If it helps, I'm located in the Richmond, Virginia area.

Once you see real travertine there is no going back. Our Interceramic Kremna Standard was actually $2.69 a sq/ft; honed and filled. It is down in both the kitchen and master bath and is absolutely gorgeous. When the painting canvas is gone I will try to post pictures. The "cheap" travertine has more large areas of fill, but I love that look. Every single 18" x 18" piece has its own character, yet they all blend together. It isn't on the website. We bought ours at a place called Distinctive Tile here in CA. However; the store used to be a Cortapassi chain which you might have. Our bathroom shower/floor is a polished travertine from Pacifica Wholesale and the color is Cappacino. It is beautiful also, and was $4.69 sq/ft
Hope this helps.

Something tells me the market for travertine is more competitive in California given the proximity of Mexico (where lots of travertine is quarried) and the cost of shipping those tiles cross-country. There isn't anywhere in the Richmond area that has Travertine for less than $9/sq foot.

I bought, in CA, probably the best quality travertine I have even seen. What that means is very little variation, very little fill, small holes and absolutely no through holes.
In 16x16 is cost me about $4 per sq ft.
Most common travertines run about $2-$3 per sq ft here (if you buy in palettes)

check out this link too...
http://flooring.builddirect.com/Stone-Flooring/Travertine-Tile2.aspx

For $9 per sq ft, you can get marble and granites. So shop around or even drive :) load up and drive back ...

Wow, builddirect is very cheap. Too bad they have such large minimum order sizes and almost a 3-month lead time. They also don't appear to sell 4X4 tiles.

Anybody else have a good online resource for travertine or know of a cheap place in VA or the DC area to buy tile?

I'm in TN and got mine at Southeastern Salvage in Nashville. I got Turkish Travertine for 2.77 sq ft. I a suuuuper happy with how it looks. At the rate my FIL and I are going, we're averaging 1 wall per week in my spare bathroom (MY bath). However, I do love it. As soon as we're done, I'll post some pics.

Does anyone know of a good place to get Travertine tiles in Long Island New York? Also, is there a difference between travertine tiles from Turkey and Italy?

Thanks!

I am in the northern VA (DC) area. I bought my travertine from Marble Systems in the Merrifield area. When I gasped at prices overall, they kindly sent me to the equivalent of the "scratch and dent" area. I have to be creative, but I got almost all for about $2 a square foot. My floor is 16 x 16, the shower floor is mosaic 5/8 x 5/8 with a 1 x 1 boarder (had to do that to cover the floor--there was not quite enough of the smaller tile). We made a border at the top and bottom of the shower of 8 x 16. Most of the walls are 12 x 12 with a panel of that the contractor made with some ogee molding and the 16 x 16 tile on the diagonal. Basically, I bought enough tile to cover the square footage plus a heft amount extra and we got creative. The result is gorgeous. I paid about $700 for my tile. I figure a nice ceramic would have cost at leat twice that.

The Home Depots in my area (Portland, OR) frequently have pallets of Turkish travertine in their special deals area. I have no idea how good this stuff is quality-wise, but I think it runs about $3/sf.

[insert standard HD quality/service disclaimer here. your results may vary]

What is better, Lowes or Home Depot

It is raining here, what about others, raining or sunny?

We have just the right thing you are looking for. We have bought our pavers and tiles through them. They are located in Florida but they do ship nationwide. Their prices are by far the cheapest all around, they import directly from Turkey themselves.

Try them at www.TravertineMart.com

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.TravertineMart.com