The twinkling lights of Queenstown, New Zealand, seen from the air, with the Kelvin Peninsula and Lake Wakatipu in the distance.

New Zealand's sweeping mountain vistas, pristine beaches, unusual wildlife and fascinating Maori culture make it a dream destination for many travelers. But exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud doesn't come cheap. An expensive long-haul flight will take the first chomp out of your budget -- and once you arrive, you'll find high prices for gas, food and excursions.

To help make your dream trip a reality, we've gathered 25 secrets for saving money on every aspect of your New Zealand vacation, from tours, to flights to dining.

Trip planning

1. Travel at the right time. New Zealand's seasons are the reverse of those in the Northern Hemisphere, so the busy summer travel season runs from December through February. Both international travelers and Kiwis swarm the country's most popular sights this time of year, and prices rise accordingly for everything from airfare to accommodations. Consider visiting during the quieter spring or fall shoulder seasons, or during the winter (where tourism is down everywhere except ski areas like Queenstown).

2. Focus your trip. New Zealand may not look like a big country, but if you want to take in the major sights on both islands, a week or two just won't cut it. If your time or budget is limited, concentrate on either the North Island or the South Island, not both. Staying focused will save you a mound of money on internal transportation; domestic flights or gas for long car trips can eat away at your vacation budget.

3. Look for airfare sales. Because of New Zealand's remote location, airfare is a pricey proposition for most international visitors. To help trim costs, keep an eagle eye out for fare sales on major carriers like Air New Zealand and Qantas. Both airlines offer sales and discounts by e-mail; you can also sign up for fare alerts from your favorite booking site or airfare aggregator (such as Expedia.com, TripAdvisor.com/Flights or Kayak.com).

4. Get creative with fare combinations. For American travelers, most sales on Air New Zealand and Qantas are for departures from Los Angeles or San Francisco. If you don't live near one of these airports, consider booking a cheap fare aboard a discount airline like Southwest, JetBlue or Virgin America to get you to and from California. The cost of that flight plus an LAX-Auckland sale ticket on Air New Zealand could be cheaper than booking the whole itinerary through a single airline.

5. Keep an eye on exchange rates. Along with fuel prices, currency fluctuations can have a noticeable effect on the cost of your airfare. I took advantage of this myself on a recent trip; I made my booking at a time when the U.S. dollar was strengthening against the Kiwi dollar, which resulted in lower fares from Air New Zealand.

Money management

6. Put it on plastic. Forget the old "cash is king" rule. The vast majority of hotels, restaurants, tour operators and shops in New Zealand accept credit cards. If you've got a card through a bank that doesn't charge you for foreign transactions, you can pay for nearly your entire trip without shelling out for ATM withdrawal charges or currency exchange fees. To learn more about no-fee credit cards, see The best way to carry money overseas.

7. Skip the exchange counter. To get cash, use your ATM card to make withdrawals rather than changing your own currency at an exchange counter; by doing so, you'll get the interbank exchange rate, which is usually 2 to 5 percent better than the rates you'll find at the counter. Note that you'll probably have to pay a fee to make a withdrawal (charged by your own bank, the local bank or both), so we recommend taking out a sizable amount of cash each time to minimize extra fees. Just be sure to stow the cash in a safe place under your clothes. For more information, see ATMs abroad and Money safety tips for travelers.

8. Don't tip. Tipping is not customary in New Zealand, so you don't need to leave anything extra for your waiter, tour guide or bellhop unless the service was truly exemplary. Even then, 5 to 10 percent is plenty.

Attractions and activities

9. Pick your poison. You could easily blow hundreds of dollars a day on tours, excursions and entrance fees, particularly if your New Zealand bucket list includes pricey once-in-a-lifetime activities like bungy jumping or helicopter flightseeing. If your budget hurts just thinking about it, we advise you to research, research, research. Read reviews from other travelers to decide which activities are absolutely worth the price and which ones you can live without.

10. Find some freebies. In between all of New Zealand's $150 dolphin encounters and $300 flightseeing excursions are plenty of free attractions to enjoy. It costs nothing to hike in most national parks, lie on a North Island beach, wander along the Rotorua Lakefront or stroll through botanical gardens in Queenstown. The Auckland Art Gallery is free to enter, as is Wellington's magnificent Te Papa museum.

11. Visit an I-SITE. Practically every city, town and village has one of these friendly tourist offices, which are staffed with local experts that can answer questions, hunt for accommodations and book tours. They're often a good source of discounts too. When we asked an Auckland I-SITE staffer for details about going to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World, she told us that we'd save 10 percent by purchasing advance tickets -- and she booked them for us then and there.

12. Get a repeat discount. Some tour operators will knock a few bucks off the sticker price for travelers who book multiple tours with them. For example, Real Journeys, which offers a variety of cruises and adventure activities in the Queenstown/Fiordland region, will take 20 percent off the cost of the lower-priced tour if you book more than one.

13. Consider a city pass. Both Auckland and Wellington offer discount passes that will get you into multiple city attractions for a set price that's cheaper than the cost of individual admission. The catch is, of course, that you'll have to visit most or all of the attractions to see any savings. If the pass dovetails with your sightseeing plans, it could be a great deal.

14. Zig when others zag. You can often save big by traveling when others aren't. For example, one of New Zealand's most popular activities is a scenic cruise on Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord). Thanks to an influx of day-trippers from Queenstown, lunchtime sailings are the most crowded -- and most expensive. Aim for the first or last cruise of the day to enjoy discounted rates.

15. Be a deal hound. Do a little sniffing and you're sure to find ways to trim your trip costs. Start with local tourism sites, which usually have "deals" or "specials" sections. As I researched this article, I unearthed a "3 for 2" promotion on Wellington's visitor Web site, good at stores, galleries and restaurants around the city. And on Rotorua's tourism site, there are currently more than 100 deals in a variety of categories such as "Culture" and "Pamper Me." Another great way to save? Search for coupon codes. I saved 10 percent off a booking on the Interislander Ferry (which runs between the North and South Island) just by using a promo code I found on the Web.

Transportation

16. Take the bus. Car rentals are pricey in New Zealand, as is fuel; even the cheapest rentals start around $45 NZ a day (about $36 US). Avoid these costs by taking New Zealand's local buses, which offer inexpensive rides from as little as $1 NZ to a network of destinations around the country. InterCity and Nakedbus (no nudity is involved, we promise!) are two of the more popular services.

