DAVE DONOHUE HAS A

rough day planned. Sprawled by the pool at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, a Dana Point, Calif., beach resort with panoramic ocean views, his first appointment is for a haircut at the in-house salon, followed by a massage; then it'll be back to the pool in time for happy hour on the outdoor terrace. It sounds like a great holiday, except for one thing: Donohue isn't on vacation. He's actually at the hotel for a conference, helping his clients navigate meetings with industry analysts. Does his boss mind? Probably not she's just a few lounge chairs away as the two take a break in the warm sun, leavening their tough workday with some top-notch downtime. "It really is some much-needed relaxation," says the Charlottesville, Va., media strategist.

Ask any road warrior: The madness is back, with flights packed, hotel rates soaring and no seats left on the car-rental bus. But while business travel is booming, stress levels aren't quite so high. By 2003 corporate travel had fallen 14% from its pre-9/11 peak, making the travel industry try harder to woo back its most lucrative clients. As a result, many business hotels now have resort-like perks and extended-stay discounts, while airlines have cut business-class fares by nearly a third over the past year enough to make it feasible to bring the spouse along. At the same time, corporate travel policies are evolving to help employees take a break.

"They have to have some semblance of a life," says Bob Olah, chief executive officer of Norwalk, Conn.-based paper company Myllykoski North America, who has started encouraging his employees to enjoy their trips. Olah uses his position as a season-ticket holder with the New Jersey Nets to finagle NBA tickets in other cities, and he takes his workers to museums, nice restaurants and jazz clubs on the road. "If people are working hard, they should do something fun," he says.

Brian Coughlan has come to the same conclusion. The marketing executive, who is on the road two weeks a month or more, used to take late-night flights after work and return right after his business was done, but lately, he makes more time to play at his destination. On a recent trip to California, he hit the golf driving range as soon as he arrived in Los Angeles, then went to a movie and had a nice dinner out. The next day, after his business meeting, he flew to Fresno and repeated the routine. Fighting for space in airplane overhead bins and waiting in security lines is a pain, he says, and if he couldn't relax on the road, he'd probably seek a job with less travel.

No one would ever suggest that business travelers aren't working as hard. But offering road warriors a reason to stay longer is crucial for the travel industry: Although they make up only 18% of total travel volume, business travelers generate about a third, or $153 billion, of all domestic travel spending. Business-trip volume has recently turned around, growing by 5% in 2004 and an expected 3% in 2005. And one key segment on the rebound is combined business and pleasure travel. According to a 2005 survey by consultants Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, 68% of U.S. business travelers say they added a leisure component to at least one business trip over the past year, compared with 57% in 2003.

To woo this growing market, Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego now has a "Stay & Play" deal that gives business travelers attending meetings the option to extend their convention rate (as much as 75% cheaper than rack rates) for three days prior to or after their event; the deal includes discounts at the marina, spa and kid's club. The Four Seasons in Miami includes a third night free and a $100 food and beverage credit in its "Under the Sun" offer.

Resorts are also trying to provide corporate types with breaks during their work stay. In Scottsdale, Ariz., the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa will offer business travelers three- and nine-hole "golf breaks" between meetings instead of a traditional coffee break. At the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, Calif., and its sister property, the Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa, in Lafayette, Calif., a new "From Business to Baseball" package includes tickets and transportation to Giants and A's games; if a team isn't in town, they'll substitute a $50 Macy's gift card. And new at the Ritz-Carlton's Central Park hotel in New York: the Executive Stress Break, a $190, hour-long massage.

Many perks, of course, aren't expense account-friendly. But some hotels are offering business guests indulgences that won't raise hackles in the accounting department. The W, for instance, is currently offering an "(un)Wired" package that includes high-speed Internet access, unlimited local phone calls and complimentary movie downloads from Movielink. The chain's New York City properties are letting business travelers check in early on Sunday and giving them a free upgrade, garment pressing, Bloody Mary or mimosa, Monday-morning coffee service and dessert with in-room dining.

