Seeking Good, Affordable Vacation Destinations

I just love South Haven. The beach is beautiful and free, the town is quaint. There are B&B's, a very nice motel on the river in the town, great places to eat, The Blue Star Highway will take you to Fennville, Saugatuck, Holland. Hiking, boating, antiquing, whatever you want is there. Wonderful day spa in heart of downtown for a relaxing massage.

In June or July Saugatuck has a film festival as well as art galleries and a tourist town, Glenn has a Blueberry Festival. Lots of Arts and crafts. Holland has the largest Farmer's Market on Sunday. It is an event! I have never seen anything like it before. And there is an interesting art gallery in town. Sand dunes not far from there to hike if you are into that.

A friend of mine is a travel agent in town. She is wonderful and always finds us the perfect place with everything that we are looking for. Her name is Win Dickson and owns Graham Travel.
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We have a lot of allergies and cannot stay where there has ever been a dog or cat. You may not have those contrainsts, so it will probably be easier for her to find you something. Just tell her your price range and she is extremely helpful.

Have fun, M.

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Not sure about places to go, but when you're looking for accomodation, www.vrbo.com is a great website. it's vacation rentals by owner. you have to research the area a little bit (googlemaps is good b/c you can see what the area looks like) just to make sure it's in a good spot, but we've found amazing deals through that!

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Hey Sara B. just wanted to share this extremly affordable travel website with you. They have everthing that has to do with travling from packages to car rentals even more the site is queenroyaltytravel.com You can find absoulutly anyplace at an affordable family get away!!! My family and I used this service and it has been a hit with my family and friends every since. the phone number is ###-###-#### the sales person is great.

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Mackinac Island, MI. It's a wonderful place. No cars - you have to take a ferry across. They have several B&B's on the island to stay in. Slow paced - gorgeous views. You can rent bikes, horses, take buggy rides, golf (if you like), great night life & restaurants, etc... Chamber Of Commerce on the island will send you a huge packet of info free.... We got married on the island & try to go back each year........... fall is a beautiful time up there too!

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Warren Dunes in Michigan is great. Also, South Haven and other beaches heading north. Grayling, Michigan on the way to Mackinaw, Cheyboygan, Michigan, Mackinaw City. Shipshewanna area in Indiana. Indianapolis, Indiana.

J.

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My husband and I do a VRBO vacation every time we want to get away. VRBO is renting someone's house any place in the world. This year we did Ft Lauderdale for $999.00. Last year we did Oahu for 799.00. One year we did Cancun $499.00. Each time we rented a beautiful house on a beach, this year we had a gorgeous pool in a private garden. The thing to remember is the asking price and down payment are negotiable. The house we stayed in this month was asking $1999.00 plus $1000.00 security down payment. We paid less than half on both prices. We always pay much less than a hotel would charge and we have our privacy plus a kitchen to cook if we want. VRBO.com is the site. Always stay at a place that has lots of positive feedback. Good Luck!

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I am kind of surprised that I have been to most places mentioned. I loved Galena, I loved Wisconsin Dells(so much to do, and don't forget to take the cruises of the upper and lower dells), I live near Lake Geneva so have been there many times, and also liked SW Michigan. But I have to say my favorite place of all is Silver Lake in Michigan. It is about 50 miles north of Muskegon, takes about 5 hours from Wisconsin/Illinois state line, and is absolutely breathtaking in the lovely scenery because of the sand dunes. It is kinda touristy (is that a word?), but love it just the same. You can take the ferry to Ludington, MI from just above Milwaukee and that in itself is a real treat. Have a fun time :)

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Going to ski destinations (Beaver Creek, Vail, Steamboat and many others) in the summer gets you off-season rates. The mountain views are gorgeous, plus you can hike, bike, canoe/kayak/raft, go to the spas and sometimes there's great golf in the area.

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I've been to a number of the places that were mentioned - SW Michigan (Sister Lakes - Benton Harbor area - Sister Lakes is a great little town, we stay at CJ's Landing); Starved Rock State Park (one of my very favorite places!!!); several places in Wisconsin; a cruise (not Carnival, but extremely fun!); I would highly recommend a cruise. I've not been on the Alaska cruises - yet - but I hear that's a wonderful summertime trip; I'd also recommend Denver and surrounding area. The Rockies are absolutely gorgeous, and in my book, everyone should go to Pikes Peak and to Rocky Mtn. National Park just once in their lives. The scenery is breathtaking.

If you ever vacation in the winter months (Jan/Feb), I'd recommend a Caribbean cruise. Very reasonable, and again, the scenery is like none other.

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We use a travel agent - they are wonderful at suggustions for budget and ideas on what you want in your trip... Call Sally at Sal Travel - ###-###-####, she is so great! happy vacationing!!! B.

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My husband and I have taken a few mini vacations. We have gone to a Spa (adults only) in Wisconsin Dells. It is wonderful. The rooms are just beautuful and the service is excellent. They have a year round heated outdoor pool. The spa services are great and relaxing. We have been there two times and plan to go back again! At night since you are in the Dells you can go out or stay in. It is a nice mix.

The website is www.sundaraspa.com

Enjoy!

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We actually just returned from our first post-baby vaca yesterday! (Our daughter is 5 mo old and stayed with "grandma") We went to Michigan and stayed pretty low-budget. Of course it depends on what you like, but we stayed a couple days near Mackinac. It depends when you go, but we found rates to be cheaper in Mackinaw City than on the island. So we stayed in Mackinaw City, and got the ferry pass for $25 per person. We rented bikes for $5/hr on the island, which wasn't bad at all because even with stopping, we biked the entire island in 3hrs. The island is beautiful and we loved that there are no bikes! There's something for everyone- shopping, hiking, biking, historical sites, etc. Then we went to Traverse City, another fav of ours. You can get relatively cheap hotels (we stayed at the ParkShore, pretty decent, for about $55/night), there's cute shops downtown, and then also if you like wineries, there's tons of them up there! There are 5 wineries on the Old Mission Peninsula, and they all offer free wine tasting, so that's fun & cheap! The Leelanau peninsula has > 15 wineries, but some of them charge $3-5 for tastings, still a relatively inexpensive activity. Just West of Traverse City is Sleeping Bear Dunes, which is really pretty along the coast and you can camp there as well. We're also big fans of South Haven & Ludington. There are also a number of wineries in Southwest Mi, if you like that. I got a lot of our info from searching on the state's tourism website, www.michigan.org.
Whatever you choose, have fun!

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My husband and I were able to travel to Negril Jamaica and stay at the Riu Tropical Bay which is an all inclusive resort- right on the crystal clear beach- the water is so gorgeous that you can literally see all the way to your toes being chest deep- it was the most relaxing beautiful trip we have ever been on and were able to fly/stay/eat/transfer for about $2200. Don't know what your budget is but I'm telling you- it was well worth the money. Go to tripadvisor.com and type in Riu Tropical Bay and see some the pictures posted- mine are on there but from a while ago- whereever you go- have a wonderful trip and enjoy each other! :)

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