Luxury Travel for Oh-So-Much Less

Photo by Anna_Om/iStock / Getty Images
Photo by Anna_Om/iStock / Getty Images

God, I love a luxury bargain.

Some people get a charge out of paying retail. They love getting fawned over at fancy boutiques, and having an online purchase arrive in SUV-size package, buried in a matryoshka-like series of boxes and yards of tissue paper and ribbon.

It probably makes them feel rich. Nothing wrong with that. But I’d much rather feel smart. When I figure out that the shitty photo of an old silk scarf someone posted on eBay is actually vintage Hermes, I’m like, jumping-up-and-down giddy. I have to tell my husband about it a thousand times.

Same goes for travel. The only thing better than staying at a gorgeous country lodge, centuries-old palace or beachfront resort is knowing you paid $200 a night for the privilege. You do not have to become a crazy points hacker to do this—you just have to be willing to travel off-season. (Visiting places where the dollar is strong helps, too.)

I’ve hit Copenhagen in December, Puerto Rico in June, and Ireland in November. In every case, the cost and lack of crowds made up for the less-than-ideal weather. And we almost always found reasons to delight in the heat or chill—had we been visiting Ireland in verdant July, there would have been no excuse to curl up in front of a fire cradling perfect hot toddies embellished with clove-studded lemon slices.

I recently wrote a guide to off-season luxury travel for Esquire magazine. Check out the full story here.

 

Sara ClemenceComment