"Affordable" spring break destinations that are not Florida

[Anonymous]

I love the sound of your vacations, OP. That's how we do it, too.

I had this Spring Break conundrum, too. I am taking the kids to Philly/Hershey just to avoid the problem. I'll plan a real trip in the summer.

[Anonymous]

OP I think you could do a nice vacation to LA or SD the way you travel (and the way you travel sounds great).

[Anonymous]

How about New Orleans or Foley Beach/ Charleston?

[Anonymous]

We swam at the pools in Vegas at spring break and it was plenty warm. Zion was sunny and pants,/sweatshirt/tshirt weather and Bryce was coats and hats. You could stick with Vegas and see Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam, etc to stay warmer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I seriously want to know how you score Spring break tix to some place warm incl FL at $300pp? Cause I have never ever found in years of booking my family holidays something that affordable to a warm place esp FL. This is a serious question - what do you do where you are and where are you going??

We have done Keys, Miami, PR, CR, Mexico. Unless you go South and sometimes even FL isn’t that warm, I’m not sure where you can go except for islands. I have not really felt warm out west. Maybe parts of Grand Canyon or UT?

OP here. I am going to take a leap here and assume you actually want to know, and are not just hoping to tell me how awful it sounds to you. We like it and it’s what we feel comfortable spending. I book the day flights are released (I check the main carriers at 330 days out but usually end up booking SW which is released later if the others don’t have what I want.) I check all major FL airports, best deals are usually into MCO or TPA but occasionally have luck with FLL, JAX, or RSW. And the other catch is I usually end up having to take an early morning flight down (like 6am) and then you have to come home a day or two early (like Friday or Saturday, but not Sunday.) Once we get down there we stay in Hampton Inn/Holiday Inn Express type places and just outside the action, ie: we don’t stay “on site” at theme parks and we don’t stay beachfront at the beach. Hope that helps! I don’t plan to respond to snobs. Yes I know being rich is better and you’d rather stay home than travel like me. That’s been covered plenty.

If you think Jacksonville is warm in March then you would enjoy most places south of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Another option: fly to a warmer destination like Aruba, San Diego, or Mexico City, but go for 4 days instead of 7 to stay near your budget.

San Diego generally isn't going to be warm in March (it was chilly this year for April spring break), and the ocean water will be super cold. Spring break airline tickets were also expensive this year, and I don't expect them to be significantly cheaper next year.

I used to live in SD. It is plenty warmer than the east coast in March. How warm are you looking for, OP? Just nice to walk around in? Or you need swimming temps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is affordable? We like Aruba and find it affordable but we prioritize vacations over things like clothes.

OP here. We usually spend about $300pp on flights (booked far in advance) and $300/night on hotels.

Good luck. I can’t even imagine the type of place that’s $300
A night during peak times.

OP here. We do it regularly and quite happily. I “can’t even imagine” being such a snob. Thanks to others for suggestions, I will definitely look into them. I’ll keep FL in my back pocket if I can’t work out something else.

+1

Some of the people on this board are incredibly obnoxious.

We rented a ski in/out townhouse (2 bedroom, 3 levels, garage) in Breckenridge for under $300/nigh in 2022. You can find places anywhere that fits into your budget.

I do think flights around $300 is more challenging than lodging especially if spring break is tied to Easter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We swam at the pools in Vegas at spring break and it was plenty warm. Zion was sunny and pants,/sweatshirt/tshirt weather and Bryce was coats and hats. You could stick with Vegas and see Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam, etc to stay warmer.

+1 Same. Warm and sunny and the desert blooms are beautiful. Many state and national parks around Vegas to enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Last week (4/11) was our spring break and we spent it in Scottsdale, AZ. It was 80s when we were there and just all around perfect. We flew Frontier because kids fly free with each paying adult if you join their Frontier club. We all carried backpacks and paid for 2 carryon items and our airfare for 5 was $1000 from BWI to Phoenix.

I think AZ was colder than normal this year, so even if you travel in March you will likely have warm-ish temps. My kids will swim in any weather as long as the pool is heated.

