What's a cheap, intriguing US destination to visit?

[ee2k]

I need a new US destination to visit in the summer. I have done California, Oregon, Washington States as well as places like Chicago, DC, NYC, Atlanta, Houston, Corpus. I want to go somewhere new. Somewhere hot. Pool. Calmness. Ocean would be amazing too. I need ideas for a 3-4 day trip.

[ExtraSlow]

Nashville

[Misterman]

Arizona sounds like it fits that bill.

[Manhattan]

Arizona sounds like it fits that bill.

Perhaps the most uninteresting place I've ever visited.

Have you considered New Orleans or Memphis?

[3drian]

San Diego. Denver can also be fun but no ocean

[P_D]

Branson, Missouri
Charleston, SC
Mrytle Beach, SC

[RX_EVOLV]

Why not Vegas? As long as you don't gamble, Vegas can be done on the cheap..

- Flight can be cheap (<$300 for direct)
- Hotel can be cheap (especially if you hotwire). Can be quite calm if you choose one of those hotels that don't have a casino (e.g. Vdara)
- All major hotels have a pretty decent pool. Weather is hot.
- Lots of good restaurants they are not overly expensive as long as you avoid the big hotels
- The strip is close to the airport, so you don't need to rent a car
- Drinking can be cheap. Lots of happy hours everywhere
- Lots of shows and you can get cheap tickets at the discount booths.
- Lots of see at night by just walking down the strip, and it's a bit of an unique experience from all the other US cities.

[suntan]

San Diego. Denver can also be fun but no ocean

San Diego is expensive as hell.

[taemo]

I also recommend the South East US.

Mobile/Pensacola beach or South Carolina (Charleston)

[Swank]

Nashville
I've heard this many times, enough times to be on my list.

[Mitsu3000gt]

San Diego is expensive as hell.

Been there twice now to do all the tourist things and generally hang out, and I did not find it expensive. Accommodation, rental car, food, etc. was all on par with most other places I have been in the USA. It was actually one of the cheapest international trips I've ever been on, flight/car/hotel was under $1000 for a week which is similar to Florida pricing. We even got offered an extremely cheap upgrade to a Corvette, which was complete garbage, but fun for the week.

[ExtraSlow]

Anywhere can be cheap. I've done San Diego on a shoestring and there's lots of cheap options including beaches, scripps aquarium, parks etc.

[taemo]

Anywhere can be cheap. I've done San Diego on a shoestring and there's lots of cheap options including beaches, scripps aquarium, parks etc.

this. if you dont stay at luxury hotels and go fine dining every meal then you can go for cheap anywhere.

[Misterman]

Perhaps the most uninteresting place I've ever visited.



But it is cheap, hot, pool, and calmness. Just what OP requested.

New Orleans is ok. Lots of cheap shit to do. The war museum was pretty great.

[Xtrema]

San Diego is expensive as hell.

Cheaper than Bay area.

AirBnb some fancy joint by the beach in La Jolla, most relaxing week ever. Just hang out at the beach and watch the glorious sunset almost every night.

The problem with "cheap" is relative. I have also heard Nashville is cool place to check out.

[sabad66]

Palm Springs? Joshua Tree Park is pretty cool if you've never been there. You could easily do a full day there, maybe even two. Although not much else to do there besides golf. It's close enough to LA though so you could hit both cities on the same trip?

[Disoblige]

Palm Springs? Joshua Tree Park is pretty cool if you've never been there. You could easily do a full day there, maybe even two. Although not much else to do there besides golf. It's close enough to LA though so you could hit both cities on the same trip?
What's to do in LA other than the whole Hollywood and amusement park stuff? Genuinely curious.

[R-Audi]

Beach, walk around Venice/Santa Monica

[Manhattan]

What's to do in LA other than the whole Hollywood and amusement park stuff? Genuinely curious.

Everything you can find in any other major US city plus a variety of beaches to pick from depending on your mood and budget. Sporting events year around with 2 of every team. Getty museum & house. Day trips to Catalina. Great live music & comedy scene. Best Mexican & Korean food outside of Mexico & Korea. Griffith park & observatory. Huntington library is a gem. Old town Pasadena. Attend taping of a TV show if you plan a bit in advance. It's like NY but with nice weather and nothing is walking distance but whatever you're into it has.

[gmc72]

What's to do in LA other than the whole Hollywood and amusement park stuff? Genuinely curious.

The Peterson Museum is very cool!! Spent about 3 hours there last summer and could have easily spent more!!

[suntan]

Been there twice now to do all the tourist things and generally hang out, and I did not find it expensive. Accommodation, rental car, food, etc. was all on par with most other places I have been in the USA. It was actually one of the cheapest international trips I've ever been on, flight/car/hotel was under $1000 for a week which is similar to Florida pricing. We even got offered an extremely cheap upgrade to a Corvette, which was complete garbage, but fun for the week.

How is SD cheap if it's the same price as going to Florida?

[ExtraSlow]

If $1000/wk all in isn't cheap, then what is?

[CompletelyNumb]

I'm going to Nashville today. I'll report back on how intriguing and cheap it was.

[Mitsu3000gt]

How is SD cheap if it's the same price as going to Florida?

How is under $1000 for good flights, car, and a good hotel not cheap by any definition for a whole week? Florida is one of the cheapest places to go in the USA and SanDiego was the same price, which makes it very cheap. You can't even go an hour away to Banff for a week for under $1000 most times of the year and that is JUST hotel.