For their part, companies say they're not opposed to mixing business with pleasure. "It's win-win," says Mike Fogassey, corporate travel manager at environmental-engineering firm Camp Dresser & McKee in Cambridge, Mass. "The company isn't paying any extra, and the traveler gets the benefit of having a couple extra days." While most corporate travel managers will deny reimbursements for extras such as in-room movies and splurges at the mini bar, they are willing to pick up fitness-center fees and Saturday-night hotel-room charges even though the major airlines have eliminated the fare benefit of staying over a weekend. And companies are allowing travelers to tap the corporate travel agent to book personal trips and to use the company's negotiated rate for extended stays.

It only makes sense to keep road warriors happy, since in other respects they're taking it on the chin. A recent report shows that business travelers think travel conditions have gotten worse in the past 12 months: Nearly half say that wait times in security lines have increased, and more than one-third think flight delays have increased or that in-flight service has gone downhill. They're not entirely imagining things: Earlier this year, complaints about mishandled baggage alone were up more than 40%, compared with a year ago.

Adding a vacation to a business trip can help a corporate nomad get around rising travel costs and take a holiday without losing too much work time. But it can still be expensive, even at the reduced corporate rate. Many business hotels charge as much as $30 a night for parking and more than $15 for a room-service breakfast; at a leisure hotel, parking and breakfast are usually free. And while hotels are eager to advertise all their great on-property amenities, they're less capable of advising travelers about what to do around town for an extra day or weekend.

That's where we come in. We've picked 10 cities that rank among the 25 locales business travelers visit most often, and we asked a cadre of road warriors, local executives and travel agents for advice on fun day and weekend excursions. Here, we introduce you to dozens of quick getaways that will help you add more pleasure to your business life.

Phoenix

Day Trip:

Golf or spa visits

Weekend Trip:

Garland's Oak Creek Lodge, Sedona

Comment:

There are 329 golf courses in Arizona, many of them laid out over the past 15 years by a Who's Who of the world's top designers, says Colin Hegarty, president of Dallas-based Golf Research Group. Some of the better-known names are Troon North, The Boulders South Course and The Gold Course at Wigwam Golf and Country Club. There's even air-conditioned golf at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort thanks to a climate-control device that purports to lower the temperature in and around your golf cart by as much as 40 degrees. The area is also crawling with spas we recommend the Sanctuary Spa or the Golden Door Spa at The Boulders. But for frequent traveler Rob Casola, the No. 1 attraction is Oregano's Pizza in Scottsdale. When the Irvine, Calif., family business owner closed a recent real estate transaction there, he asked the agent to FedEx him a large Oregano's pepperoni pie to seal the deal.

Sedona's serenity has been widely touted, but with more than four million tourists visiting each year, the relaxation can be hard to capture. There is at least one secluded haven left in the mountain resort: Garland's Oak Creek Lodge. Guests have to cross a creek, without a bridge, to get to this homey 16-cabin site. The $245 nightly rate includes a private cabin with a fireplace and gourmet breakfast, tea and dinner.

Minneapolis
Day Trip: Mall of America or Stillwater
Weekend Trip: Grand Marais
Comment: It's huge and tacky, but you have to go to Mall of America at least once in your life. Where else can you touch sharks, ride a roller coaster and shop at Bloomingdale's all in the same building? If you can't stand more than an hour there, for an antidote try Stillwater, a historic town on the St. Croix River, designated a "Wild and Scenic Waterway" by the National Park Service. The town features antique shops, rare-book dealers, and even a logging and railroad museum. Check out www.gondolastcroix.com for a romantic boating option.

Travelers who don't mind driving four and a half hours each way will find a good weekend spot in Grand Marais on Lake Superior, where dogsled rides behind a team of Alaskan huskies are a winter highlight. The area has great fall leaf-peeping, too; the Gunflint Lodge is a rustic inn that offers hot-tub soaks and moose sightings (not simultaneously, we presume).

Los Angeles
Day Trip: Santa Catalina Island
Weekend Trip: Santa Barbara and Ojai
Comment: Think palm trees, bald eagles and botanical gardens, and you'll be able to picture Santa Catalina Island, a place most business travelers know only as a distant view from their hotel windows on shore. Every Memorial Day, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis and her husband rent a boat and sail out for a picnic; once there, they rent bikes and ride around the island, eat ice cream and stay for dinner at one of the dozens of restaurants. The high-speed ferry from Marina Del Rey takes about an hour and costs $63 round-trip.