[Anonymous]

-Charleston
-Savannah
-Myrtle beach
-Palm Springs (if you plan/book early enough and some flexibility on the flights)
-Tucson AZ
-Las Vegas
-Boston (we went this year and the weather was a slight chill but nice and sunny, perfect trip)
-San Antonio
-Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge
-New Orleans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is affordable? We like Aruba and find it affordable but we prioritize vacations over things like clothes.

OP here. We usually spend about $300pp on flights (booked far in advance) and $300/night on hotels.

Good luck. I can’t even imagine the type of place that’s $300
A night during peak times.

OP here. We do it regularly and quite happily. I “can’t even imagine” being such a snob. Thanks to others for suggestions, I will definitely look into them. I’ll keep FL in my back pocket if I can’t work out something else.

+1

Some of the people on this board are incredibly obnoxious.

We rented a ski in/out townhouse (2 bedroom, 3 levels, garage) in Breckenridge for under $300/nigh in 2022. You can find places anywhere that fits into your budget.

I do think flights around $300 is more challenging than lodging especially if spring break is tied to Easter.

np Then I suppose that is why you fit right in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is affordable? We like Aruba and find it affordable but we prioritize vacations over things like clothes.

OP here. We usually spend about $300pp on flights (booked far in advance) and $300/night on hotels.

Good luck. I can’t even imagine the type of place that’s $300
A night during peak times.

B_tch.

[Anonymous]

OP - we went to Austin this year for Spring Break. Flights were about $350/person and we rented an AirBNB, it was a LOT of fun, and it was in the 80s the whole time we were there.

[Anonymous]

would LOVE to know the austin airbnb if you are willing ot share!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is affordable? We like Aruba and find it affordable but we prioritize vacations over things like clothes.

OP here. We usually spend about $300pp on flights (booked far in advance) and $300/night on hotels.

Okay, I've got you. I have a similar budget. I've found that airfare AND lodging in the US is getting to be MORE expensive, though I've always found lodging in the US to be pricier than in Europe. I would recommend creating a list of places you and your kids are interested in visiting and then starting NOW to follow flight prices.

I took my kids to London for spring break and we only paid $350 pp and our lodging was $1,800 for a beautiful apartment for 1 week (could have found lodging a lot cheaper tbh because I was indecisive for a while and put it off). I found it to be really pretty affordable because the playgrounds are free, most museums are free or have a discount for kids, tube is free for little kids, and it was a fabulous place to visit. We ALL loved it and we aren't really the biggest city people but my kids keep asking if we can go back. We splurged on a couple of things: Peppa pig afternoon bus tea tour, I let them buy too many presents at Hamley's toy store, and we probably splurged on too many pastries. My kids are 4&7 for reference. We did have a layover in Iceland and it was a budget airline but it was 100% fine, honestly in some ways better because it was more of a relaxed experience and the people were friendly on the flights - Play Airlines and I didn't have to pay extra to sit next to my kids.

Flight prices are starting to be available now for next March so I'd start checking & check play airlines directly too; they give discounts for kids. I think you could find tickets between $350-$450 pp to Europe with just a short layover and then find lodging at or under $1,600 for a week. Ex: Copenhagen you can get fly March 23-30th (week before easter) $366 pp with a large personal item. I brought one extra carry-on this year so it was an extra $100 total and it was plenty for 3 people. I doubt they have their prices yet but I'm paying $1,400 for 10 nights + buffet breakfast at a nice family hostel so for 6 nights, you'd be looking at $840, so a total cost of lodging, breakfast and airfare at $2,500 for 4 people including 2 extra carry-on's.....

I'd book that price now though for Copenhagen, I bet it will start going up. I was following prices for Christmas early January and for my December dates, the tickets were $366 but just 2 weeks later they went up to $450 and that is where they have stayed and so I just went ahead and booked ours this week as I had hoped to see more deals with full-service airlines but those just aren't happening so if you see anything around $300-$380, BOOK IT ASAP.

With that specific airline....I've seen a lot of deals for Paris, Copenhagen, and London. These prices were comparable or less than around the US and lodging is cheaper. Oh, also check out Scott's Cheap flights (new name now is called Going) and they list lots of deals too. Hopper is an app that used to be helpful, but not so much anymore. Skyscanner is always great to check out but I haven't found that website to be as good in the past year or so.