Pauline Frommer appeared on Live with Kelly & Mark to discuss this topic. To see the clip, please click here.
Planning an affordable beach vacation isn’t—please excuse the cliché—a day at the beach. Shoreside holidays are very popular, which can mean lodgings booked months in advance along with shocking prices during the warm weather months.
But smart booking strategies can save a significant amount. Just as important, choosing the right destination can cut your holiday bills dramatically.
Below, we’ve put together a list of destinations that are affordable for travelers based in North America, followed by some strategies for cutting costs wherever you go.
The most affordable beach destinations in 2026
After spot-checking prices for hotels and rentals, we found some of the most affordable destinations for a beach vacation this year. For drive-to destinations, we looked at rental options; for places requiring a flight from North America, we priced out air/hotel packages. Here’s what we found (in alphabetical order).
(Wild horses of Assateague Island National Seashore; Credit: Vicky Fay Aquino / Shutterstock)
Beach season: mid-May through September
One-week rental in a two-bedroom property (June 17–June 24): many options between $160 and $212 per night
Famous for the wild ponies roaming the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge as well as for superb fishing opportunities (this area’s known as the “Flounder Capital of the Country”), these Virginia islands have much to keep visitors busy. Boat tours, mini golf, shopping, Chesapeake Bay sunsets, visits to the Assateague Lighthouse, and, of course, pristine beaches are just a few of the highlights on to-do lists of vacationers here.
Also nearby: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, where tourists can watch rocket launches and take in the highly interactive visitor center.
Beach season: year-round
One-week resort or apartment stay, including airfare from the U.S. (Feb. 17–24): well-reviewed options between $415 and $714 per person per week, with airfare from Miami included; resort stays without airfare are down as much as 60% from recent years
In October, Jamaica was hit by Hurricane Melissa, the third most intense storm in recorded history. But because Jamaica is the Caribbean’s third largest island at 4,200 square miles, the majority of the nation escaped largely unscathed. Visit Ocho Rios, Negril, or Montego Bay this winter and you’d be hard-pressed to find areas that look different from last year—except for the lower number of sunbathers on the beaches. Roughly 80% of the hotels on the island have now reopened.
So a Jamaican vacation in 2026 will be a good deed, helping a nation that relies on tourism for its economy (some 35% of the GDP). But don’t just visit to be virtuous. Go also to listen to reggae, eat jerk chicken, enjoy some of the loveliest and longest beaches in the region, take a Black River Safari, scuba dive the Blue Hole, climb Dunn’s River Falls, or have one of the many other adventures that have made Jamaica a beloved holiday destination for decades. Your welcome this year will be especially warm.
Beach season: year-round (most years)
One-week rental in a two-bedroom property (June 17–June 24): many options between $111 and $245 per night
With more than 20 miles of unspoiled public beaches and a height restriction on buildings that keeps things human-sized, this is a wonderful area for nature lovers. Jonathan Dickinson State Park is a purposefully wild place, its 11,300 acres home to manatees, gators, and countless rare and endangered bird species. Nearby, the Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge is a top place to watch sea turtles nesting. And the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary has 20 acres of nature trails. Also in the area: the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center, the Elliott Museum, kayaking opportunities, beach volleyball, hiking, surf fishing, and more.
Beach season: late May through September
One-week rental in a 2-bedroom property (June 17–June 24): many options between $126 and $180 per night
This humongous man-made reservoir (54,000 acres) has 1,150 miles of shoreline, both with and without beaches. Water sports like boating, kayaking, canoeing, and fishing are a top draw, but be careful—this is one of the top areas in the country for boating accidents. That’s the main danger here. Despite being the setting for the Netflix crime drama Ozark, violent crime is actually quite rare in this area.
Not far from Lake of the Ozarks you’ll find Ha Ha Tonka State Park, which has a lot of intriguing natural features like fresh springs, caves, bluffs, sinkholes, a huge natural bridge, and the ruins of a turn-of-the-century castle to explore. The area also has shopping outlets, go-kart tracks, and water parks.
Beach season: May through mid-October
One-week rental in a two-bedroom property (June 17–June 24): many options between $133 and $220 per night
Because Myrtle Beach has more than 157,000 lodging units (hotel rooms and vacation rentals), competition keeps nightly rates reasonable year-round. The lodging inventory has been growing by over 15% annually for the past few years, so there are lots of units to keep filled, hence the deals.
You should find an affordable place to stay here pretty easily. And once you’re in Myrtle Beach, it’s nearly impossible to get bored. Beyond the 60-mile Grand Strand (the sandy stretch at the heart of Myrtle Beach), this bustling area seems to have every kind of attraction ever invented: escape rooms, faux medieval banquets, amusement parks, golf courses, parasailing, animatronic dinosaur exhibits, zip lines, aquariums, you name it.
