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Best U.S. Cities for Affordable Getaways

Mar 13, 2012; 12:38 PM ET

One of Laura Martone's favorite New Orleans jazz clubs is the Spotted Cat, which offers cachet-it's been featured on the HBO show Treme-without high prices. "Despite the awesome music, patrons are almost never charged a cover," says the author of the American Nomad travel blog. "And the one-drink minimum is totally reasonable."

That kind of easy-on-the-wallet atmosphere helped New Orleans place in the top 10 of America's Most Affordable City Getaways, according to Travel + Leisure readers. In the annual America's Favorite Cities survey, travelers ranked 35 cities for qualities that span the price spectrum: from fine dining to street food, from luxury shopping to flea markets.

Finding deals is a priority for plenty of travelers who wish to trade in staycations for a real vacation again. "I think there's a lot of pent-up demand from people who have been working more hours and taking less time off," says Tim Leffel, author of The World's Cheapest Destinations.

So what makes a city a great value? Reasonably priced hotels and restaurants, certainly, as well as enticements such as budget-friendly theater tickets, free museums, or low gas prices. The survey's winner, Kansas City, has an average nightly hotel rate of about $100 and also won the T+L survey for cheap, mouthwatering barbecue.

Kansas City's airport offers relatively low airfares, too, as does another top-five city: Puerto Rico's San Juan. To offset the high prices of poolside cocktails, the island city offers the nation's top-ranked street food and walkable streets in Old San Juan.

The ability to explore a city by foot also boosts its affordability. That may explain why sprawling Dallas/Fort Worth-which has reasonably priced hotels, but ranked as the least pedestrian-friendly city in the survey-scored poorly for overall affordability.

Small costs-a taxi ride here, a club cover charge there-add up over the course of a trip and can turn off a traveler to a particular city or venue. Leffel agrees with a recent survey that revealed how much travelers dislike one particular fee: paying for Wi-Fi at a hotel. "Charging for Wi-Fi is as silly as charging for hot water," says Leffel. "Even millionaire entrepreneurs will skip a hotel that charges for Wi-Fi, just on principle."

For the complete list of the top U.S. cities for a fun and cheap get-away, click here.

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