OK Budget Travellers--I need your advice!
 

My husband and I would like to get away somwhere this March or April. We live in Denver (would like to go somewhere warm) and have about $1,500 for the trip. Any suggestions???

how long?

Look at the ads and featured package deals in Budget Travel magazine. Loads of ideas.

About a week--we're super flexible on dates, just lacking in ideas.

I agree about Budget Travel Magazine for ideas. You can access it online at www.budgettravelonline.com

But a few thoughts/questions:

1) If you buy airplane tickets for $300 each, that only leaves $900 for the week. Is that meant to cover hotel, food, local transportation and entertainment? You might find airfare to some destinations around $200 each, but counting on much lower than that might be tough. Would a shorter trip work for you if necessary?

2) By warm, do you just mean temperature, or are you looking for a beach? How warm (just not snowing, or really hot)?

3) Cheap airfare can often be had to Florida, and to Vegas from Denver. Have you considered either of those?

4) What do you want to do while on vacation?

Most of Europe won't really be warm
(you can check usual temp ranges at
www.wunderground.com, for one place)
but southern Spain? Portugal?
But a week for two, including airfare, to any country on the euro, for $1500 will be hard.
Mexico? Costa Rica? Panama?

you might want to wait until closer to the date and look at a last minute travel site that has good deals, site59.com.

If you are interested in USA travel and want warm it will have to be in the south--Southern Cal? Arizona? Vegas?
Florida?

I was thinking of a 5-day package to Mexico could be had for that (Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, Cancun, Mazatlan)?

You can def. get a package deal for 2 to Mexico in that price range. Granted it was 3 years ago, but my DH and I booked 6 nights in Playa Del Carmen at Riu Yucatan (one of those all inclusive resorts) for $300 less than that. We went through FunJet Vacations. Even included our airport transportation. Stay away from Cancun though, you might hit crazy spring breakers.

Oops, I have to correct myself. We flew out of Houston, which might explain cheap fares. And also, it was more like 5 years ago. So sorry, my post is probably not helpful at all. But worth checking FunJet. I did it all on the internet.

Arizona could be done on $1,500 from Denver.

San Diego? It's on the water, should be warm that time of year.

Should be pretty easy to check airfares and hotel prices.

Mexico would be more exotic but I'm not sure about your budget.

Andrew

Sedona, Arizona.

I second the suggestion of AZ. You could go to Phoenix/Scottsdale are or Tuscon or Sedona.
Flight from Denver (150 x 2) ~ $300
6 nights hotel at $80 per night ~ $500
1 week car rental ~ $250

Thats $1050 for the basics. Another $50 or so on gas. So, that leaves you both with about $50 a day for the two of you.

If you do decide to go to Sedona, may I suggest the Desert Quail Inn? They have lovely rooms for abt $75 a night and a swimming pool on the property and like everywhere in Sedona, incredible views. The rooms have a microwave and a mini fridge that could help you cut down on meal costs.

On second thought, how do you feel about camping, or better yet, backpacking? I did exactly that in November. A backpacking / camping trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona for a week, with 2 nights of hotels.

Since I had taken a lot of the food with me and most of the rest were sandwiches, my expenses were pretty low. Other than air fare and car rental, my total trip expense was under $250/- and that includes hotel, gas and the occasional restaurant meal.

Here's some sample deals from the "40 Best" article in this month's Budget Travel:
Hawaii cruise $779
Las Vegas $252
Acapulco $619
Cancun $589
Puerto Vallarta $599
Bahamas $584
Barbados $494
Dominican Republic $499
Costa Rica $699
Buenos Aires $599
All per person, double occcupancy, air and hotel included. Various departure airports. Additional fees may apply.

Check out the Sunday travel section in the RM News/Post. There are usually close in deals through travel agents.

Suntrips does charters out of Denver to Mexico that are all inclusive and cheap.

Also, last spring found a trip through travelocity - Denver to Costa Rica (Liberia) with 5nts lodging for less than $400/pp. Register & put in your favorite travel spots (airports) & they'll email you when fares drop.

Check out Travelocity.....flights from Denver to a few destinations in Florida. Don't type in exact dates, but choose the flexible option.

I just did a quick search Denver to Ft. Lauderdale and it was around $191.00 pp. You could check out Tampa and other destinations.

Get a small efficiency. Stop at the grocery store and pick up a few breakfast and lunch items...it will just take a few minutes. Stop at the liquor store and pick up your favorite libation (assuming you drink). Eat cereal on the veranda, run upstairs for a quick sandwich at lunch time. Go out for dinner.

I've done many budget trips this way!

The money you save on breakfast and lunch might allow you to pick up a few souveniers or pay for a nice dinner or two.

Have fun!

I always try to get a hotel that serves at least a continental breakfast and my room has a fridge and microwave. Might pay a little more for it but we definately save on time and meals. You can reheat dinner in the microwave if you want to stay in for a dinner too. Lunchables work for packing a lunch in a small pack/purse. We also saved in San Diego by not renting a car and using the free hotel shuttle and walking (and walking).

I would recommend San Diego too - we went in March for some sun from Oregon and it was great. In fact we were a bit hot some days because our blood was still thick. Lots to see and do, even some beach if you want that.

Sara