AAA report details the most — and least — expensive vacation spots in the U.S.

Since we’re not technically in a recession, you don’t technically need to switch your vacation plans from Hawaii to, say, North Dakota.

But if you are in belt-tightening mode, you may want to consider that Honolulu is deemed the most expensive vacation city in the U.S., according to AAA’s 2008 Vacation Costs Survey. (Costs are based on average published prices for meals and lodgings for two adults.)

The report rates vacation costs in Honolulu at $673 per day (and $793 per day for Hawaii); next comes New York City at $606, Miami-Miami Beach at $370 per day, San Diego at $361 and Las Vegas at $358.

So what places are least expensive?  Consider Oklahoma — Tulsa at $179 per day, Okahoma City at $194; Albuquerque, N.M., at $179; Wichita, Kansas, at $194; and our very own Fresno at $207.

But the real bargain state appears to be North Dakota, which immediately put out a press release to proclaim that visitors can expect to pay about $158.75 per day to tour the Peace Garden state, according to the AAA report.  And who wouldn’t want to visit a place whose motto is: “Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable”?

–Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Photo: American Indian culture in North Dakota by Ric Ergenbright/North Dakota Tourism.]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 7:00 pm by Mary Forgione and is filed under News, Tips & Advice, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.