Anonymous wrote:I used to camp for vacation, on a mountain lake literally right out of an Ansel Adams photograph...it came as a shock to me and my siblings to learn that our mom did not enjoy camping, it was for her the same old chores but in less convenient circumstances...using a propane stove to heat water for dishes etc. Dad taught us how to trout fish.
In my 20s my future DH and I rented a mountain cabin, then a larger group house, for weekends. Then we got a boat. Then we had kids and I insisted on a W/D, dishwasher etc. Hadn't been camping except on a handful of occasions for nearly two decades. We recently tried it again with the kids and it was a blast! Of course it helped that it didn't rain and it wasn't for a whole week. We picked a great waterfall hike to do and nobody was eaten by a bear although we did see one.
I have some suggestions for less expensive but still good vacations.
1) Drive, take your own car, even renting a car for a week is cheaper than plane tickets for 3-4 people usually. Use frequent flier miles and have a card that rings up miles for other purchases with an airline you can actually use.
2) Go to someplace scenic and close, but not right at, the place you want to be. Local suggestions: Chincoteague (Victorian houses with water views, everybody drives to the beach) Ocean Pines (comfy screen porch homes in the woods with a drive-to beach club with a pool and parking) Berlin Md. or Rum Point - country area near the beach - get a beautiful farm or inlet view and fan out to OC, Assateague etc. for day trips. Crisfield, Md., Cape Charles Va, Onancock, Va - Eat crabs, go canoeing, learn to sail, fishing charters, take a ferry trip to Tangier or Smith Island, teach the kids to ride bikes on a deserted waterfront road, go to Kiptopeke, or rent a boat at Wachapreague and visit a deserted beach. So peaceful.
Try VRBO, or a discount website like EndlessVacationRentals.com that offer last-minute deals on condo rentals in vacation towns.
OBX - you can always find a place for $2000/week or much much less. Try Avon Cottages or Sun Realty.
Orlando is a good place to find a comfortable condo or townhouse with a pool or a really fun waterslide spray park type community pool. The theme parks are $$$ so don't spend your whole trip there. Budget for one or two parks and then go to the beach or explore the springs and nature areas, old Florida is a great place to see dolphins, manatees, tropical birds etc.
Vegas. No really. Grand Canyon, Valley of Fire State Park, Lake Mead, bighorn sheep and & Hoover Dam, hotel with a wave pool? That's four days without stepping foot in a casino. The hotel deals are a steal.
State park cabins. You have to plan ahead to get the reservations, weekdays are easier. Pack a bin with dish washing supplies, a camp stove, sleeping bags, flashlights. Eat at the lodge if you don't want to cook.
North Carolina mountains - Maggie Valley, Ashland area, Boone. Have a list of fun destinations and hikes, family friendly restaurants, waterfalls, music venues, you probably can't do it all in one week.
House swap! Ask around too. We have friends with an apartment in Paris and another with a place in NYC they never use, one family has a family cabin they let friends borrow.
If you have a boat or RV, once you own it, it is considerably cheaper per night at a marina or campground than staying at the resort where it's parked. Kingsmill for example, same goes for the beach towns.

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to enlarge your vacation budget, this is sad.

Anonymous wrote:I used to camp for vacation, on a mountain lake literally right out of an Ansel Adams photograph...it came as a shock to me and my siblings to learn that our mom did not enjoy camping, it was for her the same old chores but in less convenient circumstances...using a propane stove to heat water for dishes etc. Dad taught us how to trout fish.
In my 20s my future DH and I rented a mountain cabin, then a larger group house, for weekends. Then we got a boat. Then we had kids and I insisted on a W/D, dishwasher etc. Hadn't been camping except on a handful of occasions for nearly two decades. We recently tried it again with the kids and it was a blast! Of course it helped that it didn't rain and it wasn't for a whole week. We picked a great waterfall hike to do and nobody was eaten by a bear although we did see one.
I have some suggestions for less expensive but still good vacations.
1) Drive, take your own car, even renting a car for a week is cheaper than plane tickets for 3-4 people usually. Use frequent flier miles and have a card that rings up miles for other purchases with an airline you can actually use.
2) Go to someplace scenic and close, but not right at, the place you want to be. Local suggestions: Chincoteague (Victorian houses with water views, everybody drives to the beach) Ocean Pines (comfy screen porch homes in the woods with a drive-to beach club with a pool and parking) Berlin Md. or Rum Point - country area near the beach - get a beautiful farm or inlet view and fan out to OC, Assateague etc. for day trips. Crisfield, Md., Cape Charles Va, Onancock, Va - Eat crabs, go canoeing, learn to sail, fishing charters, take a ferry trip to Tangier or Smith Island, teach the kids to ride bikes on a deserted waterfront road, go to Kiptopeke, or rent a boat at Wachapreague and visit a deserted beach. So peaceful.
Try VRBO, or a discount website like EndlessVacationRentals.com that offer last-minute deals on condo rentals in vacation towns.
OBX - you can always find a place for $2000/week or much much less. Try Avon Cottages or Sun Realty.
Orlando is a good place to find a comfortable condo or townhouse with a pool or a really fun waterslide spray park type community pool. The theme parks are $$$ so don't spend your whole trip there. Budget for one or two parks and then go to the beach or explore the springs and nature areas, old Florida is a great place to see dolphins, manatees, tropical birds etc.
Vegas. No really. Grand Canyon, Valley of Fire State Park, Lake Mead, bighorn sheep and & Hoover Dam, hotel with a wave pool? That's four days without stepping foot in a casino. The hotel deals are a steal.
State park cabins. You have to plan ahead to get the reservations, weekdays are easier. Pack a bin with dish washing supplies, a camp stove, sleeping bags, flashlights. Eat at the lodge if you don't want to cook.
North Carolina mountains - Maggie Valley, Ashland area, Boone. Have a list of fun destinations and hikes, family friendly restaurants, waterfalls, music venues, you probably can't do it all in one week.
House swap! Ask around too. We have friends with an apartment in Paris and another with a place in NYC they never use, one family has a family cabin they let friends borrow.
If you have a boat or RV, once you own it, it is considerably cheaper per night at a marina or campground than staying at the resort where it's parked. Kingsmill for example, same goes for the beach towns.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of places have beaches that don't have the price tag of being "The beach." I'm from Connecticut, and the entire southern border of the state is beach. There are a few public beaches that are accessible to everyone. Rent a house

Anonymous wrote:I think you'd be very hard pressed to find a decent beach rental for $200/night. I have a rule that I don't stay anywhere that's not almost as nice as my house. I try not to think of the per night amount, but an oceanfront condo with 3br and 2baths usually runs about $3-$4k a week. That's for a newer place with parking and a pool and up to date furniture without floral bedspreads. Food runs another few hundred a day. It's expensive, and it's also why we aren't going this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't go to the beach in the summer. We go for a long weekend in the late spring and in the early fall. We drive to a lake or somewhere else less expensive in the summer.

School age kids?