• 60 epic Orlando sunsets

60 epic Orlando sunsets

According to discount travel site Hotwire, Orlando is the most affordable summer vacation destination in the world. Yes, in the entire world. To come to this determination, Hotwire pulled its 25 most popular mid-to-late summer destinations and ranked the top ten, based on the average nightly hotel rates. Here's the entire list (who knew the Czech Republic was a popular summer destination?):

1. Orlando, Fla., $56
2. Reno-Tahoe, $69
3. Salt Lake City, Utah, $70
4. Czech Republic, $72
5. Atlanta, $75
6. Dallas-Fort Worth, $78
7. Fort. Lauderdale, Fla., $78
8. Minneapolis, $80
9. Las Vegas, $91
10. St. Louis, $92

Now, we've played tourist ourselves in Orlando a time or two, treating ourselves to a hotel room when we didn't want to be irresponsible and drive home tipsy. The hotel rooms on the lower end? They're not that awesome. We made a little (virtual) trip of our own over to TripAdvisor to get some review snippets from the hotels that score uber-cheap (like, under $45 cheap) rates on Hotwire:

• $30 a night: "The broken linoleum on the floor & marks on the walls should have been a clue to get out of there immediately ... Upon waking up the next morning to bugs scurrying away when I turned on the light, was bad enough. Trying to turn on the faucet to brush my teeth, the handle came off in my hand!"
• $33 a night: "Get to our door and noticed it looked like someone tried to break into it a few times, get in and it smelled like something died in the room, was hot as hell, no alarm clock, one towel that had the previous users hair on it, no soap, the frig was froze over, there was no way I would dare walk on the floor bare foot - stains on the comforter....ohhhh, the list can just keep going"
• $34 a night: "I felt like being homeless was better than staying there."
• $41 a night: "A very cheap motel - so cheap that when we first arrived a prostitute came and asked about renting a room for couple of nights (a true story)!!"

But then, sometimes, you'll luck out and get a gem:

• $32 a night: "The hotel is a little worn, but the staff was kind and courteous, the room was comfortable and very clean, the pool delightfully warm, and the small breakfast/lunch restaurant served very tasty homemade food."
• $40 a night: "The bed was super comfy, the room cleanliness impeccable, towels replaced daily, free breakfast was a big plus. We came to spend 3 nights to go to the parks, they also have free shuttles daily back and forth to Universal and Disney which is awesome you don't need to pay for parking or worry about renting a car."

And seriously, just because you're spending half your paycheck for a swank suite, doesn't mean you're always gonna be 100 percent happy with what you get:

• $449 a night: "This place on the surface is beautiful but the service experience is awful. The kids activities were very lame and the property does not have a water slide, only a temporary blow up kind of slide."
• $289 a night: "After chasing down a server and ordering two glasses of wine, we waited 45 minutes - no wine. Back inside to find out where the wine was, yes, the server apologized, and they gave us a bottle of wine, but, that was not the point."

There's just no pleasin' some folks.