Travel Features - AP

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The weak dollar and a steadily strengthening Brazilian real have seen Rio climb from the 135th most expensive city in the world just a few years ago, to the 31st most expensive today — tied with Barcelona and Stockholm, according to the latest cost of living survey by the Mercer consulting firm.

DENVER - Some city parks have gazebos, lakes, fountains and jogging trails. Denver's parks have those, plus: a 1,000-year-old fen, two bison herds, a ski resort, a lake at 13,000 feet in altitude and an amphitheater framed by 300-million-old sandstone monoliths.

PHILADELPHIA - This city best known to tourists for its historical sites and museums has a surprise new high-tech hit that is developing into a must-see attraction: a huge atrium wall in Philadelphia's newest and tallest skyscraper where a cast of dancers and acrobats seem to come to life.

CUTLER, Maine - Hikers who perch atop a nearly 100-foot rock cliff that plunges to the crashing surf below are greeted by a spectacular vista with no signs of civilization, perhaps the same scene that caught the eyes of European explorers who passed by these shores 400 years ago.

NEW YORK - You don't need big bucks to enjoy the Big Apple big time. Travel like a New Yorker on the subway. Eat like a New Yorker on the street. And see the city like a New Yorker by visiting public spaces, landmarks and famous places, many of which can be enjoyed for free. Here are some strategies.

AWENDAW, S.C. - With owls swooping through trees as a warm breeze washes in from the nearby Atlantic, a raptor center newly opened to the public here may transport some younger visitors straight to the pages of a Harry Potter book.

NEW YORK - New England's fall foliage typically peaks in late September and early October. But around the country, leaf-peeping season runs longer than you might think.

FRANKFORT, Ky. - From Abraham Lincoln's boyhood residence to the Mary Todd Lincoln house, visitors this year are flocking to Kentucky sites dedicated to the 16th president.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The tumbling U.S. dollar is forcing a new experience on many Americans traveling through Europe: a stay in a youth hostel.

WASHINGTON - There are so many free and cheap things to do in Washington that the biggest challenge is carving out enough time to take advantage of them. Many museums, monuments and other institutions - from the zoo to the botanic garden - that are run by the federal government charge no admission. But even if you've been here, done that 15 times over, the capital is packed with new and overlooked attractions.

MINNEAPOLIS - Hosting a Republican National Convention is old hat to Minnesota.

DENVER - If you want to see some classy history, Denver's got that, like the custom-crafted table where Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin and other global big shots sat during a 1997 summit at the public library.

HYANNIS, Mass. - Nothing says "girl bonding" like a spa day. This time, I did the bonding with my flesh-and-blood girls.

SZCZAWNICA ZDROJ, Poland - For more than 100 years, aristocrats and artists came to the mountain health resort of Szczawnica Zdroj in search of cures. Jewish rabbis walked in the park, arguing theological points with their students and sipping water from the mineral springs. Visitors included Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz, one of the most celebrated Polish writers of all time.

ST. GEORGE ISLAND, Fla. - Bruce Robie was in the Florida Panhandle on business four years ago when he made a side trip to visit Cape St. George Light, knowing he might not get a chance to see it again.

PARIS - Paris may be the most visited city in the world, yet it's also one of the most expensive.

VICOS, Peru - Far from the lines of tourists that snake around the entrance of Machu Picchu, hundreds deep before dawn, is Fausta Colonia's open-air kitchen.

CUSTER STATE PARK, S.D. - The wild burro wouldn't take no for an answer.

PENSACOLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Fla. - Ed Ellis steps across the National Naval Aviation Museum into the aircraft that was Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Chester Nimitz's flying headquarters during World War II.

NEW LEBANON, N.Y. - At the former Shaker village, where the Taconic Mountains roll into the Berkshires and New York touches Massachusetts, Yaqin Aubert read aloud Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Zoroastrian, Judaic, Christian and Islamic texts during the Sunday service at the Sufi religious retreat.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. - When nature calls, campers at Michigan's Grand Haven State Park can now go "green" at a new, environmentally friendly toilet-shower building that is the first of its kind in the state park system.

KANDY, Sri Lanka - A cannon booms and the crack of a dozen whips pierce the warm night. The colorful, pulsating Esala Perahera procession has begun.

BANGKOK, Thailand - From 15-cent train rides to excellent, one-dollar meals, Thailand's tropical capital is teeming with budget options for the penny-pinching traveler. Where else in the world can you get a free vasectomy?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Public tours at one of the largest dams in the southeastern United States have resumed — but on a limited basis because of continuing security concerns after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. - This majestic canyon is lined with towering red sandstones. But the physical landscape is only part of the draw.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - The former prison on Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years is an international tourist icon. But the site is plagued by a host of troubles, including alleged mismanagement, a budget crisis, and stormy weather that sometimes keeps ferries and thousands of would-be visitors away.

NEW DELHI - Keith Lotman went to New Delhi on a two-week business trip. But a quick day of sightseeing in India's capital city left him enthralled and ready to see more of the country.

TULSA, Okla. - Think Art Deco architecture, and what places pop into your head? New York. Miami Beach. Los Angeles. Tulsa.