For a weekend getaway, coastal Santa Barbara and the nearby mountain town of Ojai are the best bets. Visiting Ojai, with its shady orange and lemon groves and quirky shops, is like being teleported to the Mediterranean, but we recommend staying at the San Ysidro Ranch or the Four Seasons in Montecito and driving to Ojai for the day, as the hotels there tend toward the extreme either low-end motels or very expensive spa resorts. In Santa Barbara, check out La Super Rica Taqueria, and don't be put off by its d cor and low prices it was one of Julia Child's favorite spots. Locals in Ojai rave about Suzanne's Cuisine, a mother-and-daughter operation with an emphasis on organic produce. On the way back to Los Angeles, stop off in Malibu and take a walk on the beach in The Colony, a strip of celebrity mansions. And ignore the "Keep Out" signs: All beaches in California are public to the tide line.

* As percentage of total number of guests.

** For Sunday night at any W.

Houston

Day Trip:

NASA

Weekend Trip:

Austin and Fredericksburg

Comment:

It may be stuck in an unfashionable suburb that Houstonians snub, but it seems silly to be so close (25 miles away) and not go see NASA's Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake. At the very least, the four-hour "Level 9" tour will enable parents to better answer all those complicated questions their kids ask, such as "What do astronauts eat for lunch?"

Weekenders should take the three-hour drive to Austin, spending a night there (we recommend the Four Seasons on Town Lake), dining at Gueros Taco Bar and hearing live music (Fourth and Sixth Streets are the places to be). If you've got the stamina for more time in the car, tack on the 85-mile trip to Fredericksburg, an old German town in the middle of Texas Hill Country, to explore antique shops and nearby wineries. One tip: Don't look at the City of Fredericksburg's official home page, or you won't want to go. Under "The Latest" it features worrisome news of a mini rabies epidemic and a list of the 10 dirtiest foods.

Atlanta
Day Trip: Chattanooga and Chickamauga
Weekend Trip: Macon, Ga.
Comment: Right on the state line between Georgia and Tennessee, about a two-hour drive from Atlanta, lies the Chickamauga Battlefield, home to hiking and horse trails and monuments commemorating a momentous Civil War clash. Continue on for 10 minutes to Chattanooga, where you can ride the Chattanooga Ducks amphibious vehicles used to land U.S. troops on beaches during wartime for a tour of downtown and the riverfront.

You've probably heard of Macon, but you may not know why it's jumping. This is the city where Little Richard, James Brown, Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers Band launched their careers, so the town's restaurants and theaters are rich in music history. This April admissions at Macon's Georgia Music Hall of Fame, which has CD stations, a video theater and simulated radio, leaped by 23% over the previous year. History buffs can also take in the Tubman African American Museum, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and architectural wonders in the form of antebellum mansions (think Gone With the Wind) that are floodlit every night. Only 84 miles away from Atlanta, it's also doable as a day trip.

Las Vegas
Day Trip: Red Rock Canyon or "Area 51"
Weekend Trip: The Grand Canyon
Comment: If you think the Strip is weird, go investigate Area 51 the formerly secret military facility, celebrated in the movie "Independence Day," that the government for many years wouldn't confirm existed. Military historians say it's the birthplace of such cloak-and-dagger technology as the U-2 spy plane and the B-2 Stealth fighter-bomber; some UFO enthusiasts think this is also where the government studies captured alien spaceships. Rachel, a small town nearby, has a bar and restaurant called Little A'Le'Inn where you can buy UFO magnets and earrings.

For those who like physical rather than psychological challenges, there's Red Rock Canyon, a 45-minute drive from the city, where you can hike, rock climb or bike. There are also organized tours built around the 280-mile journey to the Grand Canyon from Vegas; they include everything from helicopter tours to Humvee rides.

Seattle
Day Trip: Science fiction and rock 'n' roll
Weekend Trip: Vancouver, Canada
Comment: Despite all the hype, the famed Pike Place market isn't a day-trip destination. It takes only about 45 minutes to get through it, and a lot of the experience involves gaping at big fish while the fish gape back. Luckily, Seattle has a lot more to offer. Rather than venture outside the city limits into generic suburbs or back country, explore the historic neighborhoods Fremont and Capitol Hill. Or spend a few hours at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame and the Experience Music Project (they're in the same building). At the latter, once you brave the lines, you can play the guitar along with a live-performance music video.