17. Look to the locals. While New Zealand is served by most of the big-name international car rental companies (think Thrifty, Hertz and the like), you'll often find better rates by booking with a smaller local company. A few to consider: Ace, Apex, GO and and Jucy.

18. Consider a clunker. Not too picky about your wheels? Many car rental companies offer older vehicles at bargain rates. For example, Jucy's "El Cheapo" cars have clocked 200,000+ kilometers (more than 124,000 miles).

19. Buy a used vehicle. For long-term travelers who will be in the country for a few months, it may be cheaper to purchase a used car or campervan than to pay for a rental. As a bonus, you can sell the vehicle again at the end of your trip and potentially recoup most of your costs; some dealers will offer a buy-back guarantee.

Meals

20. Go to the grocery store. Make like the locals and get most of your food from grocery stores rather than restaurants. Grab some bread, hummus, yogurt and fruit for a quick picnic lunch. Better yet, use the kitchen in your hostel, rental cottage or campervan to cook meals for yourself each night.

21. Get happy. Alcohol can be pricey in New Zealand, but many bars and pubs frequented by young backpackers offer happy hours with bargain-priced drinks.

22. Drink from the tap. Tap water is potable throughout New Zealand, so you don't need to waste money on bottled water, especially in restaurants. Bring a reusable bottle and refill it from the faucet before you head out each morning. (Do take normal precautions when drinking from streams out in the wild, though. (See Drinking water safety for more info.)

Accommodations

23. Brave the backpackers. New Zealand has a wide network of extremely affordable hostels (typically called "backpackers"). Don't want to bunk with five or six other people? Not to worry. Most hostels have at least a few basic private rooms on offer, often with ensuite bathrooms. In addition to affordable rates, they usually have kitchens available for travelers' use, so you can further trim your budget by cooking a few meals for yourself.

24. Be a happy camper. Caravanning and camping are very popular in New Zealand. There are official Department of Conservation campsites as well as privately owned holiday parks, most quite affordable, but "free camping" is also legal pretty much anywhere, as long as there's no sign indicating otherwise. A word of caution: Free campers have gotten a bad rap with the locals -- not to mention some hefty fines -- for leaving litter behind. Be sure to keep New Zealand's countryside as pristine as you found it.

25. Stay on a farm. You can stay for free on an organic farm in New Zealand if you're willing to get your hands dirty. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) organizes volunteer opportunities on farms around the world; see wwoof.co.nz for New Zealand listings. If you'd rather not work on your vacation, you can still often find affordable farmstays and homestays at RuralHolidays.co.nz. For more alternative lodging ideas, see Ditch the hotel: 10 cheaper ways to stay. 

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Once you have finally dropped your bags at your destination, the next 24 hours of any trip can be both thrilling and completely disorienting. Having a plan for getting things done and getting your trip truly underway upon arrival can set the tone for an entire vacation. Here are 10 tips for dispatching potential snags in the first 24 hours of your trip.

1. On the way in, plan your exit.
The best time to figure out the fastest and easiest way out of town is on your way in; waiting until you are trying to make a plane to do so can cause a lot of stress and lost time. After you get off a plane, for example, scope out the airport layout and amenities. Note how far it is from the car rental counter to the terminal as well as a good place to buy gas to fill up your tank before returning your vehicle. Look for street names and exit numbers to thread your way back to the rental counter or terminals. When you check in at your hotel, ask about check-out times and see if you can leave without stopping at the front desk.

2. Grab some nourishment.
One of the first things most travelers will need to do upon arriving in a new place is eat, and many end up grabbing whatever is available, whether it's room service or fast food. But with Yelp, Urbanspoon, TripAdvisor, and many other listing sites and apps out there, you can get ahead of this one very easily.

Reader Tre Horoszewski offers a tip: "Do a little research ahead of time to find a decent, nearby restaurant for your first meal upon arrival. You're often tired and hungry, so aren't ready to go to that one really great place you want to try on your trip. But neither do you want to spend time looking for someplace and wind up settling for junk precisely because you're tired and hungry and just want food."

Of course, in some cases fast food will do the job just fine. 

3. Reset your clock.
If you changed time zones while traveling, you will want to assume the daily rhythms of the new zone immediately, right down to the type of foods you eat. If it is morning, go have tea or coffee and breakfast foods (pancakes, pastries, etc.); if it is evening, have a proper dinner; if it is nighttime, maybe a cocktail and a snack. Don't succumb to the urge to stay on your old schedule, especially for your most ingrained habits — which brings us to...

4. Get outside.
When you visit a new place, the light is different, the air is different and your entire sense of the world can be different. After spending hours in parking lots, airports, planes, shuttle buses and rental car garages, put down all your stuff and get out the door.

Ceci Flinn, an American working toward a Ph.D. at Oxford in the U.K., offers the following: "Take a walk, familiarize yourself with the surroundings and get fresh air/exercise. Okay, there are places like parts of L.A. where this doesn't work so well, and ya gotta take a bus or drive, and then walk!"

Do this again the morning after you arrive; getting yourself out into the sunlight alerts your brain and body to what time of day it is, and lets them know that you're done sitting on planes and ready to have some fun! (See More Tips for Fighting Jet Lag.) 

5. Have a plan to deal with your caffeine addiction.
Face it, a very large percentage of Americans have a caffeine addiction of some type; getting this under control and on track as quickly as possible is going to be critical in adjusting your biological clock to match your new surroundings. If you mess it up in the early going, it can take days to correct, and even exact a toll on your overall enjoyment of your trip.

Anyone with a coffee habit of any merit knows the consequences of having a strong cup of coffee at the wrong time of day. If it's 7 a.m. in your home town but late in the day at your new destination, you know that giving your body the java fix it's demanding will wreak havoc on your sleep that night and your energy the next day. But you also know you can't go completely without.

I have found that substituting a sugarless cola often does the trick; with less than 50 milligrams of caffeine in most colas, it is enough to push back headaches and cravings, but not so much to ruin your sleep.

Then when you get up the next day, get out of your room into the morning sunlight and hit the caffeine hard; I have found that this combination can reset your internal clock almost in an instant. You may have a different approach — and an evening cup of coffee may have little effect on some people — but you want to put a strategy into play before you find yourself lying awake in the dark on a midnight caffeine jag.

A simpler version: Wait until your first morning to drink your first strong cup of coffee.

6. Take pictures.
A pro photographer I know always dedicates the first few hours of a trip to taking a lot of photos; he noticed some time ago that his eye was always "freshest" when he first arrived in a new place, and he would notice things in the first few hours that he might ignore after a few days. Flynn says simply, "Take a camera; you never know when you will see something magical."

