If you find the beaches of Florida too crowded and a vacation in New York too expensive then perhaps it’s time to try our pick of destinations that offer you a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of life in the city. No doubt, vacation means visiting those places that you have always wanted to see but it also means relaxation and a break from all the daily hum drums. If you are tired of visiting overrated and over crowded destinations, why not plan an action packed outdoor vacation?

Taking an outdoor vacation is fun. You don’t need to venture into some remote wilderness to explore these destinations; they are conveniently located near your own neighbourhoods. Here is our pick of top outdoor destinations that should certainly feature on the “Places to Visit” menu.

Rocky Mountain National Park

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Breathtaking snow-capped peaks, majestic mountains, hiking trails that will take your through spell binding scenery, romantic hotels and lodges await you in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. A paradise for outdoor lovers, Rocky Mountain National Park is perfect for everyone seeking a relaxing time full of fun, romance and adventure. Be it a romantic getaway, a family vacation or a group trip, Rocky Mountain National Park has everything to make your vacation an unforgettable one.

Poconos Mountains

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Perfect for those in search of that place where they can enjoy the most, Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania, is all about romance, adventure and relaxation. Explore trails that will take you through magnificent waterfalls and striking scenery covered with flowers. Spice up your trip by indulging in various activities such as biking, white water rafting, skiing and snowmobiling. Play golf at the Buck Hill Falls Golf Club. Enjoy your stay in luxurious romantic hotels and resorts. Your Poconos vacation will surely be remembered for a lifetime.

Lake Tahoe

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Whether you are a family vacationer, a honeymoon couple or a city slicker seeking to escape the hustle and bustle of big city life, Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains (located along the border between California and Nevada), is just perfect for all. Take a Lake Tahoe Cruise. Enjoy the Beaches. Explore enchanting trails that will take you through diverse landscape. Couples will just love the romantic ambiance and the privacy. As for adventure seekers, Lake Tahoe is home to some of the best ski resorts in North America.

If you’re done partying at the nightclubs or  cheap hotel in New York City, gambling outrageously at the casinos of Las Vegas or soaking the sun on the picturesque beaches of Miami, then it’s time to head out to these offbeat destinations and discover the undiscovered.

By Kavita Sharma
www.cheapostay.com

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If you are fed up with bland and soulless accommodation we have done the leg work and picked out ten very cool and unusual hotels in NYC. All the hotels on our list put an extra effort into making your hotel experience far more interesting, whatever your budget. New York is a popular and incredible city where if you look hard enough you can find some very unique places to stay.

Themed Hotels

The Library Hotel: A hotel that would suit both bookworms and style aficionados alike

The Library Hotel is a frequently praised and perfectly located 60 room boutique hotel. Each of the ten floors have themes dedicated to the major categories of the Dewey Decimal System; Literature, Languages, History, Math & Science etc. The 1900 brick building hotel wasn’t previously a library itself (although it now could probably pass as one!) but it’s location is a clue to it’s theme-it’s only a block away from New York Public Library in Madison Ave also known as ‘Library Way’. Other personal touches include free wine and cheese reception evenings and a collection of art and books in every room. Average nightly price $361.

Night Hotel: For those who like their hotels dark, glamorous and with an edge

If you’ve had your fill of minimalism and prefer your hotels to be dramatic and glamorous then try Night – a gothic themed boutique hotel located in Times Square. The unusual and stylish noir-inspired monochrome decor sets this hotel apart from the rest and is a great choice for those wishing to visit the Theatre District’s fashionable restaurants and attractions. Each of the 72 sleek, sexy and intimate rooms has a plasma TV, iPod stereo system and top-end bathroom products. Average nightly price $376.

Marrakech Hotel: Brings an North African style to Upper West Side Village

This is a reasonably priced themed hotel in a very good location. The newly renovated Marrakech Hotel based in the trendy upper west side neighbourhood promises to bring a touch of Morocco to Manhattan. The colourful decor includes authentic Moroccan lamps, ceramic tiles and rich fabrics and the location is perfect for access to great jazz bars, restaurants and shops. Average nightly price $232.

