Budget Travel - Per hotwire, top 10 US "Value Destinations" for 2007

I am surprised to see DC anywhere on this list. Yes, lots of free museum entries, but the hotels are very expensive.

http://www.hotwire.com/destination/travel-value-index2.jsp?lid=uhp.SMT02-04.jsp:promo-tvi:loc:0:see-deals

I am surprised to see DC anywhere on this list. Yes, lots of free museum entries, but the hotels are very expensive.

For me personally, I found Chicago (at #8 on the list) more expensive than DC. I love both places, and was lucky enough to visit them while attending conferences (actually not in DC but Baltimore), but on my own dime I found a decent hostel in DC close to subway, whereas I never found such a thing in the Windy City.

EmailKid

No reason to visit some of these destinations if you are not on business. Atlanta? Dallas? Too many places to see in this great nation that are just as cheap and have something more meaningful or entertaining to do than visit another boring mall or, God help us all, a Coca Cola museum. That is truly pathetic. Sorry, Dallas or Atlanta fans, but if Dallas is that great, why do you go to Bossier City on the weekends to play? And I've lived in the south my whole life and never found any reason to do anything in Atlanta except drive through it as fast as humanly possible. I'm sure these are both great places to live but, no, not to visit. Probably the "value" destination of the year for the low price will be New Orleans, not even listed. Chicago is an outstanding destination but I don't see it as a budget destination. Let the flames begin!

Sorry, Dallas or Atlanta fans, but if Dallas is that great ...

Dallas is an OK city to live in, but Fort Worth is actually a lot better. Used to live in both, and remember the snobs in Dallas used to look down on people from Fort Worth, but must say it was more pleasant to live there and all that Big D had to offer was just 30 miles away :)

From what I understand from living there, it's the amusement parks that are the draw :rolleyes: That's right, people bring their families to go to Six Flags and such in the Mid Cities (between Fort Worth and Dallas) .... kinda sad that an amusement park would be a vacation destination :(

Same with Houston, but now that they closed Six Flags guess those people may have to go to NASA or some other potentially educational place ;)

EmailKid

Thanks. But but not too interesting places I'm afraid.

I actually first heard about the Hotwire list from an article in the 2/9/07 USA Today. In that article they listed a few of the worst value destinations as well. It would be interesting to see that list also on hotwire.com, but I could not find that one.

Sorry, but I'd take a visit to any of our national parks over a visit to Cleveland or Dallas any day! What an odd list.

Sorry, but I'd take a visit to any of our national parks over a visit to Cleveland or Dallas any day! What an odd list.

It was also published (maybe first) in USA Today ..... 'nuf said.

While I find some interesting stuff in their travel section, it's not exactly meant for the type of traveler that mostly post in this forum. The reason I read it is because most hotels give us USA Today rather than the local paper :mad:

And they are all over in the airports after the people who stayed in said hotels leave them in the concourses. I'd rather read the local paper, especially in big cities like Dallas or Chicago. Unfortunatelly the paper in Springfield, Ill (where I had the misfortune to work a couple of days after being delayed in Chicago without my luggage due to the blizzard :( ) is pretty lame. But some of the small town papers are surprisingly almost adequate ;)

EmailKid

I think they're underweighting CAR RENTALS, as some of their picks, like Dallas, Cleveland and, especially, Kansas City are among the worst offenders on car rental taxes that can really add up. In KC you're looking at $9 A DAY in taxes/junk and about 25% before your first dollar toward the car. And you can't get around without a car feasibly in those sprawl capitals. At least the California sprawl cities won't tax car rents to death.

I've found Portland to be reasonable lately (especially vs. Seattle), and the Nevada cities (LAS, RNO) can be at the bottom IF you stay away from the tables. LAS can be done car-less or with a car only part of the time and with great hotel value, and RNO even more so. I also like ELP and ABQ. Sometimes you can get good deals in BNA as well.