7. Charge your electronics.
When you arrive in your room, the first thing you want to do is whip out all your electronic devices, make sure you can plug them in if you are traveling internationally and put a full charge on them. If you need adapters, you will want to deal with this early in your trip; having your laptop or camera bail out on you right after you arrive can make the normal hassles of traveling overwhelm the first promising hours of your trip.

8. Secure your valuables.
The place you stow your most valuable items during a flight (in your carry-on, in your coat pocket) may not be the safest place for the duration of your trip. If you are traveling with any especially valuable items, secure them straight away upon arrival, whether in the safe in your room, or buried deep in your socks, or however you prefer to do so.

9. Let someone know you arrived, and where you are.
Especially if you are traveling alone, but even if not, it's a good idea to let someone close to you know that you arrived safely, and tell him or her how to get in touch with you if needed (hotel phone and room number, your preferred traveling e-mail address, a local cell phone if you purchase one, etc.).

10. Check the weather.
It seems almost too simple, but countless travelers get ambushed by bad weather, and a thoughtful weather check can really assist your overall planning. Check the long-term forecast for your stay, which will help you decide when to schedule outdoor vs. indoor activities, whether you will need to pick up gear that you didn't pack, and how to cope with any truly plan-wrecking weather events.

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When lining up for security, look to see which security agent is working the fastest, not how long a line is.

Travel tips are at the heart of what IndependentTraveler.com does, and you will find a wealth of valuable advice all over the site that can benefit novice travelers and experts alike. But some tips are only discovered through putting in heaps of miles; thus, I dug into the very bottom of my deepest bag of tricks, and also asked some veteran travelers for their best advice, to come up with these tips for hardcore travelers.

Whether you're already an expert traveler or you just want to travel like one, these 10 tips will help you along the way.

1. Back up important documents in electronic form.

New Jersey lawyer and frequent traveler Karl Piirimae offered the following advice for backing up any documents that would be catastrophic to lose, such as your passport, travel insurance policy, itinerary confirmations, scans of your credit cards and more: "Important documents should always be on a flash drive on your person; for overseas travel include a PDF copy of the face page of your passport."

If you want to use a more remote approach, you could put backups on a service like Dropbox; or for even more security, use InfoSafe.com, which employs encrypted and password-protected security methods to protect your information while allowing access from any Internet-connected computer.

Tip 1b: when I write down any sensitive information, I break it up and insert unexpected characters to make it hard to decipher what it might be. So for a (fictional) credit card number 4110 1421 3134 5345, the note might look like this:

password 1: 411014

Area code: 213

Login: 1345

Address: 345

2. Collect and store all street addresses ahead of time.

Before you travel, send yourself a single e-mail that contains all the local addresses you will visit on your trip (hotels, offices, attractions, museums, etc.), then make sure to save it on your phone (that is, make sure you check your mail on your phone before your regular e-mail application pulls it off the server).

Then, as you tick off your various destinations, you can check back on the same e-mail, and click on the addresses to launch a mapping application.

Say you do this at the airport on public Wi-Fi, but are shortly going to be without Internet access, such as in a rental car. If you switch to "List View," you will be able to read turn-by-turn instructions, even if your phone is not tracking your location in real time. I've done it -- it works great.

This tip assumes you have a smartphone, but could also be applied to your laptop or tablet, or to any publicly accessible Internet connection, such as Internet cafes, library computers, etc.

3. Log your parking spot electronically.

It's not a great feeling to get jostled on an airport parking shuttle bus as it slumps around an immense parking lot, and have no recollection at all of where you parked. By the time you walk away from your car at the airport, your mind has already moved on to other logistical concerns, and your vow to remember the location can be very quickly deserted.

Instead of relying on your memory to come through after a long trip, take a photo of the parking lot section sign with your phone or digital camera. Then forget about it until you get back, when you can check your phone or camera for the picture of the parking lot sign closest to your car. You can also record the info in a voicemail to yourself; anything but leaving it to memory and chance.

4. Check multiple airline seating chart Web sites.

Ceci Flinn, an American based in London who travels frequently for business and pleasure, says simply, "SeatGuru.com rocks!" However, it is important to note that recently, airlines have been changing their seat configuration and numbering systems quite a bit, particularly in the aftermath of multiple mergers, in a move toward more consistent row and seat numbering systems. This has presented a challenge to all of the airline seat chart Web sites. On three flights I took this winter so far, SeatGuru was unable to offer reliable seat reviews. As this shakes out, I recommend that you check more than one seat review site in hopes of finding the most current information, or at least to get a second opinion. Others include SeatMaestro.com or SeatExpert.com.

Andrew Wong at SeatGuru parent site TripAdvisor wrote the following this week in response to an inquiry about this issue: "You are correct, there have been lots of changes on both the [Continental] and [United Airlines] front. We are trying our best to keep up with the changes and generally we are. Where there is some confusion is when a user is thinking they are flying on one aircraft and then it's operated by another aircraft (CO for UA or vice versa). On our map search tool, we use OAG (airline) data to show which aircraft type is scheduled to operate a particular flight. We then land a user to the appropriate map based on this data. This might change from time to time which adds to the complexity."

5. Count front to back, do the alphabet right to left, on ALL planes.

Despite changing seat maps, some things you can, well, count on. Traveler Tre Horoszewski offers the following simple tip: "Realize that there is a system to seat numbering on ALL planes regardless of airline. This saves time in finding and taking your seat. Higher numbers in back, letters run from right to left as you face the back of the plane. I can't recall the number of people who don't seem to know/understand this and hold up boarding."

Yes, the seats are right to left -- when facing the back of the plane, A is the window seat on your right.

6. Get water on the other side of security.

Everyone seems to know that air travel dehydrates folks considerably, but you would never know it from how little water is provided by current in-cabin service routines; often you'll get only 8 to 10 ounces of water all told even on a long flight, unless you are chewing your ice.

Of course, you can't bring water with you from home, because security checks allow even less liquid: three ounces (or 3.4 ounces, to be more precise). You will have to stave off dehydration yourself, which is why I recommend buying a big bottle of water immediately after you pass through security.

Shelli Gonshorowski, a producer at Peter Greenberg Worldwide, has an interesting solution: "I am always dehydrated, and hate the water on airplanes. Since traditional bottles can be cumbersome, I fly with the collapsible bottle 'flasks' -- they fill up to 16 ounces, and when finished are thin as paper."

