When you visit one of these 10 attractions – nominated by a panel of travel experts and voted to the top by 10Best readers – you can save big travel budget bucks for other things. They're all free, and in each case, you get way, way more than you pay for.
The top 10 winners in the category Best Free Attraction are as follows:
- Saint Louis Zoo - St. Louis
- Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs
- Birmingham Botanical Gardens - Birmingham, Ala.
- The Alamo - San Antonio
- Central Park - New York
- National Mall and Memorial Parks - Washington
- Balboa Park - San Diego
- United States Botanic Garden - Washington
- Bellagio Conservatory & Fountains - Las Vegas
- The Freedom Trail - Boston
A panel of experts partnered with 10Best editors to picked the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Larry Bleiberg (LarryBleiberg.com), Nora Dunn (The Professional Hobo), Anna Hider (Roadtrippers), Kim Orlando (TravelingMom) and Shereen Rayle (Shereen Travels Cheap) were chosen based on their extensive knowledge of budget travel in the United States.
Other nominated attractions included Fort McHenry National Monument, Golden Gate Bridge, Griffith Park, Independence National Historical Park, International Rose Test Garden, Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site, Millennium Park, Multnomah Falls, Staten Island Ferry and the Sunset Celebration.
Congratulations to all your winning free attractions!
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The Experts
Larry Bleiberg
Larry Bleiberg, a veteran journalist with... Read More
Larry Bleiberg, a veteran journalist with magazine, newspaper and web experience and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, has spent much of his career living in, and writing about, the South. The Virginia native is former travel editor of the Dallas Morning News and Coastal Living magazine and founder of CivilRightsTravel.com. He served on a Pulitzer Prize team, is a seven-time Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winner, and was honored for producing the best newspaper travel section in North America. Learn more at LarryBleiberg.com or facebook.com/larry.bleiberg.
Larry Bleiberg

Larry Bleiberg, a veteran journalist with magazine, newspaper and web experience and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, has spent much of his career living in, and writing about, the South. The Virginia native is former travel editor of the Dallas Morning News and Coastal Living magazine and founder of CivilRightsTravel.com. He served on a Pulitzer Prize team, is a seven-time Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winner, and was honored for producing the best newspaper travel section in North America. Learn more at LarryBleiberg.com or facebook.com/larry.bleiberg.
Nora Dunn
Nora Dunn is The Professional Hobo: a woman who... Read More
Nora Dunn is The Professional Hobo: a woman who sold everything she owned in 2006 (including a busy financial planning practice) to embrace her dreams of long-term travel. She's been on the road ever since, having traveled to/lived in 50+ countries. As a writer, she shares tips and tricks to travel ultralight and in style, and her books include How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World, and Working on the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom. Visit her website to learn how to travel full-time in a financially sustainable way.
Nora Dunn
Nora Dunn is The Professional Hobo: a woman who sold everything she owned in 2006 (including a busy financial planning practice) to embrace her dreams of long-term travel. She's been on the road ever since, having traveled to/lived in 50+ countries. As a writer, she shares tips and tricks to travel ultralight and in style, and her books include How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World, and Working on the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom. Visit her website to learn how to travel full-time in a financially sustainable way.
Anna Hider
Anna is a writer and social media manager for
Anna is a writer and social media manager for Roadtrippers, the coolest trip-planning site and app on the planet, where she's spent two years digging up the coolest off-the-beaten-path things for travelers to see and do. She loves hiking, exploring, and sometimes even getting lost in a good state park, and is definitely a sucker for any place with a waterfall, a ghost town or a beach.
Anna Hider

Anna is a writer and social media manager for Roadtrippers, the coolest trip-planning site and app on the planet, where she's spent two years digging up the coolest off-the-beaten-path things for travelers to see and do. She loves hiking, exploring, and sometimes even getting lost in a good state park, and is definitely a sucker for any place with a waterfall, a ghost town or a beach.
Kim Orlando
Kim Orlando is the founder of TravelingMom.com,... Read More
Kim Orlando is the founder of TravelingMom.com, TravelingDad.com, and SheBuysCars.com and a sought-after social media and marketing consultant and authority on family travel. She has built TravelingMom into the solid and supportive 67 member TravelingMom Blogger Network and has created campaigns for some of the biggest names in family travel, from Walt Disney World to Park City Mountain Resort, Capital One to Venture Card, Orlando to Aruba, Marriott to Great Wolf Lodge. As an authority on family travel, she is a regular spokeswoman on satellite media tours, conference host and speaker and has been quoted in media from Good Housekeeping to the Today Show. Thanks to Kim and the team she has built, TravelingMom, the trusted source for moms who travel with and without their kids, was named one of the Top 4 Family Travel Sites by Sherman’s Travel and Top 25 Budget Family Websites by FlipKey.
Kim Orlando

Kim Orlando is the founder of TravelingMom.com, TravelingDad.com, and SheBuysCars.com and a sought-after social media and marketing consultant and authority on family travel. She has built TravelingMom into the solid and supportive 67 member TravelingMom Blogger Network and has created campaigns for some of the biggest names in family travel, from Walt Disney World to Park City Mountain Resort, Capital One to Venture Card, Orlando to Aruba, Marriott to Great Wolf Lodge. As an authority on family travel, she is a regular spokeswoman on satellite media tours, conference host and speaker and has been quoted in media from Good Housekeeping to the Today Show. Thanks to Kim and the team she has built, TravelingMom, the trusted source for moms who travel with and without their kids, was named one of the Top 4 Family Travel Sites by Sherman’s Travel and Top 25 Budget Family Websites by FlipKey.
Shereen Rayle
Shereen Rayle runs the blog Shereen Travels Cheap... Read More
Shereen Rayle runs the blog Shereen Travels Cheap and is constantly in search of travel bargains, delicious food, awesome people and amazing new places to visit. Her aim is to show people that no matter what your budget, you can do more, see more and travel further than you thought. When she’s not writing or traveling the world, you can find her reading cool books, watching movies, trying new restaurants and planning Harry Potter parties.
Shereen Rayle

Shereen Rayle runs the blog Shereen Travels Cheap and is constantly in search of travel bargains, delicious food, awesome people and amazing new places to visit. Her aim is to show people that no matter what your budget, you can do more, see more and travel further than you thought. When she’s not writing or traveling the world, you can find her reading cool books, watching movies, trying new restaurants and planning Harry Potter parties.