Sushi: Chic, sophisticated and downright sexy, sushi bars represent a remarkably affordable culinary indulgence. One example? The Buddha Sky Bar in Delray Beach, Florida. The hip urban atmosphere makes a fabulous backdrop for enjoying their $6 dim sum and their $13 blue crab California rolls. Haru Sushi has a number of rolls priced at less than $20, and hosts nightly happy hours at several of their locations in New York City, including Wall Street, Broadway and Park Avenue. Reduced-price items range from $4 cocktails and $6 tempura to $5 spring rolls and basic vegetable sushi starting at $3.50. Haru also has several Boston locations.

Chefs: If you’re staying at the same vacation rental for a period of time and don’t want to be bogged down with cooking responsibilities, consider arranging for a personal chef to deliver healthy meals for you and your traveling companions. Depending on your menu items, the cost can easily be less than dinner out at a mid-range restaurant. Personalchefsearch.com is a great place to start.

Sipping: Avoiding quickly-consumed cocktails and beverages in favor of those intended for slow sipping is a great way to enjoy the finer things for less. Don’t get me wrong. I’m perfectly capable of slamming down a pitcher of margaritas at lightning speed. It just usually results in an outrageous bar tab. Two alternatives are whiskey and red wine. Each can be enjoyed at a rate per glass that easily costs less than a couple of rounds of cocktails made with other top-shelf spirits. At the Mirbeau Inn and Spa’s wine bar in Skaneateles, New York, you can experience higher-end bourbons and wines individually, or sample entire flights at bargain rates.

Sugar: Frugal foodies know that some of the best deals on gourmet goodies can be found at designer bakeries and candy shops. I’ve selected sugary samples of decadent fudge, hand-dipped chocolates and buttery baked goods around the world, with prices typically ringing in at less than $5 per treat. One such sweet shop is called Cupcake. Located on King Street in Charleston, South Carolina, this baked goods establishment sells an array of artisan cupcakes baked fresh daily. Toppings include homemade cream cheese frosting, fresh fruit and other fun yummies, with a per cake price of $2.75 a pop.

Photo Credits: Zigazou76 (cupcakes), Isante Magazine (wine) and Cool Mikeol (sushi)

Food:

Happy hour deals offer a source of cheap eats for Vegas visitors. Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria and Cucina features several $7 bite-sized bar food items in a happy hour menu that lasts all day long. Snacks of note include baked polenta with sausage and peppers, grilled pork belly and a chilled mushroom antipasto plate. Matt Reider of Canuck Abroad, a Canadian travel Web site, favors late night dining for the best deals. Many restaurants and buffets offer steep discounts between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., advises Reider, providing penny-pinching meal opportunities for night owls and early birds alike.

Transportation:

If your desired destination is a little too far away to find your way to on foot, Reider also recommends the Deuce – a popular double-decker bus – to travelers looking to save money. This bus services the Vegas strip around the clock, with 24-hour passes ringing in an only $7. For affordable site-to-site transportation without all of the stops and starts that come along with bus travel, consider the Las Vegas Monorail. The $12 one-day pass allows unlimited transportation between all of the major stations along the strip, with climate-controlled cars that are clean and comfortable.

Accommodation:

Room rates in Vegas are frequently priced to entice. Travelzoo.com for example, currently lists affordable accommodation options for less than $100! While costs fluctuate with availability, the site provides real-time pricing options for vacationers in search of the ultimate Vegas deal. Condo rentals also offer significant savings. This was recently evidenced on a site called Flip Key, where I found a two-bedroom, two-bath condo listed for $149 per night which was connected to the MGM Grand by a moving walkway.

Experiences:

To get a sense of Las Vegas on foot, try a downloadable walking tour and scavenger hunt you can participate in from your cell phone. Strayboots.com has family-friendly options available for as little as $9 per person, providing an interactive tourism experience. Prefer something a bit more posh? Book any treatment at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas and receive complimentary same-day access to common-area amenities, including heated relaxation chairs, vitality pools and personal experience showers. With face and foot treatments priced below $100, this can be an affordable spa strategy to spend the day in decadence.

Photo Credit: Http2007

Activities: Ready to relax? Align Spa’s atmosphere is part Zen garden, part Bohemian loft. Their $35 Ski Boot Revenge treatment includes a foot soak, paraffin dip and muscle-relieving leg massage. It’s one of several spa values the destination has to offer. Family adventure options include Park City Mountain Resort’s Alpine coaster and the 2,111-foot zip tour adventure at Canyons, each available for $20. Canyons Resort also offers free Saturday afternoon concerts all spring, which are fun to enjoy with a casual beverage. More than 400 miles of public trails provide free fun to those preferring snowshoeing or Nordic skiing to a downhill experience.

Food: Stay on budget by hitting the appetizer menus. At High West, a ski-in distillery and restaurant housed in an antique livery stable, you and a friend can sample a selection of in-house whiskeys for the price of roughly one cocktail each. Fun snacks include the $5 bourbon-caramel popcorn and $6 giant soft pretzels with rye-infused dipping sauce. Silver, a slightly more sophisticated venue, offers several hearty starters for less than $15, including mushroom crostini and potato pancakes with smoked salmon. Don’t want to leave the mountain? The Royal Street Café at Deer Valley serves noteworthy turkey chili and chive hummus with homemade pita chips for less than $10.

Savings: Ski free your first day! Out-of-state visitors taking a ski vacation can convert same-day boarding passes into complimentary lift tickets at any of the town’s three major resorts with the destination’s quick start program. Those with direct morning flights can be on the slopes by early afternoon. Park City Mountain Resort lets children six and younger ski free, and the area’s transit bus provides no-cost transportation to ski resorts, recreational areas and the historic downtown district.

Splurges:

Got extra dough? Summit Mountain Adventures offers 7,000 acres of snowmobiling with spectacular mountain vistas and a large meadow to indulge the need for speed. Prices start at $100. Utah Olympic Park’s $200 bobsled ride is the real deal, reaching five G’s in 55 seconds. Typically, astronauts experience only three G’s during a space shuttle launch, albeit for a longer period of time. Children will remember a real-life dogsled ride through the forest for a lifetime. At $350 through All Seasons Adventures it’s a bit spendy, but the rate allows for multiple little ones in the sled. Sacrificing a day’s lift tickets will help defray the cost and make a magnificent family memory.

Photo Credits: TrekHound.com