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Cheap Hotels 101: Finding that perfect paradise getaway shouldn’t be a struggle—or a serious drain on your travel budget. From international hostels, to wild adventure lodges to bed and breakfasts, we give you the latest on the best ways to find incredible online hotel rooms for a steal.

With an enormous amount of variety of the types of lodging available, finding that ideal base camp may make you long for home sweet home before you even leave.

This first step is to choose a type of accommodation. If you feel at a loss as to what type of accommodation you want (or need), use your overall desire as a guide. Do you picture your hotel as simply a cheap place to crash? Or a lovely cottage on the island? There are hotels for just about every type of getaway!

Adventure and eco lodges cater to the active set, the accommodation typically embedded in its natural surroundings, from desert rock to rainforest to mangrove swamp, with rates that typically include on- and off-site activities like hiking, horseback riding, or cross-country skiing. But the frugal traveler still longing for lodging nestled in the outdoors can dodge the higher-priced adventure lodges by camping (definitely the lowest-cost option, and often the most exhilarating—try waking up with sunrise on the Aussie Outback…no resort can offer a better view), or explore options available from state- and national-park systems. You won’t get five-star meals, free bike rentals, or in-room massages, but most have remarkably well-kept, refreshingly inexpensive lodging like huts, cabins, and yurts smack-dab in the middle of nowhere. There’s even a chance of scoring primo real estate smack-dab at the center of things. The Stone Hut, for example, sits atop Vermont’s largest mountain in Stowe Mountain Resort—a massive, no-frills cabin built in 1936 owned and rented out by Vermont State Parks for a song, with nothing but an early wake-up standing between you and first tracks on the slopes. But if you go this route, act soon—these great deals typically get booked well in advance.

Spa properties float on the other end of the spectrum, merging orgiastic outdoor scenery with a higher price tag and a variety of wellness treatments, like massage, seaweed wraps, and whatever Madonna’s latest obsession might be—alongside more time-tested treatments like the decades-old hot springs at West Virginia’s Greenbrier. Boutique hotels, meanwhile, cater to their client’s hip personality, with prices well below the four- and five-star hotels. Think hip furniture, brash use of color, prime locales, and trendy lobby or rooftop bars. Then there’s the high-end hotels and all-inclusive resorts, which come with all the expected amenities—as well as luxe treatment for your pets.

Read more:

Outside’s Guide to Adventure and Eco Lodges the World Over

Outside’s Top 10 North American Spas

How to Find Inexpensive Airfare

How to Pick an Adventure Outfitter