7. Similarly, buy your own food -- or order ahead.

Another recent development onboard is the frequent need to feed yourself, even when airlines offer meals for purchase. To decrease waste (and I believe also to decrease craft weight), airlines are understocking on food, and seem always to run out of the best menu items halfway down the aisle at mealtime.

The simplest approach would be to eat before your flight, or bring your own food. A more hardcore approach is to order a special meal when you book your flight -- it could be vegetarian, or kosher, or anything that gets your meal off the main food cart coming down the aisle. Two things happen when you do this; first, your meal is served first, before the full cabin service starts, and second, the food tends to be more fresh. I traveled with a friend more than 25 years ago who always requested kosher dishes, as he knew he would get fresh, hot meals, and it still works often enough.

8. Bring your E-ZPass tag with you.

Whatever electronic toll collection system you use at home might also be valid on the toll roads in the place you're visiting, so check ahead. When I got my own E-ZPass tag, the instructions said I should glue it to my windshield. I chose not to do this, and now throw it in my carry-on whenever I am traveling to an area that accepts it; then I just put it on the dash of my rental car for the duration of the trip.

9. Do a double pass when you pack.

IndependentTraveler.com Editor Sarah Schlichter has a foolproof packing process, useful both coming and going: "For me, packing is a two-step process: gathering everything I need, and then putting it all into my suitcase. So I use my packing list accordingly. Each item gets a check mark once I've laid it out on my bed or dresser, and then I strike through it once it goes into my bag -- which helps me make sure that everything I intend to take actually comes with me! The very last thing I pack is my packing list. I use it to double-check that I'm not leaving anything behind in my hotel room before I come home. (On the rare occasions when I check a bag, the packing list also serves as an inventory of everything I've brought, just in case the airlines lose my suitcase.)"

10. Don't check security line lengths; check how fast the security agent is working.

Any hardcore traveler (heck, any grocery shopper) has bolted for the shortest line only to have it take the longest time. Gillian Williams, President of the Rensselaerville Institute -- School Turnaround, offers the following tip for getting through security faster: "When needing to bolt through security, look at the screener at the machine to determine shortest line time -- not the people in the line (well, except babies and wheelchairs)."

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Based on the lavish menu of items that Pam Tobey and Rick Durham dined on during a recent independent trip to Reykjavik, Iceland, you'd think a hearty chunk of their budget was spent on food. Think lamb pate, cod in mustard sauce, salmon with brown bread, and skyr (the national cheese).

You might be surprised to hear, then, that during their five-day jaunt through one of Europe's most expensive cities, they only ate in a restaurant once. Otherwise, they bought ingredients from little stores and cobbled together their own meals.

"Half the fun of our overseas travel is exploring local market and groceries," says Tobey, a graphic designer in Washington D.C. Not to mention that frequenting local markets is the number-one way to save money on food while traveling.

If you're willing to map out an eating plan that includes buying provisions at grocery stores and following some of our other tips, you can save a good chunk of change on your travels, and still eat well.

Navigating grocery stores
It's simple, really: Shopping for foodstuffs at supermarkets, small groceries, farmers' markets, even drug stores with pantry aisles will save you loads of money on food. Fresh bread, a few slices of meat or cheese and a piece of fruit make for a wholly satisfactory meal and will set you back just a few dollars.

If you are planning to make this style of eating a part of your next trip, some simple advance planning will make the experience easier on your budget.

Bring or obtain simple utensils. It's generally easy enough to find paper plates and plastic forks, spoons and knives when you're traveling — or you can bring your own set of reusable utensils from home.

Don't buy items that require a special tool to open. If you didn't bring a corkscrew on your trip, get wine with twist-off caps. Canned items without flip-top lids will go uneaten unless you pack a can opener.

Tote along a small cache of quart- and gallon-size zip-top bags for securing leftovers and preventing leaks. A collapsible insulated cooler bag is helpful too.

Order small quantities of pay-by-weight items from counters, and only order what you realistically will eat. This is a great way to sample a variety of local foods.

Pop into markets and small bakeries in the late afternoon. Some sell baked goods at half price in an effort to recoup expenses before throwing items out. A few rolls safely secured in a zip-top bag and voila! You've got breakfast the next day.

Putting restaurant meals to work for you
Restaurant meals are generally unavoidable when you're on the road. And let's face it: Trying out new spots can be part of the fun of traveling.

If you're staying at a hotel, avoid asking concierges for recommendations of places to eat. They tend to have a set list of pricey or touristy spots near the hotel that they suggest. Instead, ask bartenders or baristas where they personally like to eat, or consult travel guidebooks and their companion Web sites for lists of the best cheap eats in a city. The "Rough Guides" and "Let's Go" series of guidebooks are two good choices.

Read local food blogs before you go on an overseas trip. Chole Current, an American living in Istanbul, where she works as a university professor, says that "expats living in the area know where to go to get the best food at the best prices." Her go-to source is a local blog called IstanbulEats.com.

Americans tend to devour their largest meals of the day at dinner, when menus usually are most expensive. Make lunch your biggest meal instead — most people in other countries do anyway, so you'll fit in better with the locals.

If you're traveling on your own, eat light and just order an appetizer as your meal. A couple can split an entree, perhaps ordering a salad or an additional side dish to complement it. Alternately, order from the fixed-priced or tourist menu, if one is available. Those traveling with children should seek out restaurants with "kids eat free" promotions (note that these are more prominent in the United States than overseas).

Be a restaurant bargain hunter
The benefit of traveling during a difficult economy is that many restaurants have been offering coupons and discounts that they promote in a variety of outlets. Some of the best places to look for restaurant special offers include:

• The official tourism Web site of your destination before you go on a trip. Many post coupons or other discounts.
• E-mail offers from such promotional sites as LivingSocial.com, Groupon.com and Scoutmob.com.
• Pay-in-advance offers from sites like Restaurant.com. You can regularly find $25 restaurant gift cards for only $10 on Restaurant.com — and if you sign up for its e-mail newsletters, you'll get special promo codes and offers for even better discounts.
• The Entertainment Book, a thick, annually published compilation of coupons for restaurants, hotels, rental cars and attractions. It costs just $25 and often pays for itself after just a meal or two (and can help you save some bucks on other aspects of your travels too). Bonus: The books tend to be priced at half off in the summer. See Entertainment.com.
• Membership organizations like AAA and AARP. These organizations often offer discounts at popular chain restaurants.

