Top Budget-Friendly Mountain Trips

Enjoy some fresh mountain air without putting your wallet on a high-altitude diet at these three affordable trip hubs.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Get around for .50 cents a person on the Fun Time Trolley, buy a Pigeon Forge Value Card for discounts on everything from meals to hotels, shopping and attractions, and enjoy a free-next-day ticket to Dollywood when you arrive after 3 p.m. Accommodations ranging from rustic inns to value-conscious resorts make for budget-friendly lodging.

Top 4 Nature-Loving Family Road Trips

Spring is in the air, which means it's time to get outside! Scenery and back-to-basics family fun take center stage on these cheap, outdoorsy family road trips:

Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Amid the backdrop of the breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains, this 105-mile stretch of highway (itself a section of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway) is dotted with exits to kid-friendly hiking trails. Inexpensive campgrounds and cabin-style resorts make for a budget-friendly family vacation.

Asheville, North Carolina, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee
This beautiful two-hour drive passes right through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Campgrounds are plentiful in the area, as are laid-back lodging options like cabin rentals and motels.

Best Budget-Friendly Ski Vacations

These budget-friendly ski resorts offer amenities and activities for everyone from seasoned skiers to first-timers.

Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa, Thompsonville, Michigan
With ski and spa packages starting at $139 per person per night and a variety of other wallet-friendly deals, this full-service ski and golf resort offers a variety of activities, lessons, childcare and more at reasonable prices. Voted top Midwest ski resort by SKI magazine in 2005, the resort offers 45 trails plus two terrain parks and a 700-foot halfpipe.

Vail Cascade Resort, Vail, Colorado
This AAA Four-Diamond resort at the base of Vail Mountain offers a variety of lodging styles and sizes, and an extensive list of attractions and activities for year-round fun. Take advantage of special packages catering to families, spa-lovers, foodies, and hardcore deal-seekers.

Reno Adventures: Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail

One of the most prodigious and varied areas to trek in the U.S., the Tahoe Rim Trail takes visitors on a 165-mile loop around iridescent Lake Tahoe on the Nevada/California border. Situated high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Tahoe Rim Trail offers hiking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing around its entire, scenery-rich circumference, as well as portions that are open to mountain bikers.

Photo credit: Tahoe Rim Trail, Nevada (courtesy, Reno Sparks CVB)

Reno Gold: Lake Tahoe

Like a vast oval mirror Lake Tahoe lies across the California-Nevada border, reflecting the surrounding mountains on its crystal blue surface. The lake, which reaches depths of 1,645 feet (501 m), is so clear that objects can be spotted at depths of up to 75 feet (23 m). And because it never freezes, there's fishing year round. Need any more persuasion?

Photo credit: Lake Tahoe: Digital Stock