New Orleans

The Big Easy is famous for beignets, voodoo shops, and jazz — not to mention Mardi Gras. Strolling the French Quarter is free, as are self-guided tours of the city's famous above-ground cemeteries and the sculpture garden outside the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Authentic Cajun cuisine, including po' boys and gumbo, is also inexpensive. Prices rise the weekend before Fat Tuesday, which falls on Feb. 28 in 2017, but New Orleans' biggest party is worthy of any bucket list.