Hotel rooms: The best tool in your arsenal
For budget travelers, a hotel room could be Command Central for the preparation of the majority of your meals.

Choose hotels that offer full or half-kitchens ensuite (and make sure they're stocked with basic dishes and utensils). This is especially helpful if you have children, who generally eat simply anyway and have low tolerance for sitting in restaurants for long spans of time. Backpackers, meanwhile, benefit from hostels, which often have communal kitchens.

Don't have access to anything more than a mini-fridge and a coffee maker? No problem. Cold cereal with milk or instant oatmeal with water warmed through the coffee maker are great for breakfast. Sandwiches, cups of soup and ramen noodles for lunch are easy to prepare.

Speaking of mini-fridges, here's something important to know: When you check in at your hotel, ask the staff to clear out the minibar for you. Some of the latest fridge models can automatically track when items are removed and will tack ridiculously marked-up charges to your bill, even if you just temporarily remove some items to make room for your own stuff ($4 for a mini-can of Pringles, anyone?).

Even if you don't have a mini-fridge, you can still get by with some basic non-refrigerated staples — like peanut butter, jelly and bread. If you're traveling to a spot where a grocery store isn't convenient, bring the items with you. If you can't do that (because of airline restrictions, for instance), ship them to your hotel in advance, or use a grocery delivery service.

If you don't wish to prepare your own food in a hotel room, at least choose a property that offers free breakfast. And don't be shy — gorge away! Tuck an apple or muffin into your daypack for a snack. We've never heard of a hotel objecting to that. (Have you?)

Abra Benson Perrie of Gainesville, Va., says she always asks for a hotel room upgrade to the concierge level, where continental breakfast and afternoon snacks are included. "I did this in both Bermuda and Bali, and it worked out great," she says. "I only really needed to buy lunch." Even if she can't get the upgrade for free, sometimes the cost differential is still less than she and her husband would pay for two meals a day.

Hitting the streets
Some of the best budget food in the world comes from street vendors. It is hearty and cheap, and permits you to sample many local delicacies without shelling out too much money.

It's also can be some of the riskiest food you eat while traveling. There's no better way to ruin a trip — and potentially run up your travel expenses with medical bills — than coming down with a case of food poisoning.

So what's an intrepid diner to do? When trying street food, "Be sure your dish is served hot, and take a look at the cart or kiosk before ordering," advises Sarah Schlichter in How to Avoid Getting Sick While Traveling. "Does it look clean and well kept? Is it busy?" The fewer the customers, the longer the food may sit before being served.

To drink or not to drink?
Who gets the munchies when they drink? Who loses the ability to think budget-mindedly after throwing a few back? Who's surprised by the food and drink tab the next day when reviewing receipts stuffed into jeans pockets?

Guilty.

Killjoy alert: The best way to keep on budget is to avoid alcoholic beverages altogether. However, if you do plan to throw a few back, seek out happy hours, order the house wine during dinner or buy your booze where the locals do (and have your drinks in your room before you go out).

Some bars also offer free food during happy hour. In places like Spain, tapas are served whenever you order a drink. Drink enough, and your belly's full.

So what should you imbibe if you're on a very limited food and drink budget? To maximize your savings, only drink tap water, if it's safe to drink (if not, consider bringing a reusable bottle with built-in filter). Bring powdered drink mixes from home if the idea of only drinking plain water is a bore.

If you must consume bottled water, purchase it at a grocery store rather than from restaurants or street vendors, as it will be less expensive.

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Eric Ryan / Getty Images Contributor

Fame can touch just about anything, including food. To see a leftover crumb from Pete Doherty, head to the Old Boatstore.

It doesn't exactly have the "ooh" factor of a Lucille Ball caricature hanging on Sardi's wall. It does, however, inch toward the "eww" factor of, say, a faded 34C underwire tacked up on the ceiling of a dive bar. What is it? Just a wee crumb of a toastie eaten by the Libertines co-frontman Pete Doherty.

That's right. There's a museum where you can view the dried-out crust of a British pop star's cheese, tomato and pesto panini that he ate at a cafe in a Cornish seaside village. Owners Michael and Francesca Bennett wanted to commemorate the visit of celebrities to their seafront cafe, the Old Boatstore. When photographer David Bailey visited, the couple told the BBC, they were so excited they decided to keep a bit of the sandwich he'd consumed. The Museum of Celebrity Leftovers grew from there.

Now, when you visit Kingsand in the U.K., you can view about 20 "artifacts" sealed under tiny glass domes and kept on a bright blue shelf hanging on the cafe wall -- the museum's entire collection. Ogle actress Mia Wasikowska's wedge of zucchini. Examine the end of comedian Hugh Dennis' ice cream cone. Ruminate over retired BBC weatherman Craig Rich's pasty crust.

No preservatives have been added to the remains, and Michael Bennett assured the BBC that none of the exhibits seem to be getting moldy, just dried and shriveled.

The Bennetts have owned the cafe for nine years and serve mainly vegetarian fare with locally sourced seafood when available. So don't expect to see a bite of Prince Harry's burger anytime soon. However, Charles and Camilla have paid a visit. The Museum of Celebrity Leftovers has a tiny silver crown adorning the glass dome protecting Charles' relic: a teensy crust of bread pudding.

It's unlikely that the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall came just to see the odd exhibit, as the display of food waste is more kitschy than captivating. It may, however, have some competition for the world's most underwhelming excuse for a museum. Consider the Asphalt Museum with its chunks of tar at Sacramento State College in California. Or the Barbed Wire Museum in LaCrosse, Kan. And you might just get "sucked in" -- their pun -- at the Vacuum Museum along Route 66 in Missouri. (For more, see our list of the world's weirdest museums.)

No reason to cross the Hermitage or Smithsonian off your must-see list just yet. En route between the two, you might want to stop in the Old Boatstore for a bite to eat. Who knows who may be seated next to you.

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Courtesy of the Roxbury

Fond of the '60s television classic "Gilligan's Island"? Well, at the Roxbury in New York's Catskills region, you can stay in Mary Ann's Coconut Cream Pie room and not feel stranded.

"Did you notice the crust?" This is not a question one wants to hear when talking hotel rooms. But it's posed with utter giddiness when one is in room number 27 at the Roxbury in New York's Catskills region; for this is "Mary Ann's Coconut Cream Pie" room, a flamboyant space with a faux-meringue ceiling, a round bed and a hint of coconut in the air.

