20 Tips

Best Values 2008 It's what every traveler wants: a hotel that delivers a quality experience without charging exorbitant rates—in other words, a great value. Here's our list of TripAdvisor's Top 100 Best Value hotels around the world, with quotes from travelers who have actually stayed in them.See the slide show Under the Alentejan Sun Friendly people, beautiful countryside, and delicious food and wine.... The Alentejo region of southern Portugal has everything that those famous areas in Europe have—except the crowds.Portugal menu decoder Have You Ever Been Chill? There's no better place to just hang loose than the perpetually mellow town of Cabarete, on the Dominican Republic's northeast coast.See the slide show Who Says D.C. Is Dull? A new slate of after-hours restaurants and bars is turning the nation's capital into a hip night spot, and keeping the locals out late. 'Til Travel Do Us Part Eight couples share ideas on how to make the most of traveling together—and avoid big fights on the road.Contest: Ever nearly break up while traveling? Driving Into the Blues The Civil War is a recent memory and blues legends loom large in the cotton fields and swamp towns of the lower Mississippi Delta.See the slide show 40 Best The Grand Canyon by train, the Moscow Circus, South Africa's Zulu villages, and more.

Tony Horwitz on Georgia Ann Patchett on Boston Isaac Mizrahi on his favorite flea markets Jessica Morrison on Buenos Aires Bich Minh Nguyen on North Carolina Andrea Levy on Jamaica Erik Larson on London Claire Messud on New York City Bill Buford on Tuscany Martha McPhee on Italy Sue Grafton's Secret Steak House Peter Carey on Malaysia

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Crack the codesWhen you're buying tickets online, the major agencies—Telecharge and Ticketmaster—ask for a promotional code, which can shave between 25 and 50 percent off the face-value price. BroadwayBox.com allows you to check out their codes without coughing up any cash or personal information. You can find one of these codes by visiting Playbill, TheaterMania, BroadwayBox.com, and New York Show Tickets. These sites list promotional codes for many shows, including blockbuster productions like Hairspray. These sites offer a comparable list of promotional codes for many shows, including blockbuster productions like Hairspray. Playbill and TheaterMania require you to register before viewing their free listings, but New York Show Tickets charges a $4 fee to access most of their ticket codes for major Broadway shows for 30 days. BroadwayBox.com posts a more limited number of codes, but you won't have to cough up any personal information. UPDATE: This article was altered on May 15, 2008, to include a mention of New York Show Tickets (above). Insider's tip: If you buy directly from a theater box office, where you can also use a code for savings, you will avoid the fees that Telecharge and Ticketmaster slap on the tickets they sell online. Try a ticket brokerIf you're gunning for one of Broadway's most popular shows, such as Grease or Spring Awakening, you're going to struggle to find discounted tickets from any source. Your best hope is to look for tickets during Broadway's slow months: January, February, September, and October. You'll most likely find these tickets being resold by respected online ticket brokers, such as StubHub and TicketsNow—often, though not always, at a discount to their face values. Buck the system at the 11th hourGeneral rush tickets and ticket lotteries are available to anyone looking to try his or her last-minute luck. Some productions, including The Color Purple and Chicago, sell a select number of discounted tickets, called rush tickets, at the box office on the day of the show. Others, such as Wicked and Avenue Q, hold lotteries in which people go to the theater a few hours before a show and enter their names in a drawing. Rush and lottery tickets usually cost between $20 and $30. Go to talkinbroadway.com or playbill.com for details on the rush and lottery practices of the top productions. Sit onstageTwo popular musicals offer onstage seating at a fraction of the standard prices. Spring Awakening sells 26 onstage seats at every performance for $31.50 a pop (which is far less than the typical $70 a seat); Xanadu sells 22 onstage seats for every performance at $41.50 apiece. These seats tend to have rear or side views that obscure some of the action, but they still sell out quickly because viewers get to sit so close. It's best to book Spring Awakening onstage seats about four months in advance; Xanadu onstage seats require a lead time of a week or two. Onstage seating is available at the box offices as well as through Telecharge. Tote the totsKids have some clout when it comes to ticket discounts. The Roundabout Theatre Company sells tickets for children under the age of 17 at half the price it charges adults. For example, in February a child's ticket costs only $25 for Sunday in the Park with George—while an adult ticket is $50 (for a rear mezzanine seat in each case). Every winter, The Broadway League holds Kids' Night on Broadway. In 2008, anyone between the ages of 6 and 18 can see a Broadway show for free, when accompanied by a full-paying adult, on February 5, 6, 12, and 13. See details at kidsnightonbroadway.com. Take a standFor theatergoers feeling light on their feet, sold-out shows can be a good thing. Many productions—even hot shows like Jersey Boys and Spamalot—offer standing room only (SRO) admission when no audience seats are left. Like rush tickets, most SRO tickets fall in the $20 to $30 range and can be purchased at the box office on the day of the show. Find out which productions offer SRO by visiting talkinbroadway.com and playbill.com. Become a memberThe nonprofit Theatre Development Fund—which also operates the red-and-white TKTS booths in Times Square and at the South Street Seaport that sell discounted, same-day tickets—has a TDF membership program that offers advance tickets for less than $35 for some Broadway shows (without the hassle of standing in a line). To join, you have to be a student, a teacher, a union member, a senior, a civil service employee, a nonprofit or performing arts organization employee, or a member of the armed forces or clergy. There's an annual membership fee of $27.50, but you can usually make up the difference in a single show, given that the average Broadway ticket goes for $76. Find membership details at tdf.org. Act your ageStudents should check out theater company websites to see if any discounts are available. For example, the Roundabout Theatre Company's HipTix program offers $20 tickets, generally available two to three weeks before performances, for students and working professionals ages 18 to 35. Sign up for the program at hiptix.com; membership is free. Similarly, Lincoln Center Theater's StudenTix program offers $20 advance tickets for high school and college students. However, a limited number of people are accepted into the free program before membership closes every year; go to lct.org for more info. On occasion, a specific production, instead of a theater, will offer students discount tickets. For instance, Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll has been selling $26.50 student tickets at the box office of the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater. Student rush is a final, tried-and-true method. Many theaters set aside a limited number of student tickets—typically running between $20 and $30—to sell at the box office on the day of the performance. Check out your desired show's website for information, or visit tdf.org or playbill.com for a list of shows and policies.