Add to those outlet shopping, a wide array of evening performances (from Broadway–style shows to Elvis tributes to big name country music concerts), restaurants of every cuisine, and thrill rides that will make you lose every cuisine if you go right after your meal. On the less honky-tonk side of the spectrum, you’ll also find several serene nature sanctuaries.
Beach season: mid-April to mid-October
One-week rental in a two-bedroom property (June 17–June 24): many options between $199 and $262 per night
Warm gulf waters lapping 18 miles of golden sands are the main attractions here, though this beach town’s proximity to Corpus Christi means vacationers can enjoy a taste of urban life when they get tired of sunbathing. Fishing is also a big deal—Port Aransas is known as the “Fishing Capital of Texas”—and that sport can be done in the surrounding bays and channels, from lighted piers, and in deep seas.
Port Aransas has five different nature preserves as well as dolphin watching cruises, good surfing in spots, and opportunities for parasailing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, kiteboarding, and riding Jet Skis.
Strategies for saving money on a beach vacation
Travel on the edges of the beach season.
Warm weather is lasting longer nowadays, which means booking a summer beach vacation in May, September, or even early October is far less of a risk than it once would have been.
Why do so? Prices can be significantly lower for beachy holidays when the kids are in school. The discounts start the last two weeks of August, as many schools across the U.S. go back into session then. So a late August vacation will usually be far cheaper than one in July.
If you want a beach vacation in spring, however, this rule of thumb won’t apply, since the variety of destinations accessible to North Americans is less broad at that time of year. However, April is an in-between season for Florida, so you’ll sometimes find both sunshine and deals that month.
Avoid the extra fees if you’re renting a beach house.
We’ve found the best method for saving on rental homes is to search with the usual services, but when you find an apartment or house that looks nice, don’t book on the app. Instead, look to see if the management company for the property is listed (it almost always is for beachy destinations on Vrbo and often on Airbnb too). Then, book directly with that management company to avoid the high fees that the big platforms charge.
This is a tip that can save you hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the size of the house and the length of the rental. See our complete article on this strategy here.
Do some research beyond the headlines.
When a destination gets hit by a storm, wildfire, or other type of disaster, media coverage can sometimes do more damage than Mother Nature. Prices drop when the public assumes a region, island, or area is off limits to visitors. But sometimes—not always—the disaster only affects one portion of a destination, as is the case currently with Jamaica. Most of a region could be untouched by trouble but being treated as if it were untouchable.
Do some deeper research first—you don’t want to go to a place where the beach has been washed away or where locals aren’t prepared to accommodate visitors again. But when you find a place that’s being unfairly avoided, jump. The word will get out quickly that the destination is actually open for business, and rates will start to rise.
Consider camping out.
The weather will be nice enough for tents—though if you get hot easily, an air-conditioned RV might be the better call. And in some areas you can actually camp right on the beach.
Gear up before you leave home—and get the right gear.
Sunscreen always costs more in coastal communities. Ditto for pails, shovels, and other beach toys. So bring all of that with you.
And consider investing in a beach tent or umbrella, as that will not only make your time on the sand more pleasant but will also allow you to spend more time on the beach because you’ll have shelter and shade. That matters when it comes to saving money. After all, the longer you’re parked on the sand (usually a pastime that costs nothing), the less time you’ll have to spend money elsewhere. If you’re out in the elements, you might be more inclined to knock off early for a restaurant meal (you can bring food with you and picnic in the shelter without battling seagulls or wind) or a round of mini golf or an afternoon movie.
Instead of paying through the nose for cold drinks near the beach, freeze some bottles of water, juice, or pop overnight and bring them with you, knowing they’ll melt to drinking temperature throughout the day.
Be smart about your driving expenses.
Most North Americans will be driving to their beach vacations, and a few easy steps can make that mode of transportation more cost-effective. Checking your oil is important as oil acts as a lubricant in the engine, reducing friction and lowering gas usage. Also make sure your tires are fully inflated and that your car isn’t having any other issues that can affect mileage. What you spend at the garage will be offset by what you save on fuel.
And speaking of gas, there are volunteer-run, GPS-enabled apps and websites—like GasBuddy—that help you find the cheapest gas in your area.
Finally, remember what we all learned in the 1970s: Driving the speed limit helps save on gas.
Share the vacation with others.
You make your own fun on the beach, so splitting a rental home with another family or couple will not only be more cost-effective, but will likely be more enjoyable, too.