For the weekend, a three-hour drive or a half-hour flight takes you to Vancouver and surprisingly far from other Americans. Visits to the city from the Asia/Pacific market increased 22.5% in 2004 over 2003, and European visitors were up 11.2% over the same period; the number of U.S. visitors grew by only 2.8%. The best hotel experience here: a corner room at the Pan Pacific, where you can watch ferries and helicopters coming in and out of the harbor and eat sushi at one of the best Japanese restaurants in town. If you're on a budget, try the Sylvia Hotel; it's right next to Stanley Park, where a six-mile walk, run or bike ride along the sea wall will cure anyone of the business-travel blues.

Chicago

Day Trip:

Indiana Dunes or Oak Park

Weekend Trip:

Kohler, Wis.

Comment:

Henry Dziechciarz, a consulting-firm executive who travels three days a week, doesn't hesitate when visiting business travelers ask where they should go for a weekend jaunt outside Chicago: It's the American Club in Kohler, Wis., home of Kohler kitchen and bath products. The AAA Five-Diamond resort has four golf courses and a spa that specializes in water treatments, surprise surprise. Kohler also owns Ann Sacks tile and McGuire furniture, so Dziechciarz does his home shopping while on vacation. A cheaper lodging option: Rooms at the nearby Inn on Woodlake start at $125 for two on a weekend night.

For a summer day trip, we suggest the Dunes, a sparkling clean national park with white sand beaches 50 miles outside the city. On cooler days, spend a couple of hours at the Art Institute spring for the gallery audio guide and lunch in the formal Garden restaurant. Then head 10 miles west to Oak Park to see architect Frank Lloyd Wright's house and studio and Ernest Hemingway's birthplace. For dinner, return to the city and try the authentic Mexican restaurant Salpicon or a celebrity-chef domain, such as Charlie Trotter's or Rick Bayless's Frontera.

New York
Day Trip: Woodbury Common
Weekend Trip: Hudson River Valley
Comment: New Yorkers don't lack for weekend getaways, with the wineries of Long Island, the Jersey shore, and even Connecticut's Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos all surging in popularity. But for road warriors with a rental car, the Hudson River Valley may be the most picturesque destination, even though the number of visitors is up as much as 20% in the past five years. Make a reservation at the Beekman Arms Inn (opened in 1766) in the town of Rhinebeck, a magnet for craftsy retail stores. On your way up, stop at Dia:Beacon, a 300,000-square-foot contemporary art museum housed in an old Nabisco factory, featuring works by Andy Warhol and sculptor Richard Serra. For dinner or lunch, book a table at one of the restaurants at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.

For day trips, Maria Bortoluzzi, the head concierge at New York's Le Parker Meridien, suggests the historic houses just north of the city in Westchester County. One of her favorites is Kykuit, an estate that belonged to the Rockefeller family; it complements its views of the Hudson with the family's collections of art and antique cars. But Bortoluzzi says her guests' most popular day trip is to believe it or not the Woodbury Common outlet mall, a cluster of 220 stores about 90 minutes from the city, with regular shuttle service to and from midtown Manhattan.

Orlando
Day Trip: Fantasy of Flight or Blue Springs State Park
Weekend Trip: Sanibel Island
Comment: Yes, there's Disney World and Universal Studios, but travelers who want grown-up adventures have better options. This winter a record-high 196 manatees visited Blue Springs State Park, according to a park spokesperson, making Blue Springs a great safari spot just 35 miles from Orlando. Crystal-clear water from the spring feeds this swimming spot, which means productive snorkeling and scuba diving although swimmers can't go near the endangered manatees, alas.

Another non-Disney possibility equally close by is Fantasy of Flight. Visitors can fly in a four-passenger biplane or virtually participate in a battle over the South Pacific in one of the flight simulators; there are also three-hour hot air balloon rides. For a weekend trip, try Sanibel Island, four hours away on the Gulf of Mexico, where there's a shell museum, a lighthouse and lots of birds.

Nancy Keates is an editor at The Wall Street Journal, specializing in travel coverage, and the author of The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Business of Life. Additional reporting by Noah Rothbaum, Kristen Bellstrom and Jason Feirman.