The Best (and Most Affordable) Cities for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day can be a head-scratcher when it comes to planning just the right day, night or gift for your loved one. We recently told you about a great Valentine's cocktail we learned how to make, thanks to a hotshot Central New York bartender.

But if drinks, dinner, candy or flowers don't quite cut it and you're looking for something a little more extravagant--but without breaking the bank--we've got a list of 2018's Best Places for Valentine's Day.

In formulating its list, the folks at WalletHub took into account major categories, like budget, access to activities and gifts, and even weather forecasts for February 14, 2018. Then, they included prices per capita on 23 specific metrics, like cost of hotels and available nightlife.

Finally, the largest 100 U.S. cities were measured across all metrics and ranked from most to least desirable. New York City (242 miles from Utica) came out near the top at #6 on the list. Here are the rankings of a few other cities within Cupid's arrow striking distance of Central New York:

#14 Washington (217 miles from Utica)
#37 Boston (261 miles away)
#54 Philadelphia (274 miles away and fresh off a Super Bowl win)
#55 Jersey City (240 miles away)
#85 Buffalo (198 miles away)
#99 Newark (236 miles away)

A few other notes of interest from the study: New York City was tied for #1 in a few key categories, such as most jewelry stores, florists and chocolate shops per capita. Some of the places with the worst weather forecasts for this coming Valentine's Day were in the southern U.S.--Charlotte (#96), Miami (#98), and Atlanta (#100).

If you're goin' places, bon voyage. And good luck.