It's the newest addition at the Roxbury, where room designs riff on movies and TV -- Jeannie's bottle, Charlie's Angels, Maria's curtains from "The Sound of Music." You can book a "Breakfast at Tiffany's"-inspired blue jewel box of a room, or stay in the grander Wizard's Jewels room, with its yellow glass floor tiles, mural of poppies and ruby-slippered feet sticking out from under the bed pillows.

It sounds zanier than it is. The Roxbury is big on style and comfort; it is not a hyperactive theme-park experience. From the nice toiletries to the bowl of wasabi peanuts at reception, the owners' loving attention to detail is palpable. The proprietors are a pair of New York City refugees who took a gamble on a downtrodden roadside motel, transforming a den of disrepair into a cozy place to rest your inner Fred Flintstone.

It may seem like a radical juxtaposition -- a place that unabashedly embraces lime green and meringue ceilings amid placid Roxbury, population 2,500. Yet the motel sits harmoniously here, beside a trout stream with a barn in spitting distance. In the stairwell, one of the first things I notice is the huge chandelier made of what looks like a thousand neon orange drinking straws. It does not seem wrong.

The charm is in the details: chocolates, fresh flowers. Munch fancy soy crisps in the glittery spa ($20 per person for unlimited visits during your stay), or pepperoni Hot Pockets ($1 from the office). Copies of the American Film Institute's Top 100 movies are available in the free-to-borrow DVD collection, as well as vintage "The Addams Family" episodes. What's your rainy-day game: chess, or Operation?

Over breakfast on the sun porch, the various weekend leaf-peepers and hikers compare notes and offer suggestions for future room themes (one 9-year-old's contribution: Sponge Bob). If you're lucky, you meet the people in room 27, the friendly couple from New Jersey who invite you to come check out the digs. You go. You notice the crust. Delicious.

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Denis and Yulia Pogostins

Get rid of stale breath and gain some fiber, all in one package.

You've been on a plane for nine hours. The inside of your mouth tastes like some combination of morning breath (thanks to that three-hour nap you just woke up from) and the remnants of your delightful reheated airline dinner. You're afraid to open your mouth, lest your breath knock your seatmate unconscious.

While a mint might temporarily help the cause, contributing editor Dan Askin recommends a couple of more powerful mouth-cleaning products:

"Colgate Wisps are disposable mini-toothbrushes that provide a quick and easy mouth-freshening option when you can't brush your teeth for real. The brush head has a freshening bead that releases a mouth cleaning liquid when you scrub, and a pick on the opposite end provides a floss option. It requires no water to use, and the ingredients are safe to swallow (except for the brush itself, of course!).

"Another product of choice is Listerine PocketMist, introduced to me as part of a hotel's complimentary in-room toiletries. This is Binaca for the modern age -- in a smaller key-chain-sized container and with a more potent punch. You can literally feel the bacteria being singed away."

Askin also suggests fruit to cleanse the palate, including Granny Smith apples, lemons and limes. And, of course, there's always the old standby: mint gum, which pulls double duty for air travelers by freshening breath and easing pressure on the ears during takeoff and landing.

For more advice, including tips on keeping your face, hands and clothing clean while traveling, see Travel hygiene tips: Staying fresh on the road. 

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At holiday time, there is usually no shortage of travel experts telling you what to do to keep travel hassles to a minimum, offering long lists of things you need to do before your trip to avert disaster. But in truth, skills of avoidance can be much more valuable; there are a few things that, if avoided, will help you beat the more common pitfalls of the season.

So instead of making a list of what you need to do this year, here are six suggestions on what not to do that might make the planning and execution of your holiday trip much simpler.

1. Don't go on bad dates.
As I have noted a few times over the years, holiday travel is much more difficult when Christmas and New Year's fall on a weekend. When the holidays fall mid-week, travelers spread their travel over a broader range of days — in these cases, many folks take long weekends before or after the holiday, and the highest volume gets spread over 8-10 days or more. Also, folks making quick trips for just the holiday proper don't overlap as much as people trying to get back to work, and airports are less congested overall.

This year, we have almost a worst-case scenario, as both holidays fall on a Sunday. This will result in a lot of people ending work late the week before, and rushing back to work early the week after, all at the same time. In particular, the Sunday and Monday after New Year's Eve could be really harrowing, as many workplaces will be at full tilt by Tuesday, and everyone is going to be humping it home at the same time. There is nothing quite like a harrowing trip home to dull the positive effects of a holiday vacation.

If you can extend your vacation time into that following week, perhaps coming home on either the third or even fourth of January, you will have a much better go of things on your return trip.

For your convenience, here are this year's peak travel dates:

• December 22
• December 23
• December 26
• January 1
• January 2

2. Don't go crazy with carry-on baggage.
Since the day the term "overhead bin" was coined, holiday travelers have tried to bring as much stuff as possible into airplane cabins — and things have only gotten worse since the airlines instituted almost punitive checked baggage fees. And you can't blame folks, as the $25-$50 fees just to check a bag add up quickly on a roundtrip flight, especially for a family.

At this time of year, however, with more people in the air, and more stuff under their arms thanks to all the holiday gift-giving, you're more likely than ever to be penalized for oversized bags or forced to gate check your carry-on.

This isn't to say things are going to be fair; they're not. Some people will get on the plane with half their earthly belongings, and some will be told they need to gate check their extra Pillow Pet.

3. Don't travel too hung over, and definitely not drunk.
Every January, I hear at least one story of a passenger who woke up face down in the aisle, or who passed out and needed to be crowbarred out of an aircraft loo, or who merely left most of the contents of his insides on the plane one way or another. A formidable hangover is already miserable enough; you don't need to live through it on an airplane, where privacy, comfort, fresh air, and easy and quick access to a place to be alone with your hangover are basically non-existent.

Think about it — you're in a middle seat, badly hung over, and the seatbelt sign is on, the plane is pitching around, the person in the aisle seat has eyeshades and headphones on, and the bathroom is occupied, likely with other hung-over people who are not coming out any time soon. Then the plane lands, and there is a wait for a gate, and the air-conditioning is turned off. You have a real problem, and it's not going away until you get fully up the gangway. That can be a long, lonely and miserable experience — if you can remember it.

As for flying when significantly drunk, tolerance for even slightly inebriated behavior in the air and at the airport has plummeted the past few years. Don't make the news by getting Tasered, injured in airport jail cells, denied boarding or escorted from the plane by police. Talk about a holiday from hell.

