What vacations have you taken that were a particularly good "value" for the services and enjoyment received?

What vacations have you taken that were a complete waste of money?

For me, three nights in Myrtle Beach, SC and a day trip from Philadelphia to NYC were particularly enjoyable.

Other than visiting with Mark Stevens, a few days in Wichita was a complete waste of my life.

I'm taking my son to visit my parents in Hong Kong next month. Believe it or not, one reason was to save money. My parents' apartment is cheaper than a hotel, and I won't have to rent a car or pay those high gas prices you have now in the States.

Seriously, here in Europe the "Special Offers" are quite surprising. Some "exotic" places like Egypt and Turkey are pretty cheap. I've been lookin for someone to go with me to Istanbul for a week. Anyone interested?

Got a good price to Vegas recently (we're going in two weeks ) for a 2+ weeks vacation. Was checking flights alone for the same dates a few days after our reservation and the airlines were giving me doube the price for flights alone! Travelocity can be good!

When my wife and I were in Thailand last year we met a young German man on an overnight train to Chiang Mai. He had been there a month and was planning on renewing his VISA to stay another month. He was generally paying around $3 a night to stay in 'fan rooms'. These were hotels that offered you a room with a fan, (no air conditioning), and a shared bathroom. We weren't staying that cheap but we loved Chiang Mai so much that we researched a bit and found that we could rent a house for a month for around $300 and are considering that for our next trip. We also enjoyed several Tai massage's that were to be had for about $7 for an hour massage. And of course the food was amazing!

It's supposed to be amazing in Turkey, too. Yet Turkish food in Germany means Doner Kepab.

My wife and I have started doing home exchanges in the past few years. We do long-term exchanges and bring work with us, so it's not really fair to call it a "vacation," but there are plenty of people who are into shorter term exchanges.

In any case, home exchanges obviously offer tremendous value. You immediately erase your hotel bill, and if you're so inclined, you can reduce your restaurant bill as well. Moreover, it's kind of cool to be in a residential setting while you explore a new city.

The three places we've done exchanges to were Melbourne (2 months), Rome (3 months) and Chicago (3 weeks). Rome was clearly the stand-out favorite, but the other two exchanges were nice as well.

Outside of the home exchange context, we spent a week at an all-inclusive resort in Cancun. Wake up, beach, eat, drink, drink, drink, nap, wake up, beach, eat, drink, drink, drink. Repeat. It was awesome, and very reasonably priced. A week was about the right amount of time. Any more, and I think we would have had irreversible liver damage. And not the good kind.