Travel inexpensively this winter
Whether you’re looking for fun in warm or chilly locales, here are affordable options
Travel this winter, like pretty much everything else, is not expected to be a bargain. While rates for hotels and flights tend to drop after the holiday highs, resilient demand for travel portends higher prices at both ski and beach destinations, where winter is high season. Still, with flexibility and creativity — like avoiding peak days on the slopes or seeking out street food in the tropics — you can still manage to travel for less this season.
EMBRACE THE CHILL Walk in the snow:
A specialist in slow-travel European walking holidays, InnTravel will introduce two new “snow breaks” this year designed for non-skiers who want to explore the quieter side of winter. A seven-night trip in Bavaria, Germany, offers opportunities to visit the landmark castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau under snow, and hike in the area on trails surrounded by the snowcapped Alps. In Slovenia, a seven-night trip based in the village of Bohinjska Bistrica puts travelers on the edge of Triglav National Park and in the vicinity of walks around the lakes of Bled and Bohinj. Offered early December to mid-March, cost of the trips start at about $1,333 and they include lodging, airport transfers, local bus travel, many meals and some guided activities.
Hit a spring skiing hot spot such as Lake Tahoe in Northern California. Last April, when most of the major resorts were preparing to close down operations for the season, I visited Palisades Tahoe on the lake’s west coast, which boasts skiing that can last into May and beyond at reduced rates. In a trade-off between snow
Extend ski season:
and expense, conditions were not peak — the snow was soft in places and occasionally sparse — but lift tickets cost less than $100 a day (single-day tickets this season in February currently run from $149 to $229) and most of the mountain was open (the resort has yet to announce its spring skiing prices). At the end of the day, skiers were drinking craft brews in the sunshine at apresski bars at the base of the village, and many hiking and biking trails close to the lake were open and snowfree, offering something of a two-season vacation.
Celebrate the cold: Winters are long in Minnesota, and the organizers behind the annual Great Northern Festival in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul hope they stay that way. The festival, which lasts from Jan. 25 to Feb. 5, highlights the unique winter culture of this northern region with outdoor film screenings, performances, Nordic ski races and tours, ice plunges, the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships contested by amateurs on outdoor rinks and the St. Paul Winter Carnival with a snow-sculpting competition. Most of the events are free and some require a ticket, including Luminary Loppet, a walking, skiing or snowshoeing route on a frozen lake lined with 1,200 lights ($20). The winter celebration also focuses on climate change in talks, live podcasts and films on the subject. “Our cold, snowy winters shape our culture, and they are at risk as the climate continues to warm, so at the Great Northern, we want to motivate festivalgoers to take steps to preserve it,” said Kate Nordstrum, the executive and artistic director of the festival.
ESCAPE TO WARMTH Stay small on Grenada:
The myriad luxury resorts on Grenada tend to give the
Caribbean island a reputation for being exclusive. But the tourism board’s new Simple Stays Grenada collection makes it easier for travelers to find 16 of the island’s smaller, more affordable hotels. They include Bogles Round House, which offers three cottages in a garden by the sea shared by the property’s popular restaurant (rates start at $60 a night); Mount Edgecombe Plantation, a coffee, cocoa and spice plantation with rooms in its main house and an original spice storage building (from $170); and the 50-room Allamanda Beach Resort on Grand Anse Beach, near the capital of
St. George’s (from $110).
Stop over in Panama:
Costa Rica offers budget lodging options (check out Tolomuco Glamping on the Sarapiqui River for $25 a night at pitchup. com), and Panama has plenty of luxury resorts (see the overwater villas at Nayara Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast). But for ease of access, thanks to Copa Airlines’s robust flight network and a national park within minutes of the capital, Panama is the bargain of the Central American pair. Soberania National Park, a rainforest preserve where the Panama Canal meets the Chagres River, is famous for its wildlife (visit its Pipeline Road to see some of its more than 350 bird species). Gamboa Rainforest Reserve in the park offers excursions including an aerial tram through the forest canopy and night safaris aboard a tram (rooms from $118). Additionally, the Panama Stopover program allows travelers to stay for up to seven days in Panama before continuing on to another destination for a single fare on Copa.
Eat on the street: From the hawker stalls of Singapore to the jerk barbecue pits of Jamaica, street food is a tasty way to keep travel costs under control. Try Mexico City’s celebrated carnitas (braised and shredded pork) and escamocho (a tropical fruit cocktail) on the Culinary Secrets of the Centro Historico tour with Culinary Backstreets ($115 a person). The tour provides context and history, along with five to six hours with a guide and a progressive meal of almost a dozen dishes from stalls and restaurants. “We are proud to know that the money spent during the culinary walk goes to support businesses that we believe in, helping to preserve the social and cultural fabric of the cities we love so dearly,” said Yigal Schleifer, a co-founder of Culinary Backstreets, in an email. Or go it alone at the capital’s sprawling Mercado La Merced, where grazing stalls selling posole (hominy stew), tacos and other street specialties will only set you back a few dollars.
Enjoy Hawaii affordably:
Even before its post-lockdown boom, Hawaii was not a cheap destination, but several new or improved hotels are keeping rates reasonable. Fresh from a renovation, Ka’anapali Beach Hotel in Lahaina, Maui, offers guests complimentary lessons in hula dancing, Hawaiian language and ukulele playing (rooms from $243 a night). On Oahu, Wayfinder Waikiki opens this month with a swimming pool, a branch of the popular Hawaiian poke restaurant Redfish and beach gear, including chairs for rent (rooms from $229). Nearby, the surfing-themed Twin Fin on the beach in Waikiki features a video stream of surf conditions at area beaches in the lobby and music (DJ-spun or live) nightly at the pool (rooms from $239).