I looked at going to Florida again this September, and direct flights to Orlando (WJ), Car, and hotel (2-bedroom fully appointed condo with kitchen at a place I've been before) was $830/pp for a week. International travel doesn't get any cheaper than that really. Hard to believe they are even making money on prices like that.

What international destinations have you been to for a week or more where direct flight/car/good hotel was well under $1000/pp?

[adam c]

I really enjoyed Yellowstone, also if you get some free space on the roads, it's an awesome driving experience

[dj_rice]

Compton

[R-Audi]

I'm going to Nashville today. I'll report back on how intriguing and cheap it was.

Please do! My Wife and I are looking to go in the fall. Flight prices are all over right now...

[tha_bandit]

Compton

I did go to the watts towers in a mini cooper LOL

[revelations]

If you are up for an adventure - we spent 2 weeks (for work) sitting around getting paid to swim/seadoo/knee board in Baxter Northern Minnesota while our equipment was stuck in customs.

https://www.google.ca/flights?lite=0#flt=YYC.BRD.2019-07-27.YYCYEG0WS3143~YEGMSP0DL4772~MSPBRD0DL4265*BRD.YYC.2019-07-31;c:CAD;e:1;sd:1;t:f;sp:2.CAD.132096

We stayed at the rental cabins (fucking pimp) and explored the MANY lakes in the area.

This is the link to the LODGE but you dont have to stay there (they sub out homes in the lakeshore like Airbnb

https://www.grandviewlodge.com

This was early Sept. btw- still very warm (30c).

[tcon]

Bakersfield, CA

[CompletelyNumb]

Please do! My Wife and I are looking to go in the fall. Flight prices are all over right now...



Short term update:

The electric scooter rentals are totally awesome for touring around. Actual Uber rides are not cheap. More expensive than Calgary. Surge pricing is insane.

Food is on par with downtown Calgary prices. Liquor as well. Nowhere near as cheap as the last time I was in Texas for comparison. Great food though. BBQ has been great. Hot chicken is great.

Huge lineups in all the tourist areas. Lots of traffic. I've seen no less than a dozen bachelorette parties doing their rounds at bars.

We're here for a week playing tourist, I'll drop an all in cost when I'm done.

[R-Audi]

I'm going to Nashville today. I'll report back on how intriguing and cheap it was.
CompletelyNumb

Any updates on your trip??

[CompletelyNumb]

CompletelyNumb

Any updates on your trip??

So, based on my numerous trips to other countries spanning over 10 years, Nashville ranks as "not a cheap destination". We could have done it cheaper I'm sure, but that starts to go into the "what can we sacrifice to save money" category.

Tallying it up:

$233 CAD - 13~ Uber trips (car)
$78 CAD - e-scooter rentals
$1200 CAD - AirBnB (near Belmont university)
$660 CAD - flights
$1600 CAD - Food, drinks, entertainment

So roughly $3800 for 2 people for 1 week.


Food and drink costs were on par with Calgary, much higher on Broadway ($13 USD for a single well highball). Heading down to the south or east Nashville was more affordable, but not my much.

We didn't drink more than 2 drinks each any night that we went out. We ate out every meal (wasted AirBnB kitchen, I know).

For entertainment, we got tickets to the Grand Ole Opry as well as hop on hop off bus tours to see what was out there. Everything else was simply walking into a honky tonk for some music. No cover charges anywhere. Strict ID checking everywhere.

Best BBQ was at Martin's. Best hot chicken was Haddie B's. Broadway has over 60 bars to check out, all with live music. Kid Rock's bar was loud as hell but fun.

Free [or cheap] whiskey, bourbon, and moonshine tastings everywhere. Do them.

Our AirBnB was booked well in advance, and was much cheaper than hotels at the time. However, 1 week before our trip i was alerted that WestJet had cancelled our flights and we needed to rebook, so we went 1 day earlier and grabbed a hotel. At that time I learned there were several hotels much cheaper than my AirBnB on last minute notice. Not sure I'd want to gamble like that however, as the city was fairly busy.

We used e-scooters to get around the majority of the time. $0.15/minute, and it was easy going in my mind. Uber trips were for nights out, or longer trips (like to the Opry).


If i were to go back, I'd probably lower my budget for accommodations and food. Cheap eats like Martins ended up being the best meals. I would also plan out areas I was likely to spend time in and just stay around there. I'd also pass on expensive shows at the Opry and stick to free small shows downtown. Doing all that would likely save me $900 on this trip.

[jwslam]

Not USA but to compare with above

Went to Quebec City / Montreal 7 days 6 nights (red eye flight to, evening flight back)
2 people totaled $3500
$1200 Plane
$650 Accom - > Cheapo AirBnB's.
$1250 Eat (ok so we went overboard with the tasting menus... can totally eat for cheaper)
$360 Transpo (rental car, train, taxi, 4 days of walking only)
+Misc

[R-Audi]

Thanks for the breakdown CompletelyNumb
Where were you seeing the cheaper hotels? Any area that would be better to stay in?

[CompletelyNumb]

Thanks for the breakdown CompletelyNumb
Where were you seeing the cheaper hotels? Any area that would be better to stay in?

Surprisingly I found a few near the Vanderbilt area which is centrally located. All through hotels.com "secret member prices" the week before. We stayed at the Hilton for 1 night cheaper than the airbnb.

[punguuu]

Free [or cheap] whiskey, bourbon, and moonshine tastings everywhere. Do them.



I'm headed down to Nashville in October, where are the free/cheap tastings? At like liquor stores or at bars?