Who needs the Hamptons or the Jersey Shore when you can partake in a chili challenge in New Hampshire?
The Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire is totally ready for summer. On May 25, the 10th Annual Chili Challenge pits all the area's restaurants in a cookoff, and luckily, all the area hotels are nearby. (Though, honestly, we sorta think of chili as a winter food.)
Rooms at Waterville's lodges and condos start at $43 per person (with quad occupancy) and you have five properties to choose from. If you book a Memorial Day package, you also get $50 worth of "Town Square Bucks," which you can spend at select businesses after the Chili Challenge.
It might be worth it to get to Waterville a day early, too. On May 24, a penny carnival for the kids leads into an evening at the town's planetarium. After an indoor presentation, astronomers will then set up telescopes outside and help you scout the sky for cool stuff.
Ready to blow your rebate check in Vegas, over Memorial Day Weekend, with some change left over to gamble on the slot machines? Then book a room at The Golden Nugget.
TravelZoo is offering an unbelievably low rate of $49 for the nights of May 26 & 27. Room rates jump up to $99-119 if you plan to tack on extra days beforehand, May 23-25.
Visitors planning to book rooms should do it now, before the deal expires on May 20 (use Code TZGV10). This is a pretty good steal because it also includes a two-for-one breakfast and lunch coupon deal, and $20 gaming credit to get you started.
There's also a $20 voucher for the Golden Nugget Spa. Prices aren't cheap, but the voucher covers an entry fee, which includes "all day usage of sauna, steam, locker room amenities, lounges, and fitness facilities." Good deal.
The 'Nugget also has a mambo pool with a colossal shark tank and a three-story water slide. There are three restaurants, a buffet, three cafes, and a Starbucks, in case your adrenaline wanes on the casino floor for a split second.
(If you win the jackpot, they'll put your photo up on their website, but that's another story...)
Coming up over the Memorial Day Weekend is the Soul Beach Music Festival, taking place from May 21 to 26 on Aruba. It's the eighth year that this festival's been run--and the fourth year that it's taken place in Aruba--and some of the singers this year include Erykah Badu, Sinbad, Wyclef Jean and Sean Kingston.
A bunch of hotels are acting as hosts for the festival, and one of these is the Occidental Grand Aruba on Palm Beach. It's an all-inclusive resort with almost 400 rooms and suites, plus six restaurants and five bars; plenty of space for fun and action, and probably the right kind of resort to chill in during a soul fest.
The Occidental Grand still has rooms left for the whole festival week, and a deluxe room for two (all-inclusive, of course), starts at $2,280 for five nights. Along with meals, this all-inclusive price also includes activities like sailing, snorkeling, kayaking and tennis, in case you run out of steam at the music festival. Personally we might hang too long at the concerts to make the most of that, but it's nice to have the option.
TV Shows like MTV's True Life: I'm a Jersey Shore Girl have certainly does NJ beaches a disservice recently but we still have a fond spot in our hearts for the shore. And since not everyone likes to party at Jenkinson's in Point Pleasant or the Parker House in Spring Lake, we tried to find a reasonable beachfront hotel getaway for Memorial Day Weekend.
The Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch looks more than decent. Even though it looks more like a conference hotel (probably it's biggest business October through April), the hotel is located on the Long Branch Boardwalk. There's three restaurants and one bar, a spa and it's right on the beach. Their website is pretty snazzy too.
So from Friday to Monday, the hotel is offering non-view rates of $300, a coastline view rate of $319 and oceanfront king rooms for $419. These rates include high-speed wireless internet, complimentary coffee and newspaper in the lobby.
The reviews on the place are so-so. We think it might have something to do with the staff in the off-season. Maybe come Memorial Day, they will be eager to help you. We hope so at $300 a night for a stay in Jersey. But hey, it's on the beach and it's not a house with 15 other recent college grads trying to get on MTV.
[Ed. Note: We think the photo of the bride running on the beach on the hotel's photo gallery has to be a fake. The Jersey Shore is never that clean!
If you're thinking about heading to Las Vegas for Memorial Day Weekend, forget about staying at Caesar's or the Wynn where room rates are over $500 a night. If you need to be on the strip, you can hit up the Flamingo which has rooms Hotels.com for about $225 a night or the New York New York which has rooms for about $250 a night.
However, if we had to book something today we would probably go with the Las Vegas Hilton where the total weekend cost is about $677.25.
Yes, we put this hotel on our Crapping Out list, largely because this place caters to the Star Trek freaks and the Barry Manilow fans. (Whoa, we just had a scary thought. Can a person be both a Star Trek freak and a Barry Manilow fan?) But ever since we learned the place has free WiFi in the Hilton coffee shop we have decided to give it a second chance. Plus Barry is not performing over Memorial Day Weekend.
To Californians, Memorial Day Weekend is not that big of a deal compared to East Coasters who share a house in the Hamptons or down the shore. Yet a holiday is a holiday and San Diego hotels are taking advantage of that.
The U.S. Grant Hotel is offering rooms for the weekend at a rate of $269 on their website but no cancellations allowed (hotels.com has $279 listed.) These are actually pretty good prices for a Luxury Collection hotel from Starwood. Although, do realize you will be paying almost a $1,000 if you stay through the weekend which to us is crazy to spend and still be in America. Unless it's Vegas. We would do that for Vegas.
You can get something similar over at US Grant's sister property, the W San Diego. However, this hotel has "thoughtfully" put together a Memorial Day package in which parking and two cocktails is rolled into the room rate of $309. Just a regular room rate without the extras is $237 and is non-refundable.
While both hotels are in San Diego proper and not close to the beach, the W San Diego has the popular rooftop beach bar (above) so you can dig your toes in the sand if you please.
As for the beach hotels, unless you want to stay at a major chain like Hilton, Sheraton or Marriott the better San Diego beach hotels are starting at $400 a night. Pretty much the only way you can get a room under $200 a night in SanD is to stay in places like Comfort or Vagabond Inns so we say hit up Waikiki instead.
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by pbb
