For about the cost of a movie ticket, you can get an entire apartment to yourself in Oakland, Calif. This one-bedroom suits a solo visitor or a couple and has a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and wireless Internet. It's a quick walk to the nearest subway station and a 20-minute ride to San Francisco. If you're into wine, Napa Valley is a 90-minute drive.
As in other large cities, hotel rooms start around $150 and soar upward of $450 a night in Chicago. Rent this apartment in the Bridgeport neighborhood, though, and you can indulge in a few more rounds of beer with your deep-dish pizza. The place provides basic amenities without any extra frills, but it's conveniently close to shops, restaurants, transit stations, and U.S. Cellular Field, home of the White Sox.
Miami might conjure visions of expensive nightclubs and extravagant pool parties, but if South Beach is on your bucket list, this apartment sleeps four for a mere $30 a night. It's within walking distance of a shopping center, supermarkets, clubs, and the beach. The place includes a porch and a yard, and reviews rave about the hostess' hospitality.
Portland is an increasingly popular destination with wineries, fine dining, and plentiful food carts. This sunny studio is located right next to artsy Alberta Street. For $35 a night, guests get an efficiency apartment with a shared restroom, washer/dryer, and wireless Internet. More than two dozen reviews are unanimously positive.
This quaint guesthouse is situated in a backyard with lots of sunlight and lush greenery. Guests sleep in a bunk bed and have full access to the kitchen and restroom in the main house. Reviewers applaud the privacy of the guesthouse, as well as the proximity to trendy bars and restaurants in the Bywater/Marigny neighborhood and the French Quarter.
You can squander hundreds of dollars on a tiny hotel room in Times Square or Chelsea, or you can rent a studio for $59 near trendy Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It's about a 20-minute train ride from Manhattan, and you can recuperate from your Big Apple adventures in a memory-foam bed and a spa shower with six showerheads.
Boston itself doesn't have too many cheap, convenient listings, but this one-bedroom apartment is located in Somerville, near Cambridge. It's two blocks from busy Union Square, in the middle of shops, restaurants, nightlife, cute coffee shops, a farmers market, and more. There's a TV and wireless Internet, plus a hammock.