4. Don't trust airport parking lots to be empty or easy to navigate.
At peak travel times, airport parking lots can fill up quickly, and you will lose time driving around looking for the few open spots, or driving to alternate lots, or going back and forth trying to figure out where you can actually park without dropping a half-day's pay for the privilege. Additionally, staffing is usually down a bit for the holidays, so there seem to be fewer buses, fewer open pay lanes on the way out and fewer people to ask for directions to alternate parking.

And in the case of a winter storm during your travels, moving around the airport gets even more difficult, as snow removal vehicles dominate the traffic lanes, shuttle buses have to navigate around snow banks, parking spots disappear as they are filled by snow piles from plowing trucks, and your car is piled high with snow and ice that you have to clear and scrape off with your credit card, as you hadn't yet put an ice scraper in the car.

To keep yourself out of trouble, check airport Web sites (although not that many offer real-time parking information just yet), allow extra time and look into off-airport lots or even a sleep and fly option.

5. Don't wait too long to book.
There was a time that risking a last-minute holiday booking was a fair bet. With more planes in the air, there were more empty seats; before online bookings, some hotels would inevitably fail to sell out; and rental car companies had not downsized their fleets, so you could always get a car. Among my more travel-savvy friends, stories of last-minute trips booked at rock-bottom prices were common.

All that has changed now, and it is more common to hear about travelers who decided they just couldn't afford to take a trip than about folks who found a trip so cheap they couldn't afford not to take it.

6. Don't assume things will go to plan.
Traveling during the peak holiday season, particularly in regions where winter weather can be an issue, may be as unpredictable as anything you will do all year. And I don't mean only Detroit, Minneapolis or other northern cities; when a rare snowstorm hits southern cities like Atlanta or Houston, the situation is almost always worse, as they are neither really trained nor equipped to deal with it. (For help coping with snowy weather on the roads and at the airport, see Winter Travel Tips.)

Additionally, your fellow travelers are in larger groups, with more stuff and less experience than at any other time of the year, bar none. This is not to disparage those folks — getting a family of four through security during peak travel times with security agents barking semi-coherent orders is no cakewalk, even for experienced travelers, and they have as much right to use the air transit system as does any road warrior salesperson. I would even turn this one around; complaining about inexperienced travelers during the holidays is like complaining about French people when you take a vacation in France. If you don't want to travel with a lot of people around you, don't travel during the holidays.

For my part, I'll be traveling this holiday season, right there with the noobs putting wrapped presents on the security conveyor belt. See you then!

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Martin Bernetti / AFP/Getty Images

A giant Galapagos tortoise walks slowly along the Charles Darwin Station in Ayora Port in the Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador.

December's a month of family get-togethers, giving ... and giveaways. Lots of giveaways. Numerous companies are handing out festive freebies in celebration of the holiday season, and travel brands are no exception. In exchange for an e-mail address or a "like" on a Facebook page, lucky globetrotters can snap up free vacations, cool travel gear, gift cards and more from their favorite blogs and travel providers. Below are seven fantastic holiday contests and giveaways that are on right now. Good luck!

Win a trip for two to the Galapagos
The prize: Red Mangrove Lodges, which has properties in the Galapagos and Ecuador, is giving away a free trip for two to the Galapagos Islands. The prize includes four nights' accommodations at Red Mangrove Lodges, guided tours, local transportation and meals. The only part of the trip that's not included is your flight to the Galapagos.

How to enter: Sign up  for the Red Mangrove newsletter by Feb. 12 and you'll be automatically entered to win.

Win $500 in free hotel stays at Choice Hotels
The prize: Close your doors to visiting relatives and encourage out-of-towners to get a room at the nearest Choice Hotels property -- for free. But first, you have to get lucky. Enter the "Little White Holiday Lies" giveaway to win a $250 or $500 gift card valid for stays at Choice Hotels, which include Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Cambria Suites, EconoLodge and other chains, in addition to a VISA gift card of $250 or $1,000.

How to enter: "Like" Cambria Suites on Facebook  and you'll be automatically entered to win a $250 hotel gift card and a $150 VISA gift card. Take it a step further and share your "little white lie to avoid holiday houseguests" on the Cambria Suites Facebook page, and you could win a $500 hotel gift card and a $1,000 VISA gift card.

HostelBookers.com 24 Days of Christmas giveaway
The prize: HostelBookers.com is giving away a travel-related prize a day for 24 days in December. Each prize is revealed daily, so you'll have to come back to the site each day to see what you can win. Today's prize is an iPad2, and future prizes include InterRail tickets and an around-the-world flight.

How to enter: You must "Like" Hostelbookers.com on Facebook, and then answer a trivia question each day to get a shot at winning. New questions will be posted daily at 12 a.m. Mountain Time on the Hostelbookers.com Facebook page through Dec. 24.

Win a weekend getaway to Asheville, N.C.
The prize: The Asheville tourism board is giving away a whirlwind two-night vacation to its home town. The winner of this contest will receive accommodations at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, a $100 gift card, two passes to Biltmore, a brewery tour, a gift certificate to a local restaurant and more. Transportation to Asheville is not included.

How to enter: Watch a video of a dancing Santa, then share said video on Facebook. After you've helped the groovin' Claus go viral, you need to enter your contact information on the contest page.

AP

In "The Shining," Jack Nicholson portrays a caretaker at an isolated hotel -- a situation that would make one prefer rats and cockroaches.

If you're lucky, the worst problem you'll have at a hotel will be relatively minor: not enough pillows, weak water pressure in the shower, a less-than-impressive parking lot view.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. We asked our readers to write about their all-time worst hotel experiences, and they sent in spine-chilling tales of stays fraught with filth, unfriendly staff and unwanted furry friends. Read on to see the worst of the bunch.

