Seth Kugel, the New York Times Frugal Traveler, lets his parents plan a trip to Vancouver – on the cheap (relatively), including accommodation. They chose Dunbar.
Plus more:
What made our time in Vancouver stand out, though, was our evenings. Where I would have probably buried myself in local food blogs and reviews — and ended up crisscrossing the city — my parents simply asked our hosts for recommendations. It turned out they lived walking distance from several commercial strips lined with independent stores and small restaurants, many of them Asian (and no tourists).
When the three of them added it up after 72 hours: $742.64
Find out how here. (There’s also the San Juan Islands and Portland for comparison.)
This was tweeted to me – Kiran Herbert, the host in Portland, has an interesting article on demographics and race in Portland.
http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/kiran-herbert-portland-and-portlandia-two-worlds-of-whiteness/