The beauty of the beach in off-season

By Michelle Deal-Zimmerman WhatÂ¿s the Deal

September 21, 2008

I just returned from an off-season trip to Rehoboth Beach, Del. I also headed over to Cape May, N.J., for a day trip, taking the ferry from Lewes, Del. Both places were wonderfully uncrowded. That's the beauty of the off-season at the beach. The pace is relaxed and, one hopes, the price is reduced.

CheapTickets.com has off-season deals for beach vacations, with a savings of $100 on a four-night package. The Web site has identified the top 10 fall beach destinations where travelers can expect to save money on hotels. It calculated average daily hotel rates for late-season bookings and compared them to the highest average monthly rates for all bookings for those same destinations. Here's what they found:

1. Fort Lauderdale, Fla., $77.91 (off-season average daily rate); 41 percent savings

2. Miami, $110.10; 33 percent

3. Puerto Rico, $143.27; 28 percent

4. Cancun, Mexico, $166.13; 26 percent

5. Orlando, Fla., $69.03; 24 percent

6. Riviera Maya, Mexico, $219.25; 23 percent

7. Maui, Hawaii, $177.46; 22 percent

8. San Diego, $111.32; 18 percent

9. Jamaica, $172.44; 17 percent

10. Oahu, Hawaii, $129.10; 15 percent