Autumn is when the top travel bargains re-emerge. Except to areas with fall foliage, travel to almost everywhere slumps in September and October, and drops lower still from Nov. 1 to mid-December. Here are five top travel bargains for fall:
1. $599 for a week in London. Starting Nov. 1 and until the end of February, such tour operators as Go-Today.com will be charging as little as $599 for round-trip air to the British capital plus six nights in a room with a private bath and daily continental breakfast. The price is from New York or Newark, but the add-ons are modest from other cities and only $200 from Los Angeles or San Francisco. Though life within London is costly for visitors using the weak U.S. dollar, the reduction of air and hotel costs to $599 gives your budget a lift, and all Americans, in my view, owe themselves a once-yearly change of pace in this historic city, with its traditions, its formality and its impressive culture. Contact go-today.com.
2. $555 for five days on the island of Maui. From Aug. 20 and until mid-December, Hawaii goes on sale – as evidenced by a remarkable air-and-land package from Pleasant Holidays. It consists of round-trip airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to popular Maui, five nights at the Aston Maui Lu hotel, directly across from a fine beach, and a rental car with unlimited mileage for the duration of your stay, all during the above period and for as little as $555 per person. If you can make a quick decision to enjoy this island paradise, you can snare the bargain by phoning 800-742-9274 or by logging on to pleasantholidays.com.
3. A 17-night cruise for $1,299. A most remarkable seagoing bargain is the Panama Canal sailing from Los Angeles on Sept. 28 on the Norwegian Sun. From Southern California, the ship first heads down the Pacific Coast of Mexico, then to Costa Rica, traversing the awesome Panama Canal into the Caribbean, stopping en route at Aruba and Curacao, and finishing in New Orleans after 17 nights of sailing, for as little as $1,299 per person for an inside cabin (that’s less than $77 a day). You can book from any of several prominent cruise brokers, including Vacations to Go at 800-338-4962 or vacationstogo.com. While airfare to Los Angeles or from New Orleans is not included, the value of this two-week vacation is just plain remarkable.
4. $389 for five nights in Orlando. The nation’s theme-park capital goes into a particular slump just shortly after Labor Day, and all sorts of remarkable package enticements are offered to lure you there. The best deal I know of costs $389 from either New York or Chicago for round-trip air, a five-
night stay at the Royal Celebration Inn, about 4 miles from Disney World, and free shuttle transportation between your hotel and the theme parks. The add-on from other cities is a gentle $49 from Atlanta or Washington, D.C., $149 from Dallas and similar rates for numerous other places. Contact the cost-conscious tour company called Leisure Link at 888-801-8808 or eleisurelink.com.
5. $459 for five all-inclusive nights in the Dominican Republic. This time, the rate includes not only airfare (as all the above packages do) but three meals a day, unlimited drinks and unlimited sports and entertainment. Fully a half-dozen resorts in two major areas of the island nation (Puerto Plata and Punta Cana) are offered at around the $459 price by an aggressive, well-established tour operation called Vacation Mart. While each package at a particular resort carries a deadline for booking, it is immediately replaced by other similar packages the moment the previous deadline has been reached. Needless to say, the Dominican Republic is the single least-expensive destination in the Caribbean, particularly from Sept. 4 to mid-December, and while the $459 price is from Miami, departures from most other U.S. cities are only $70 (New York) to $90 (Chicago) to $200 (West Coast) more. Call 800-288-1435 or go to vacmart.com.
Arthur Frommer, who first published “Europe on $5 a Day” in 1956, is a budget travel authority.
