Orlando is the most affordable travel destination in the nation, as long as you don't do anything

A new study names Orlando as the most affordable travel destination in the U.S., but seems to forget that leaving your hotel room costs money.

SmartAsset, a finance and data collection company, ranked Orlando No. 1 for the third year in the row as the most cost-efficient city for vacation.

Las Vegas comes in at No. 2 for being the most affordable, followed by Fort Lauderdale and Reno.

The site analyzed data from 48 of the most popular cities in the nation, focusing on the costs of a three-day, three-night trip for a family of four and for an individual. It looked closely at the averages of round-trip airfare costs, hotel room rates, daily car rentals and restaurant meal costs.



It's true, Orlando is extremely cheap if you literally don't do anything besides eat and sleep.


According to the study, Orlando is perfect for young families because of its multitude of attractions, including Disney World and Kennedy Space Center. But what what it doesn't average into the overall costs is how much attending these theme parks and seeing these attractions costs.

From SmartAsset:

We estimate that an individual traveler could expect to pay just under $800 for their weekend trip to Orlando, while a family of four would be facing a cost of just over $2,225. Across all the metrics, Orlando is an affordable place to visit. It ranks no worse than sixth in any category. One metric that helps families is the falling cost of airfare. The average plane ticket is around $4 less than last year.

Orlando does have affordable food, hotels, flights and car rentals, but people don't come to the city to just eat and sleep all day. When tourists think of Orlando, they picture Mickey Mouse at Disney and Harry Potter at Universal, both of which will cost a pretty penny to see.

All in all, Orlando will only cost a little over $2,o00 for a family of four, according to the site. But realistically, out-of-staters are looking more at a total of $3,000 to $4,000 if they want to actually have fun.

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