Winter Travel : Where to Go for Off-Season Vacations : From Sun to Snow, Some Likely Low-Cost Getaway Spots in the U.S. and Europe

Even if your post-holiday wallet is thin, a midwinter getaway isn’t out of the question. True, if you fancy a resort hotel beside a palm-shaded Caribbean beach, you can expect to pay top dollar. But there are many overlooked travel bargains available now--if you know where to find them.

About 133 million Americans are expected to take a winter vacation trip of more than 100 miles, an increase of 3% over last winter, according to a survey by the Travel Industry Association of America and the American Automobile Assn. The period covers December through February, which includes the busy holiday travel season. The overwhelming majority (76%) will go by car, 21% by plane and 3% by train, bus or boat. The average trip will be for four nights at a cost of $907.

To keep your travel costs low--or to stay in luxurious lodgings you couldn’t otherwise afford--the idea is to go to inviting places where winter is considered the off season. Lodging is plentiful and almost always cheaper, and often other incentives such as reduced meal prices are offered.

For example, northern Florida is too chilly now for a beach vacation, but the weather remains mild enough for good golf and tennis. Amelia Island Plantation, a beautiful seaside golf and tennis resort just north of Jacksonville, currently is advertising three nights for the price of two through February.

If cultural Europe is your interest, winter can be a much better time for a transatlantic visit than the summer or fall. Air fares to Europe are cheapest in winter, budget-priced lodgings are easier to book, the performing arts calendars are brimming, and you can tour the art and history museums when they are uncrowded.

Travelers who aren’t intimidated by the prospect of cold days have many more choices. A week in one of America’s top ski resorts, such as Aspen, Vail or Deer Valley, can be rough on the budget. But for about $1,200 per person from New York (under $1,600 from Los Angeles), you can fly to Lapland in Finland for a six-day “Icebreaking Adventure.”

Other offbeat possibilities include a visit to a northern city such as Boston, which has its own cultural and historical riches. Through February, the Bed and Breakfast Agency of Boston is promising a three-night stay for the price of two nights. The historic cities of the South can be explored on inexpensive driving tours with only an occasional threat of bad weather. And not the least of winter’s travel bargains is Las Vegas, where a good room for two under $50 a night is easily found, and the gaming tables and slot machines never shut down.

To find this season’s travel bargains, scan the travel ads, seek recommendations from family and friends, consult a travel agent, check into airline air/hotel package deals and keep your mind open to going to some place different.

Some destinations where you will find off-season bargains:

United States

Boston: New England’s city streets can be numbingly cold in midwinter, but in Boston there is a wealth of cultural and historical museums and interesting shopping areas to keep you warm indoors. Through February, the Bed and Breakfast Agency of Boston, which represents more than 150 bed-and-breakfast lodgings in private homes, is offering a three-night stay for the price of two nights. Rates begin at $65 a night for one person and $70 a night for two people. The lodgings range from waterfront lofts to rooms in Beacon Hill townhouses and stately Victorian apartments in Copley Square. For information: (800) 248-9262.

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The South: While winter storms rage up north, now is a relatively quiet time to explore much of the South. A few years back, I took a four-day, midwinter driving trip through eastern North Carolina, visiting three historic towns along the way. Snow flurries dusted the road one day, but otherwise the getaway proved entertaining, relaxing and inexpensive. The three communities, all looking much like they did two centuries ago, are Edenton, which is filled with fine old mansions; New Bern, which has a restored governor’s palace to rival the one in Williamsburg, and Beaufort, an old sailing port. I stayed in an inn or bed-and-breakfast lodging in each of them. In Beaufort, the Cedars Inn (tel. 919-728-7036) charges a winter rate of $55 a night for two people on weekdays and $75 on weekends, including a full breakfast. For lodging and other information, contact the North Carolina Division of Travel and Tourism, 430 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, N.C. 27611; tel. (800) 847-4862.

