The hubs and I are on a strict budget and would like to take a vacation at the beginning of September for our anniversary/my bday. We will be traveling from Dallas. I would love a place with some nature to take in, but also culure...museums, possible winery, nice restaurants, spas. Last year, we did Hot Springs and managed to get amazing accomodations on a lake and a rental car for less than $600 (I love Orbitz 1 day sales!) Anway, what are some ideas? He mentioned Colorado, but I've been researching, and it's expensive. I don't want to cut too deeply into our spending money. Broken Bow, OK is onky a 2 hr drive, but things to do seem severely limited. HELP!!!! I Really want a nice vacay! TIA

How long a trip are you planning? It will have a major impact on where you go and how much you'll have to spend on accommodations and food.

If you stay in a "budget motel" you can go to Santa Fe for a few days. It has everything on your wish list. It's about a 9 hour drive from Dallas.

We'll be there for 4-5 nights.

New Orleans: Groupon is your friend
Las Vegas: lots of deals on flights, lodging, cars, shows; Red Rocks, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, etc.
Orlando: deals on flights and hotels, many great museums and gardens in the area, plus fun to go to Universal when the kids are back in school!

>> Groupon is your friend

What about Eureka Springs, Arkansas? It's charming and in a beautiful area, with lots of interesting shops and restaurants, etc. We stayed at the Crescent Hotel,very historic and supposedly haunted.

Also agree that Santa Fe is a great choice.

Check Southwest.com and AA.com's various travel deals. Southwest often offers deals for Santa Fe (via Albuquerque). And it may have options for you for New Orleans.

You might also take a look at an airfare map like this one, that shows fares from your home airport to airports all over the world:
http://www.hopper.com/flights/from-DFW/map

There might be a better version of the same thing elsewhere if you Google. Travelocity used to have something they called Dream Maps, but I can't find that right now.

September is prime season in Santa Fe but there "may" be places that will be less $$.

I am thinking air fare, hotel, car rental, gas and food is going to be over $800 in Santa Fe.

Be careful with Groupon and hotel deals, they tend to have out of the way places that are less than great.

Try Costco to see if they have any package deals. What about a short [3 day] cruise?

Southwest airfare from DAL to ABQ is $126 one way, per person as of today. That is most of your budget.

OP doesn't have to fly to Santa Fe. She and hubby can drive from Dallas to Santa Fe for about $50 in gas and say another $50 for the return trip. That leaves them about $700 for lodging, food, etc. If they stay 4 nights in a "budget motel" (say some place in the range of around $75/night) on the outskirts of town they'll have around $300 left over for simple meals, museum admissions and a few other incidentals.

I agree that driving is the key here, I was trying to point out that flying to SF or almost anywhere is going to eat up most of the budget.

This really needs to be a driving trip was my point, but I guess it got lost.

would love a place with some nature to take in, but also culure...museums, possible winery, nice restaurants, spas

If I understand correctly, you have $800 to spend on travel, lodging, nice restaurants, spas, and so on for a 4- to 5-night vacation.

I notice on hotels.com that there are some cheap rooms in New Orleans if you are willing to pay in advance. Good luck.

HTtY

I'm wondering whether the responses are viewing her post too narrowly. She said travel and lodging for $800, not travel plus lodging plus food plus activities.

And my post above was for VACATION deals, not just flight deals. Both Southwest and AA offer flight plus accommodation packages to various locations.

I did notice the wording, but I thought it was odd that the OP would have one budget for transportation and lodging and another budget for other expenses.

Perhaps the OP wants to skimp on travel and lodging in order to splurge on nice restaurants, wineries, spas, etc.

HTtY

Not speaking for the OP, but I have heard it said that since you have to eat and drink even if you stay home, whether you go out or cook, those expenses can be left out of travel budgeting. I think the idea is that if you have to, you can skimp a lot on the cost of food and drink, or go out some, in more or less the same way you would at home.

"...I thought it was odd that the OP would have one budget for transportation and lodging and another budget for other expenses."

I don't find this odd in the least as these are the major expenses. I generally book my air & lodging in advance, pay for them in advance and don't worry much about the rest. I don't eat in upscale restaurants as a rule, enjoy walking and find all the rest amounts to chump change as a result, so understand the OP's unconcern for the rest.

I don't think it's weird at all. My transit and lodging is always separate because those are my "hard" expenses, and that determines the kind of trip I take. Everything thing else is the cash I show up with.

I'd definitely drive to Santa Fe. That way you don't have to rent a rental car and you can explore out of town if you like.

I haven't stayed at it, but when I was looking, I liked the Silver Saddle Motel. Gets good reviews, cute, in budget.

I used to drive through Santa Fe regularly and would stay at the Motel 6 out on Cerrillos Road, unless I got something more interesting on sale which I sometimes did. I stayed once at the El Rey Inn, liked it, La Posada which I loved and if you drive you might swing it. Last visit I got a place on Airbnb and loved it too.

So if Santa Fe is a possibility, and you drive, I think you'd have a very nice experience, one of my favorite places for a few days.