So here’s what I’m looking for: a quick, inexpensive getaway to somewhere warm, or at least relatively warm (I’m in NYC). I’d probably go in February.
Rundown old towns on the Gulf Coast are perfectly acceptable. I’m going to go by myself, bring a stack of books, shut off the cell phone. I’m looking for quiet. Some decent local restaurants would be nice. A bar where I can hang a bit in the evenings.
I don’t want to rent a car. I’d be perfectly happy walking around or renting a bicycle.
I don’t want to spend the few days I’ll have getting there and back, so California (not to mention Hawaii) are out.
Bay St.Louis, Miss.
It’s a quaint little place. Right on the gulf coast. Devastated by Katrina. They are just now getting back on their feet. Lots of new restuarants and AirBnb places. I imagine bike or scooter rental is easily had.
Not quite Gulf Coast, but Jet Blue has some great deals to Charleston, SC right now, and their marina resort type places will be very cheap this time of year. Not quite as warm as the Gulf, though.
Occasionally in February cold fronts can reach all the way to the Gulf coast (mid 50’s). Even under “normal” conditions, you are looking at mid 60’s (I know, much better than NYC), but I would head just a little bit further south to Key West for more of a sure thing (mid 70’s) as far as warm temperatures are concerned.
If you’re pretty open to destinations I’d take a look at Kayak’s explore map (link). Put in your favored departure airport and leave the destination set to “anywhere.” Since you want to waste as little time as possible flying, select non-stop, and set the departure month to Feb. The map will populate with the cheapest flights from your departure city for destinations around the country (and world) and might give you some ideas of where to go and a starting point for prices.
And now here’s my crazy suggestion: Disney World. Cheap, direct flights to Orlando. The value level resorts like Pop Century can be as low as $125 during slower times like in Feb and staying at a Disney property will get you free transportation to/from the airport and to any Disney property, including Disney Springs where you have dozens of restaurant and bar choices. You don’t have to visit any of the theme parks, just stay at the resort and lounge around a pool with your books. Disney resorts tend to have a main pool, which has entertainment and will be busy, but the secondary pools tend to be quiet during the day when most families are at the parks.
That was my first thought as well. I was just there yesterday.
The only problem is “don’t want to rent a car”. That significantly increases the difficulty of getting to/from. Not impossible, but getting a car is a lot easier. Note that driving around here is nothing like driving up north. There are 2/3s the roads and ⅓ the traffic. It can be crowded, but it isn’t like you will ever see the I-95 around here.
Bay St. Louis is rebuilt now. The only signs of Katrina are the large empty beach-front lots with For Sale signs on them. But there are many lots that have been rebuilt. The new building codes make it much more expensive now, hence the For Sale signs.
Anywhere along the Redneck Riviera would be quiet (compared to NYC) and cheap. If you like that sort of thing, there are Casinos all along the MS coast. If not, ignore them. It isn’t Las Vegas, once you pass by the building it is just a town.
As for temperatures, well it is going to by 70 degrees F tomorrow. On a cold day it gets into the 30s at night. At least 50 during the day.
Or go inland to Valladolid. Some nice, inexpensive places to stay, good restaurants, and interesting places to visit. Some nice cenotes are nearby and can be reached by bicycle - they are very nice places to swim.
My wife and I are headed to the Yucatan next month. We are exploring the Merida side of the peninsula this time.
Uxmal and Celestun are on the agenda. We are also considering Izamal and Campeche. We are thinking of renting a car this time to give us this flexibility. Our previous visit we relied on the excellent bus system, but you had to plan a bit more.
The Mississippi coast has casino gambling, and is day trip distance to New Orleans. Or maybe a cruise? Short notice, but you could sail from New Orleans, Mobile, or Galveston…
We asked my mom what she wanted to do for her 90th. She immediately said “Disney World! But… I don’t want to go into any of the parks. There are so many other things to do, I want to spend a morning taking those water taxis through the canals and the lakes… after breakfast at the Polynesian Hotel…Tonga Toast! It’s a bananas foster cinnamon french toast. And five kinds of mimosas. Ooh, and I want to get mahi mahi at The Flying Fish and they serve kir royales, and those steaks at Victoria&Albert’s!.. (she was hyper-ventilating at this point)… we can stop for manhattans at that little bar in the Grand Floridian, oh, did you have an old fashioned when we had dinner at the Wilderness Lodge, at that cute little northwoodsy bar? We’ll have to do that, too…”
tl/dr: Yes, you can “do Disney” without spending the (big) bucks on the parks.
More cash left for drinks with mom…
We thought we had a cheap cruise lined up, but it turned out the price on the website was an error. So we’re going to spend a long weekend at Ocean City, MD in an ocean-front room. Not warm by any stretch of the imagination, but there will be no dogs, no cats, no anybody we know. We’ll stop at St. Michael’s enroute, and we may or may not go anywhere else. Perhaps a stroll on the boardwalk. Perhaps a drive to Rehoboth. Perhaps we’ll just chill at the hotel except when we want to eat.
Definitely a short, cheap getaway for us! Four weeks to go…
Renting bikes to explore, or just meander, works in any (non-threatening) weather.
This thread has inspired me to pick a cute little town, rent a bike, fill a backpack with sketchbooks and some paperbacks I can toss when I’m done with them, and just relax with “no anybody I know”.
I’m having way too much fun with that KAYAK Explore map, but you still have to pick specific dates to see prices. Is there a way to then get a calendar to see which days are cheapest? Now that I retired and the kids are gone, I’m flexible.
A couple of Florida airports are cheap, but I’ll look at Mexico, too. For our “last family vacation” (before the kids all took off, each to a different coast), we were all set to book a cottage on Sanibel Island… when we discovered that a week at a Hyatt on the beach at Puerto Vallarta would be the same price!
Four weeks to go…