Trendy yet affordable

The Pod: Join the Pod culture revolution

Many hotels try and fail to fit the stylish and trendy but budget niche. The Pod located in the heart of Midtown East neighbourhood is the exception. Clean and modern with funky murals, but with shared bathrooms and an option of staying in a bunk bed room, this hotel would be a good choice for someone who doesn’t fancy re-mortgaging their house for a trip to NYC (or didn’t fancy chancing a down-town Manhattan hostel). The friendly staff will even help you with finding tickets to your favourite concerts/gigs and city tourist information. Average nightly price $211.

MAve: Kitsch Retro Chic

The newly opened MAve is a 1970’s retro inspired hotel and would probably remind you more than a little of the film Boogie Nights. There is an emphasis on fun, colour, perspex, funky art, leather sofas and zebra prints. Taking a dip in the colourfully illuminated pool is an experience in itself. Here you can order drinks in a swim-up bar and be on full view by everyone in reception (courtesy of a large glass window). Whether you want to stay in a private room or in a dorm style room with bunk beds here you will get comfy mattresses, ipod docks and cool interiors all for a price that won’t break the bank. Average nightly price $260.

The Ace Hotel: Urban Basement style

This quirky boutique hotel aims to cater to a young, creative and bohemian crowd. Ace has been built around collaborations with local designers, artists, and independent businesses and the style has often been likened to a cool friend’s town house basement. Many of the rooms have turntables, guitars, scrawl-able chalkboard walls and Smeg mini-bars. Some rooms are smaller and more basic and there is also a budget bunk bed room option. If it’s stylish but reasonably priced accommodation you’re after the Ace shouldn’t disappoint. Average nightly price $249.

The Gershwin Hotel: Arty Shabby Chic

You don’t have to love pop art to stay at the trendy Gershwin Hotel but it might help! Each floor is decorated with prints from a different artist and there is even two original Liechtensteins and a Warhol soup can in the eccentrically styled and colourful lobby. Dormitories where beds go for $49 a night are located on the lower floor and on some evenings you can head down to the Gershwin’s “Living Room” and catch random music, comedy, and theatre performances. Average nightly price $177.

Luxurious but still a bit different

The Bowery: Authentic Classic elegance
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The Bowery is gorgeous boutique hotel with a difference, the homely wood-panelled elegant hotel has a classic old-school feel. The bright spacious rooms are decorated with rich velvet drapes and fringed lampshades and the hardwood floors are covered with Oushak rugs. Head down to the art-deco bar and relax by the carved sandstone fireplace on worn leather club chairs and salvaged church pews. Attracts a hip and wealthy crowd. Average nightly price $400.

The Mercer: Classy laid-back style and perfect for celeb-watching
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If you prefer a more contemporary accommodation The Mercer, a favourite haunt of celebrities, would make an excellent choice. This light and modern boutique hotel pays homage to loft living. The modern interior comes with oversized marble bath tubs, (which could easily fit two or more people), high ceilings, neutral decor with brick walls. The lobby has huge white sofas and a wall of colourfully bound art and fashion books. Average nightly price $485.

And for a very unusual experience try…

The Jane: Bellhops and stuffed monkeys

Staying at the Jane Hotel is an experience in itself, it has a time-warpish, quirky feel with rooms inspired by vintage train cabins. In 1912 the hotel sheltered survivors of the Titanic, in the 1920s it became a haven for sailors and then it was lovingly restored on it’s centennial in 2008. The rooms/cabins are very compact and there’s an emphasis on conserving energy although in every room there is a flat-screen tvs and ipod dock/clock. The decor is also pretty unusual with authentic old-school bellhops, maids in black and white uniforms and stuffed monkeys with fez hats! All of this probably makes it one of the most intriguing budget hotels in New York. Average nightly price $109.

Other popular trendy/unusual/cool hotels in New York

• Gramercy Park: A luxury glamourous and arty design hotel
• 6 Columbus: trendy design hotel 1960s modernist-feel
• Hotel 99: A good value trendy boutique hotel aimed at the budget traveller
• Thompson LES: a sleek design hotel with a definite wow factor
• Kitano: A luxury Japanese hotel with a distinctive Asian feel
• Rivington Hotel: 21-story glass tower trendy boutique hotel
• The Mansfield: a classically beautiful and romantic hotel

For Top 10 Cool and Unusual Hotels in Berlin

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It took us about a year to finally decide where to go on honeymoon after our wedding in July this year. To say the list of potential locations was long would have definitely been an understatement, war zones aside (!) I don’t think there were many places that weren’t included on our list…

After many hours trawling the internet we eventually decided on a California/Nevada roadtrip, probably because it ticked so many boxes. Big Sur and the Pacific Coast Highway often top the ‘places you must see before you die’ lists and seemed to us like the ideal romantic location (we are both far too fidgety to sit on a beach for two weeks..) We also wanted to include Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas partly because we are both film obsessed and many of our favourite films are based here and partly because it seemed just too long a way to go without visiting them.

