

Hi, I love swiss watches, and I went to the 'International Watches Expo' in Geneva recently and thanks god, I've found a nice cheap hotel in there!. www.thehotelsaver.com just made things easier, I was really in hurry. - I love Geneva! Just a little problem, it is very expensive city, I mean, you see your dollars gone very quickly, but it is ok, you enjoy it.

Camping.

Interesting thread and ideas but I would guess traveler77 has long found his budget vacation. This thread was begun is 2004 2 years ago!!

It's interesting to see how some of these places are no longer budget destinations though.

I remember when Playa del Carmen really was dirt cheap, but now that it's been discovered, it's no longer the bargain it was just 3 or 4 years ago....

Camping.

This got topped by an ad, of all things!

Camping, stay with friends or relatives. In fact we may end up in Oregon next month (we live in North CA), doing a little of both. We also have been doing home renovations, and have had some employment challenges in the past year. So I understand staying in a budget.

las vegas--mainly because southwest has a good airfare and hotel package deal.....both can be under 400 bucks for 3 or 4 days and the hotel is on the strip.

I don't know where you are, but for those on the East coast, Vegas isn't exactly the cheapest vacation destination, unless you go during the high heat of summer. My trip to Vegas in February was about as much as a trip to Paris. Yikes!

Since I live in NYC, I sometimes even take vacations in my own hometown, which I don't get to visit very often. The best part is low transportation costs and zero extra lodging expenses. Plus, I get to know my own hometown better.

That or we just pick a place along the NE seaboard. Sometimes we pack up and head towards Canada, where the American dollar is still strong.

What about taking advantage of those Eric Estrada commercials, if you know what I'm talking about. They're offering free trips to see their properties.

Beverages and More aka: Bev Mo.

How strict is your budget? Is it $1,000 for two? Or less? Or more?