10 Business Travel Cities With Big Expenses

With tech companies lining its Route 128 corridor, biotech companies clustered around Kendall Square in Cambridge and financial firms still calling Boston proper home, Greater Boston was built for business travel. It's also built like a giant tollbooth for those same travelers, taking huge bites of of their per diem at every turn. Its average $142 hotel cost trails only New York, Washington and San Francisco, while the $151.43 companies spend on tickets to shows, duck boat rides and Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins games rivals only their entertainment budgets for San Fran and NYC. That's some strong extracurricular spending in a town where "late night" bars close at 2.

3. San Francisco
Average travel spending minus airfare: $623.02

As one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., period, San Francisco isn't surprising anyone by breaking into this list's Top 3. A day at Fisherman's Wharf and a night at a Giants or 49ers game turns quickly into a $162.50 affair on average, while renting a car in this historically auto-averse town will set you back $237.31. Savvy business travelers know how to keep those costs down, though. Hitting the burrito stands or sticking to a beer and garlic fries at Gordon Biersch keeps average San Francisco meal spending below $44 and more affordable than Bellevue, Plano or Garden City. The $36 cost of ground transportation to the airport isn't cheap, but it's still a $2 discount over what fellow  travelers are getting in Boston.

2. New York
Average travel spending minus airfare: $628.37

Its $197 average hotel costs are the highest in the country, the $175 spent on entertainment easily tops the list and the $67 average dining charge is outdone only by the city's jealous suburban neighbors on Long Island. So why pay it? Simple: Try matching the experience anywhere else -- of getting clients tickets to a Broadway show, a game at Madison Square Garden, a concert at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center, a gala at the Met or MoMA or any of those other New York-specific experiences that tend to stir the senses and open purse strings. Besides, thanks to the top entry on this list, Mayor Bloomberg can say business travelers get all these things at a discount.