The Honeymooners

We planned the trip meticulously, including a candlelit dinner in Clint Eastwood’s ranch restaurant in Carmel-on-sea, wild bear spotting in Yosemite National Park and a tour of Alcatraz on our itinerary (incidentally Alcatraz is one of San Francisco’s most poplar tourist attractions – it seems like most people love a day trip to a prison!).

We landed on the Las Vegas strip, jet-lagged and bleary eyed and spent the next three days adjusting to the 43degree desert heat (which wasn’t unlike a really hot hairdryer being blown in your face, full blast), spending vast amounts of money and marvelling at what is essentially an adult Disneyland. The experience is intense but exhilarating and our hotel the MGM Grand was truly impressive and not only for it’s size. Even if gambling’s not your thing this place has to be experienced at least once in your lifetime.

Leaving Las Vegas

From there we drove across the Nevada desert to Los Angeles staying in the sleek and luxurious Sofitel in Beverly Hills (True Blood fans might recognise the distinctive hotel lobby!). We both fell in love with LA and found the city to be far more relaxed and friendly than we’d imagined and of course the weather was beautiful.

After three days we travelled up the Pacific Coast Highway stopping over at some of the sweetest and most welcoming places we’ve ever stayed (Avila La Fonda Hotel in Avila Beach and the The Tradewinds Inn at Carmel-on-Sea). Avila La Fonda even had a very cute little tuck shop pantry complete with honesty box!

Our guide book called Yosemite “the Taj Mahal” of National Parks but still nothing prepared us for how amazingly beautiful the park was when we eventually arrived. The main lookout point was a scenic but fairly gruelling hour-long drive from our accommodation but we were both instantly moved by our first Yosemite Park lookout encounter. Even though we were both a little surprised by the crowds and the over-development in the valley and even though we didn’t manage to catch even a small glimpse of a wild bear, the park was still definitely worth the 320 km detour.

Final Destination

San Francisco is a bohemian and cultured city but it’s also very windy! Our diverse range of activities during our stay included cheering along young Tony Hawk wannabes in a skateboard competition in Golden Gate Park, queuing for a free chickpea curry at a vegetarian food festival and my personal favourite watching the crazy wrestling seals at Pier 39. Napa Valley and it’s idyllic landscapes and the incredible food and wine tasting was a perfect day trip, and for us, California was the perfect honeymoon.

California and Las Vegas highlights

• Doubling our money (and then swiftly losing it!) on the roulette table at the Bellagio Las Vegas.
• Trophy wife/beautiful people watching from a gorgeous cafe/bakery/restaurant on Rodeo Drive early on a Sunday morning.
• The Big Sur Coastline (no need to say anymore).
• Sipping cocktails in 90 degree heat on the veranda of the Wawona Inn in Yosemite National Park.
• Watching the Old Faithful Geyser and then eating the world’s most tastiest salad bought from a local grocery store in Calistoga.
• Cycling to see the Golden Gate Bridge and eventually arriving – against all the odds (kind of wishing someone had warned us about the wind and the jaw-droppingly steep hill on the coastal path).

Our Roadtrip Itinerary

• Flew Virgin Atlantic from Gatwick to Las Vegas.
• Stayed three nights at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
• Drove across the Nevada desert stopping at Barstow and Calico Ghost town and eventually arriving in Los Angeles.
• Stayed three nights in the Sofitel, Beverly Hills in Los Angeles.
• Took Highway 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway) to Avila Beach and stayed one night at the Avila La Fonda Hotel.
• Drove further up the coast staying one night at the Tradewinds Inn in Carmel-on-Sea.
• Drove from Carmel to Yosemite National Park staying 2 nights at Wawona Inn.
• Stayed five nights in Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco and from there took a day trip to Napa Valley and Calistoga.
• Flew Virgin Atlantic from San Francisco airport to Heathrow.

(Seventeen nights in total)

Search over 30 major travel sites on once to find the cheapest price and best hotels in California.

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