Best U.S. Budget Resorts

Forget everything you thought you knew about resorts. These 10 escapes deliver thrilling activities, plush amenities, and sweeping views, from $119 a night.



Casa Marina Resort

The 311-room beachfront Casa Marina is in tropical, laid-back Key West, Fla., where Ernest Hemingway bummed around in the 1930s (The Old Man and the Sea is based on his experiences here).The historic resort, built in the 1920s, hosts the largest private beach on Key West, a sinewy strand of white sand over 1,000 feet long. Book a day of water sports—which range from snorkeling with dolphins at a nearby coral reef to jetting around on WaveRunners—or relax in a cabana by one of the two oceanfront pools. On-site Spa al Mare offers treatments like the full-body Sun Soother Water Lily Mask, which soothes sunburned or windburned skin with naturally hydrating water lily oil. The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum (admission $12) is a 10-minute walk—see the house's original furnishings from Paris, the $20,000 pool, and 60 cats, some with six toes on one paw, descendants of Hemingway's beloved litter.

All-inclusive? No.

On the beach? Yes.

Price From $149.

ClubHotel Riu Negril is one the best budgeted resort in US and out to the far western tip of Jamaica and you'll find this lively beachfront resort in Negril it is right on the beach, but the place to be is by one of the umbrella-shaded loungers around the two gigantic pools.