Cheap travel: See the Smokeys for $166 round trip

The Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. / Associated Press

They may not be marquis destinations, but United Airlines is again this week offering more than two dozen cities as last-minute destinations -- the majority for under $200 round trip.

So maybe Springfield, Ill., isn't the first place you'd consider as a last-minute getaway. Then again, for $98, maybe it's worth looking up an old friend? Or Charleston, WV, for $208?

(If you consider the $90 round trip flight to Chicago, actually, the Hotwire travel-ticker is touting a 40 percent off sale for Chicago hotels:

http://www.travel-ticker.com/details.jsp?encId=icv5f53qp14lgyxbltgx )

For my money, if I had Monday off and the extra $166 burning a hole in my pocket, I'd consider the last-minute fare to Greenville, SC, just a stone's throw away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Pisgah National Forest near Asheville, NC.

The picturesque region is home to amazing views and mountains, not to mention the Biltmore House in Asheville, which our own Jim Buchta wrote about here just six months ago.

Jim's story is here:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/44546097.html

As for the flight, the usual fine print applies (fly out Saturday, return Monday or Tuesday, etc.) All the details of the United Airlines last-minute fares can be found here:

http://travel.united.com/ube/efares/us/eFares.do

In other sales,

-- US Airways is offering a roundtrip to Amsterdam out of Minneapolis for $764 round trip. That e-saver can be found here:

http://shopping.usairways.com/promotion/ESaver/Default.aspx

-- Travelzoo this week is promoting flights to the East Coast out of Minneapolis for as low as $170, tax included.

Details on that sale can be found here:

http://airfare.travelzoo.com/north-american-airfare/688993?utm_source=top20_us&utm_medium=email_top20

-- And the Hotwire travel ticker is also touting a sale by "major airlines" for $88* round trip from the Midwest. No guarantees there, though: The link just takes you to this generic search engine page (which, incidentally, is promoting rooms at the W Hotel in Minneapolis for just $109 per night):

http://www.travel-ticker.com/savings.jsp?vert=air

-- And speaking of sticking close to home, Travelzoo is also offering a promotion this week for rooms at the Sofitel in Bloomington, for just $80 per night. That deal runs through January.

http://hotels.travelzoo.com/chicago-hotels/685978?utm_source=top20_us&utm_medium=email_top20