Billings Ranked Most Affordable MT City for a Cannabis Vacation

As someone who has consumed cannabis for decades, it still feels a little bit weird to be able to write and talk about marijuana freely. It wasn't that many years ago that open cannabis use often came with some stigma in Montana. You whispered about meeting your weed dealer in person vs. on the phone, because "the feds might be listening" to your phone calls. You used code words (that weren't really that sneaky) when you talked about marijuana. Stoners often settled for a substandard, black-market product, because that was all they could get.

Of course, that's all changed in the last decade or so as more and more states have legalized cannabis, or at minimum decriminalized possession of small amounts. Montana finally joined dozens of other "green states" when recreational marijuana use became law on January 1, 2022.

Cannabis vacations are a thing.

Dubbed "canna-cations", the folks at the travel information group Upgrade Points recently released data they found regarding the best places to take a cannabis-infused vacation, as well as the least and most expensive places to do so. They ranked 50 cities where recreational marijuana is legal. A Twitter user shared this infographic.

Colorado ranked top for best overall weed vacation.

This isn't really surprising as rec weed has been legal in Colorado for years. Here are the criteria for the rankings,

The researchers considered 10 ranking factors strongly related to weed tourism, including weed-friendly rentals, guided cannabis tours, 420-experiences, dispensaries, costs, and more.

The average cost for a four-day canna-cation in Fort Collins, Colorado was $1,143.

When it came to value, Montana did pretty well.

The ranking factors for a four-day trip include the average cost of airfare, the average nightly price for weed-friendly accommodations, the average cost of rideshare, and the average meal cost at inexpensive restaurants. The total price for this experience in Billings was $1,146 per person, edging out Missoula by $6.