The less bonny side of Scotland
"The Dunollie in Broadford, Isle of Skye, is a dirty, dilapidated misery of a hotel. Our room, #225, had a filthy brown stain in the toilet bowl, only one bedside lamp that worked and a musty smell in the bathroom. The dining room serving staff were surly, ill-mannered and rigid about opening times. It is completely unacceptable for a male staff member to scream, 'only soup or salad, not both!' to tour members at the buffet, especially since the food itself at the Dunollie was a tasteless mass of boiled bits of undistinguishable matter. Finally, in contravention of fire regulations, the front door was locked overnight and could not be opened from either the inside or outside."
-- Dylann

The definition of a roach motel
"Worst hotel stay: multiple large cockroaches on walls, floor and bed, plus tap-on-wall for shower in a non-tourist-class hotel in Bhutan. By tap-on-wall, I mean there was no shower or sink, just a faucet on the wall and a roach-filled drain on the floor. I did not sleep."
-- Anonymous on Twitter

Big problems in the Big Apple
"At the St. James Hotel in NYC: dirty room, filthy carpet, overlooking a shaft, ceiling in bathroom had recently been plastered and every time the heat came on, it wiggled the pipe in the bathroom and pieces of ceiling fell off. The blanket on the shelf in the closet was stuck together in its folded-up state. It would not pull apart! When asked about a hair dryer, we were told that somebody else had already checked it out for the night! One hair dryer in the entire hotel, apparently! We slept (lay awake, listening to the fighting in the hall and other rooms) on top of the sheets with our clothes and shoes on! No way was I getting undressed! We laugh about it now, but at the time I swore I'd never let my husband make reservations again. Even if a hotel doesn't meet our expectations now, we always remind ourselves -- 'It's not as bad as the St. James!!'"
-- Debbie B.T. on Facebook

We smell a rat
"Finding a rat curled up on my bed. Worse -- this was three days into the trip and they found out later that he had been living in that room, the one above and the one below for more than a few days!"
-- Michelle M. on Facebook

Bad blood
"Years ago my husband and I checked into probably the last motel room available in Paso Robles, Calif. It was very, very late and we were tired after a long day on the road. When we got to the room and turned on the light, the bed was sloppily made and it looked as if the sheets and pillowcases hadn't been changed. Inspecting the bathroom we discovered red spots on the wall, which looked like blood. The screen was off an open window. We thought about sleeping in our truck, but decided if we kept the lights off and didn't think about too much we could survive until daylight. The first sign of light and we were out of there!"
-- Kristen M. on Facebook

Siren song
"A hooker had the room above us and we could hear every sound!!!"
-- Gloria G.L.M on Facebook

To catch a thief
"The absolute worst happened in Dominica, when I woke up at 4 a.m. to see an intruder climbing out the window right next to my side of the bed. He had taken a ladder and broken into our second-floor room while we were sleeping. He must have been in the room for a little while because he had walked all the way around our bed and rooted through our clothes until he found SO's wallet. Beyond the annoyance of losing money and credit cards, it was a really scary, unsettling experience to have on the first night of a trip; we were jumpy for the rest of the vacation."
 -- soliteyah

Get me some ear plugs, stat!
"Laundry room next door, dryers/washers began at 6 a.m. AND staff watched loud TV all day, too. Argh."
-- Erin Kirkland, AKontheGO.com

Troubled waters
"The Water Club by Borgata! Checked out two days early and came back home. Horrible service, threats by staff, just awful! [The final threat] was that the bar manager was going to beat me up for not tipping on their poor service."
-- @CubbageReport

Adding insult to illness
"Being kept up all night by traveler's diarrhea, no AC and a loud family at a sketchy hotel on the south side of Brussels."
 -- @HowToGetAway

A series of unfortunate events
"When I checked in I noticed plaster had fallen from the ceiling onto the bed and the floor, so they moved me to a new room. One evening I came and and found my door wide open, no housekeepers around. My gold necklace and laptop computer were out in plain sight on the desk. A colleague saw a mouse in her room. The air-conditioning could not keep up with the heat so they turned off the air in public spaces like lobbies and hallways, which meant that the doors swelled from the humidity and had to be forced open. The final straw was when I picked up the third quarter of my club sandwich and found a dead cockroach on my plate. This was all in one week at one hotel in Virginia!"
-- Kristina D. on Facebook

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Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters

Savvy travelers know how much to tip to whom when abroad.

One of the most enduring travel conundrums is figuring out whom to tip and how much. Should you tell your Moroccan cabbie to keep the change, or tack an extra 10 percent onto your New Zealand restaurant bill? (The answers, in case you're keeping score at home: yes and no.)

If you're feeling clueless in a new country, it may seem only logical to ask whether a tip is appropriate. Resist the urge, writes Caroline Costello in Tips for tipping abroad: "A common mistake made by travelers is asking their service person if he or she requires a tip. Not only does this present a conflict of interest to a cash-strapped service person who doesn't normally take tips, but in countries where saying what you mean is not the social norm, a clueless traveler may end up stiffing a polite waiter or bellhop.

For example, in India, a service person whose income is mostly generated by tips may say that he or she requires no gratuity out of modesty and good manners. This doesn't mean you shouldn't tip if it's the acceptable practice in your destination!"

A good guidebook will always offer advice on how much to tip and under which circumstances; you can also find this sort of information on sites like the Magellan's Worldwide tipping guide. But if you've arrived in your destination unprepared, you can ask about tipping norms, as long as you don't ask your waiter. The staff at the local visitor center or your hotel front desk should be able to assist you.

For more help, see our guides to hotel tipping and Tipping etiquette.

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AP

A section called Broadway is one of the main passageways in Mammoth Cave, averaging 40 feet high and 60 feet wide for three miles.

Long shadows flickered before me as I walked through the dank, subterranean passages of Kentucky's Mammoth Cave. During my recent two-hour Historic Tour, I crouched and twisted my way through the cramped alleys of Fat Man's Misery, checked out a massive block of rock aptly dubbed Giant's Coffin, and faced the gaping maw known as the Bottomless Pit.

With more than 365 miles of discovered passageways, Mammoth Cave is the world's largest cave system, and geologists believe there could be hundreds of miles yet to discover. Compared with caves I'd visited previously, Mammoth felt a little different -- and not just because of its size. "It feels like walking through a big salt mine," said my travel companion after we'd hiked more than an hour without seeing a single stalactite or hearing the trickle of water seeping down the limestone walls.

But this is a good thing, our National Park Service guide told us, at least for the future longevity of the cave. Mammoth does have some water-carved formations such as stalagmites and stalactites, but much of the cave system is actually sheltered from water by a “roof” of sandstone, which keeps it dry and protected.

Mammoth may not have the exquisitely colored formations that draw visitors to other caves, but it does have a fascinating history. Back in the 1800′s, African-American slaves were among Mammoth's first tour guides and explorers. (Visit the the National Park's website to learn more.) I was particularly drawn to the story of Stephen Bishop, who began guiding visitors at age 17 and later was the first person to cross the Bottomless Pit and chart the previously undiscovered passageways beyond. After nearly two decades in the caves, Bishop was given his freedom -- but he died the following year.

After you emerge, squinting, from the cool darkness underground, don't forget to enjoy the other half of Mammoth's ecosystem. Visitors can soak up some sun and fresh air on a network of wooded hiking trails.

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