Domestic getaway without breaking the bank
 

Hi everybody! I'm thinking about getting a few days off after Christmas to chill and rest from the holidays stress but probably won't have a big budget after X-mas expenses so I'm looking for affordable US destinations. I am thinking about Florida keys, New Orleans or New England. Any tips? I'd love to hear other opinions/suggestions. Thanks!

Where is home? 2nd question do you want to drive, fly, take the train or bus?

"Affordable" often has to do with distance, so it's helpful to know where you're starting from :-)

You may or may not get "cheap" in the Florida Keys immediately after Christmas and I do mean immediately.

It really depends on your interests. You could find a place in New England where you can cross country ski. Concord NH is a small city with a wonderful independent bookstore and an independent theater (Red River Theater) and also a unique little theater, Hatbox Theater. You can rent skis and there are probably several public areas for skiing. There might be more going on in Portsmouth NH or Portland ME but sometimes it's pretty quiet after Christmas.

Virtually any place in the US is "affordable" if you don't stay in expensive hotels or go to expensive restaurants, barring just a few top cities that have very expensive hotel rooms no matter what (like NYC) and winter resort areas. So why focus on Florida Keys, a resort area during a holiday period. Christmas and first week January are often higher rates in popular destinations or resorts.

You could go almost anywhere. I am presuming location is East somewhere given the destinations (although air fare to some places out west isn't necessarily that expensive). For example, you can get a RT flight to Los Angeles from BWI on Southwest for $400 or less the second week in January. Sometimes airfare can be cheaper to big cities than smaller ones, anyway.

I don't see the point of New England in early January unless you want to go skiing.

I agree about New England vs Florida in January :-) Do you care about the weather?

What do you mean by “affordable”? Because I roughly agree with Christina, except my budget after Christmas would render all but the cheapest hotels unaffordable.

i wouldn’t do NE unless you want to do something like NYC, which might be affordable. That leaves FL vs NOLA. So then it’s a matter of transportation costs and activities. I would spend less in NOLA, because it doesn’t involve theme parks. Ymmv.

your other post makes it sound like you’ll already be in Maine. So maybe Boston or NYC are going to be the cheapest options.

If it were me, I’d buy a cheap ticket to Europe and stay in hostels—I’d still spend less than I would in NE or Florida.

Marvelous are you forgetting the exchange rate when you talk about "spending less?"

Home is Texas, so I'll have to fly. Not interested in skiing so probably NE wouldn't work, as some of you have pointed out

LA is good at that time of year. The weather is usually decent and you can find okay accommodations. Don't know what your interests are (what are they?) but one of my favorite things to do then is hit a bunch of movies that have been released locally in time for Oscar consideration (not only the blockbuster ones, but things like small indy films or even documentaries and shorts.)

If you're there for New Years, the Rose Parade in person will knock your socks off, really.

not sure i understand your question. Both the £ and € are good deals now. The £ is near the lowest it has been in years. A bargain trip to the UK or Europe is very doable.

My first thoughts though were LA and / or San Diego both of which should have decent airfares and usually good weather.

I know you said "US destinations" but from TX you can get to Mexico easily and it can be very inexpensive once you're there. Any of the coast beach towns could work.

I gather you also do not understand the meaning of the word "domestic" either, Janisj

If you hope to fly anywhere during the few days after Christmas you'd better book air tickets ASAP

Of course I do. Silly comment. My recommendations were domestic in case you didn't notice . . .

The bit about exchange rates was just to correct the record that Europe and/or Britain have lousy exchange rates for US travelers.

i spent a lot less in London last year than NYC. As Janis said, exchange rate is actually favorable right now. And then there’s that ime lodging and activities in Europe cost a lot less than the Northeast. Better bang for your buck.

But i thought OP was on the east coast, which has cheap transatlantic flights. Texas is a whole different story. Given the choices, I’d go with NOLA or Los angeles.

NOLA or LA sound like really good options when flying from TX. Good suggestions!

I have found a bunch of cheap fall destination ideas in the US on this article about fall budget-friendly US destinations. NOLA is included (I am considering going there after X-mas). They also mention Seattle. What do you guys think about this city?

Seattle at this time of year is chilly, dark and wet.

You would be traveling in winter if going after Christmas and the article is about fall travel (OCT-NOV). It's been a few years since I traveled to Seattle and on to visit friends in Poulsbo, but in early January it was pretty drizzly and cool. There are several regular posters on here who live in Seattle and can provide much better advice, like Gardyloo and suze.