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Northern Florida: Amelia Island Plantation, a deluxe resort that stretches for 3 1/2 miles along the Atlantic Coast, is offering a three-night stay for the price of two nights through February. A large oceanview room for two is $139 a night. Sports facilities, scattered among protected sand dunes and marshlands, include 21 tennis courts, 45 holes of golf, an indoor spa and pool and miles of paved or boardwalk jogging trails. For information, call (800) 874-6878.

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Las Vegas: America’s neon-lighted casino capital is one of the liveliest cities in the country and one of the least expensive--that is, if you don’t lose big at the slot machines or gaming tables. To keep the gamblers pouring into town, Las Vegas casino hotels and restaurants offer plenty of good deals. If you are flexible and can plan a trip when no major convention is in town, you should be able to get a room on weekdays in a good casino hotel beginning at as little as $30 a night for two people. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority operates a central reservation service for lodging. For information: (702) 892-0777.

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Hawaii: Yes, Hawaii. A surplus of hotel and condo rooms and a drop in the flow of tourists from both the U.S. mainland and Japan have kept lodging prices in check. Some of the best Hawaiian rates are in the bustling Waikiki area of Honolulu. Repeat visitors to the state generally skip Waikiki en route to more romantic resorts on neighboring islands, which feature golf and tennis. But Waikiki’s beach is lovely, and its strip of high-rise hotels is the jumping-off place for tours of the gardens, pineapple plantations and rich Polynesian heritage of Honolulu and the island of Oahu. The 104-room Aston Waikiki Circle Hotel, which reopened Jan. 1 after a major renovation, is offering rooms beginning at $79 a night for two people. For information, call (800) 922-7866.

Europe

London: Thick winter fog no longer haunts London’s old streets, and overall the weather is surprisingly mild. For departures beginning Tuesday through March 25, British Airways is offering a six-day “Value Plus” package to London called “Castles and Crowns.” The cost from LAX begins at $825 per person (double), $929 single, depending on choice of hotels. The price includes a lot: round-trip air fare, airport transfers, six nights in a London hotel with private bath, continental breakfast daily, a London arts season “White Card” for entrance to 13 museums, the “Royal Pass” for admission to five palaces, two traditional pub lunches, one dinner and a seven-day bus and subway pass. For information, call (800) 359-8722.

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Finland: Wrap up in your warmest parka for an unusual adventure in Finland’s northern Lapland. From now into April, a tour operator called FinnWay is organizing weekly six-day tours that feature an Arctic Circle “snowmobile safari,” a lesson in driving a reindeer-drawn sleigh and a cruise on the icebreaker Sampo. The price begins at $1,195 per person (double), depending on departure date. It includes lodging, daily breakfast, some other meals and round-trip fare from New York on Finnair. Air fare from Los Angeles is extra. For information, call (800) 526-4927.

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Prague, Vienna and Budapest: At this time of year, you will miss the outdoor cafes, but you can soak up plenty of atmosphere in the beer halls and coffeehouses of these three elegant old capitals. Delta Air Lines is offering an 11-day budget package for independent travelers called “The Crowns of Central Europe” that begins at $1,229 per person (double) from the West Coast. Departures at this rate are Feb. 10 and 24. On the March 10 departure, the rate is $1,329; March 24, it’s $1,429, and April 7 and 21, the cost is $1,529. Single supplement is $190. The price includes round-trip air fare, three nights in a tourist-class hotel in each city, first-class train service from Prague to Vienna and from Vienna to Budapest, a buffet breakfast daily and a sightseeing tour of each city. For information, consult a travel agent.

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Russia: A number of tour operators have put together bargain-priced, eight-day packages to Moscow and St. Petersburg that make Russia one of the best travel buys available today. In winter, prices are at their cheapest. In February, FinnWay is offering a package, called “Russian Price Break,” at $999 per person (double). The price includes round-trip air fare from New York on Finnair, three nights’ lodging in Moscow and three nights in St. Petersburg, overnight train with a sleeping compartment between the two cities and most meals. Air fare from Los Angeles is extra. For information: (800) 526-4927.