When planning a vacation within the United States, you can start with the seven classics–perennially popular and affordable resorts or sailing programs that have satisfied the leisure needs of Americans for years. That’s because each is somewhat different from the usual, and none is simply a sleep, relax and vegetate hotel. If you call now, you should still be able to secure space for the coming peak-season months:
1. America’s foremost “personal growth” center. Five nights and more at the famed Omega Institute in upstate New York cost as little as $575 for workshops, comfortable lodgings, summer-fun facilities and all meals. Here, July, August and September–when top names are the featured speakers and seminar leaders–is prime time for vacationing at the nation’s leading “personal growth” center, a surprisingly affordable place. You’ll enjoy: 140 leafy, lakeside acres just two hours from New York City in the Hudson Valley, near Rhinebeck; a kind, supportive staff and equally gentle guests of all ages; scores of workshops in psychology, relationships, spirituality, self-help, health, dance, crafts and the arts, costing as little as $295 for five days; and five nights’ lodging and full board (tasty vegetarian meals) for an extra $280 in two-person tent cabins, $300 in dorms or $460 in double-occupancy cabins with shared bath. 800-944-1001; www.eomega.com
2. Tennessee Fitness, the nation’s cheapest weight-reduction spa. Seven nights of lodging, calorie-controlled meals and rigorous exercise go for as little as $585. You’ll receive specially reduced summer rates (July 14 to Sept. 1) for a regimen of fitness identical in its basic features (a spartan diet, yoga, aerobics, tai chi and pool) to what pampered plutocrats enjoy at the ultra-costly Golden Door in Southern California. The weekly charges (room, board and exercise) range from $585 in four-bed quads (women only), $675 in two-bed doubles with bath and $940 single. 800-235-8365; www.tfspa.com
3. The Windjammers of Maine. A week’s sail off the New England coast aboard a historic schooner, including all meals, is priced as low as $700 to $800. On a full-sized, 19th Century “tall ship,” magnificently restored to its full-masted, sail-driven splendor, you weigh anchor out of the Maine fishing villages of Camden, Rockport or Rockland (a three-hour, $27 bus ride from Boston) and sail off the craggy shores of the Pine Tree state for three to six days; July, August and September are the best of all times for this. Of the 14 ships available, the least expensive are the 20-passenger Timberwind and the 22-passenger Lewis R. French, with three-, four- and six-day sailings for about $145 a night (on average) in the peak-season July-August period. 800-807-9463; www.sailmainecoast.com
4. Summer Vail. Four nights of lodging, four days’ use of a rental car and round-trip airfare are sold for as little as $549. Every summer for years now, elegant Vail, Colo., has priced this “Wildflower Gotta-Getaway” package to sell. A low $549 brings you all of the above features and a studio condo with additional queen-size sofa bed, gas fireplace, kitchenette and balcony, all within walking distance of shops and restaurants (not to mention awesome, hikable mountains). You fly into Denver from Chicago (or other cities), then pick up your unlimited-mileage rental car. Price is per person, double occupancy; additional people are $395 each. 800-525-3875; www.visitvailvalley.com
5. Poland Spring Inns. Some 30 miles north of Portland, Maine, in a town more famous for its bottled water, this is surely an all-time bargain–and especially in the summer months (it’s open May through October). At Poland Spring Inns you not only pay as little as $25 a day for room and two meals, but a scant $20 more brings you all-you-can-play golf on a perfectly decent course. 207-998-4351; www.polandspringinns.com
6. Country dancing at Pinewoods, Mass. As little as $610 is charged for an all-inclusive (accommodations, meals, instruction) week. Every year from early July through August, the 86-year-old Country Dance and Song Society operates its main summer camp in the eastern United States at the 25-acre Pinewoods near Plymouth, Mass. And there, if you wish, you can wallow in traditional (mostly American and British) music and moves, past and present–from the ancient lute to the Delta banjo. For $610 (with discounts for kids and first-timers), the week-long programs put you up in rustic but well-maintained cabins, feed you all meals and cover all program fees; there’s tennis and swimming too. 413-268-7426; www.cdss.org
More Top Picks Best Large Wall Clocks
7. Arts and crafts instruction at Penland. $750 brings you a full week at the famed school for working with your hands, in western North Carolina. This 75-year-old institution is teaching one- to eight-week courses covering the likes of glassblowing, drawing, weaving, jewelry making, photography and manuscript illumination. Summer tuition (through Aug. 31, after which only eight-week courses are available) is $320 to $390 a week; add three solid meals a day and dorm-style accommodations, and your total outlay (tuition, room and board) will average $750 to $850 per week. 828-765-2359; www.penland.org