What are cottages called in the US?

[Acopyofacopy]

We would like to do a “cottage” holiday in the US next summer: Fly to Seattle, rent a car and then spend 2 or 3 weeks exploring Washington, Oregon and maybe a bit of Canada.

We just need some pointers as we need to keep cost down. Trailfinders made us an amazing offer, but it was also amazingly out of our price range!

What do I need to look for when I want the equivalent of a UK holiday cottage? Can you recommend any providers?

cabin
holiday cabin

We rent every other year on a lake in Upstate New York. There they are called cottages.

I think the Americans call the air bnbs

I think the terminology that you're looking for in the Pacific Northwest would be vacation home or vacation house.

I knew mumsnet would know!
Any pitfalls we should be aware of?

That’s a huge area you want to explore, won’t you want to be based in many different areas? Lots of motel rooms sleep 4-6 and eating out is often cheating than eating in. I’d say that vacation houses would be a very expensive way to do it.

Cabin, vacation home, lake house, beach house in the PNW which is where you're heading. If it's self-catering on a budget you're looking for try Extended Stay America who have fully-equipped holiday apartment complexes all over and despite the name you can stay anywhere from one night to several months.

Maybe we do need multiple locations. Can you book motels in advance?

Yes. Most have websites. Try Days Inn, Comfort Inns, Holiday Inn Express, Econolodge, Best Western - or tripadvisor can suggest more.

Also look on hotels.com and booking.com. I’d be amazed if staying in vacation houses worked out cheaper even without the option to self cater.

We've stayed in Leavenworth WA in cabins a couple of times and it's very cute, kitsch and scenic!

Condo

I’m from Oregon originally. In those areas, I’d look into hiring a motorhome or trailer. There are loads of great campgrounds and sometimes we used to just stay in a Wal-Mart car park overnignt, or a rest area. You can tow a car behind a motorhome if you want, which will allow you to leave the motorhome in a campground and explore the local area.

I’d be amazed if staying in vacation houses worked out cheaper even without the option to self cater.

That depends on the size of your party and the number of rooms that you would need. For us, it saves money. but the main reason we do it is that we just like comfort of having a living room, screened porch, and other outside areas to relax in. We don't actually do much cooking except for breakfast when we rent a vacation house. But I agree that if you want to cover a lot of territory in the time frame, hotels are probably a better way to go.