The big appeal of a small-city vacation
Often overlooked for bigger metropolises, these six small cities make for A-plus getaways
Since criss-crossing the United States on a 16-month, 40-state, 229-city road trip, I’ve become an ardent champion of small to mid-sized cities. I like them so much, in fact, I moved to my favorite (make that two of my favorites), Minneapolis-St. Paul, in 2018. That’s not a knock on metropolises, but there’s something about the accessibility of smaller, more manageable cities that not enough travelers appreciate.
Here’s the thing about a small city: It’s actually “do-able” in a long weekend. The airports are generally less crowded and easier to navigate. Same goes for the streets. If you have, say, 48 hours in Los Angeles, you might spend 20 of them sitting in traffic. In a place like Cleveland, you can scoot across town in 20 minutes—saving you both grief and gas money.
The hotels, restaurants, museums, and more filling your itinerary are also often more affordable than those in flashier marquee cities. Opportunities for outdoor recreation are abundant because you don’t have to drive through a half hour of sprawl to get to a place resembling nature. The artistic, cultural, and culinary communities in small cities can be just as vibrant as their big-city counterparts and, I would argue, closer-knit; everyone knows everyone and many live by a rising-tide-raises-all-ships ethos.
Also: Be real. New York has thousands of restaurants; there are more than 150 museums in Houston; in Chicago, there are over 600 parks. How many are you actually going to visit in the course of a three-, five-, or even 10-day trip? You could live there for 40 years and barely scratch the surface. In a city one-tenth the size, two or three spots will rise to the surface and you can easily check them off your list—with time left over for shopping, bar hopping, or simply relaxing.
What’s more, in 99 percent of my experiences, the residents in small and mid-sized cities are stoked to have visitors. Of all the places on earth where you could have spent your precious vacation time, you chose their city. That means something. I love basking in locals’ hometown pride, which shines through in their warm smiles and the spirited lists of recommendations they scrawl on the backs of taproom coasters.
Certainly some small and mid-sized cities get lots of love already because their reputations precede them: Nashville, New Orleans, Santa Fe, Las Vegas. The six cities that follow fly more under the radar, but having visited some of them upward of a dozen times, I can assure you they’re well worth that OOO.
History, heritage, and award-winning restaurants light up this beacon of the south. After dropping your luggage at the recently opened Valley Hotel, an upscale 129-room property in the leafy suburb of Homewood, make a beeline to Railroad Park, a 19-acre green space where Alabamans come out to play. Depending on the season, you may stumble upon a symphony concert, a food truck festival, or an ice skating rink. Make time for a visit to Birmingham’s Civil Rights District, home to the sobering Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and 16th Street Baptist Church. Sloss Furnaces, a former iron-manufacturing plant turned museum and cultural center, is another noteworthy historical site.
When it comes to museums, this city of 197,575 has something for everyone: more than 27,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, and more to explore at the Birmingham Museum of Art; a world-class collection of motorcycles and race cars at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum; and a five-story IMAX at the family-friendly McWane Science Center, to name just a few. Red Mountain Park, a 1,500-acre forested urban oasis, draws outdoorsy types with hiking and biking trails, a zipline and ropes course, and scenic overlooks. Travelers in search of a standout meal should line up reservations at Automatic Seafood and Oysters in Lakeview, helmed by Adam Evans, the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of the South in 2022. Other must-trys include the dry-aged Kansas City Strip drizzled in duck fat at the contemporary Southern grill Helen and the charcuterie plates at the playful Parisian-inspired wine bar Bar La Fête.
Situated in a high desert valley with the majestic Sawtooth Mountains to its east, Boise charms visitors with its scenic beauty first—and then seals the deal with great restaurants and a vibrant arts and culture scene. (The city of 237,446 is home to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Boise Art Museum, nearly century-old Egyptian Theatre, and Boise Philharmonic at the Morrison Center.)
Check in to the centrally located Modern Hotel, a retro roadside inn with complimentary breakfast and loaner bikes for getting around downtown, before exploring the nearby Basque Block, a singular enclave of Basque restaurants, pintxos bars, and cultural institutions including the Basque Museum and Cultural Center. Save a meal (or three) for the diverse Bench neighborhood, which is chockablock with excellent Middle Eastern grocery stores, bakeries, and bistros such as Food Land Market (run by Hana Mutlak, who was displaced from her native Iraq in 2007), and Sunshine Spice Cafe (a sister-run bakery that was the first Afghan restaurant in the city).
Bask in fresh air at the Boise River Greenbelt, a tree-lined pedestrian and bike path that runs for 25 miles. For the adventurous, there’s rafting on the Class II and III Payette (the Payette River Company can take you), day hiking in the Boise National Forest, or, in winter, skiing, snowboarding, or fat biking at Bogus Basin, the largest non-profit recreation area in the United States.
This Western New York city of 276,807 has been on a tear revitalizing its downtown. The crown jewel is the $300-million-dollar redevelopment of the 21-acre Canalside waterfront, which includes a century-old restored carousel (Buffalo Heritage Carousel), a playful children’s museum (Explore & More), and Silo City, a clutch of grain silos repurposed as performance spaces hosting art installations, concerts, and festivals.
The 40-acre Richardson Olmsted Campus was once home to a state-run asylum; now it houses the Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo, an exhibition space dedicated to the region’s most iconic structures including Frank Lloyd Wright’s recently restored Martin House Complex and Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building, an early skyscraper prototype. An 88-room hotel called The Richardson also opened on the landmarked Frederick Law Olmsted- and Calvert Vaux-designed campus in March.
The biggest news for 2023, however, is the highly anticipated summer opening of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. The reimagining of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery took three years and $200 million dollars. Another notable expansion is the Colored Musicians Club, a storied jazz club founded in 1935. While the performance space upstairs is currently undergoing an almost $3 million renovation, the downstairs museum remains open to visitors keen to learn more about Buffalo’s role in jazz history.
Finally, chicken wings may be Buffalo’s best-known culinary export, but there are dozens of food stops deserving of your attention: Head to Elm Street Bakery in East Aurora for delectable breakfast sandwiches, the Graylynn Gin Bar for English-style pub grub, and the soon-to-reopen West Side Bazaar, a newly expanded restaurant incubator for refugees that highlights Burmese, Ethiopian, and other cuisines from around the world.
New Mexico’s second largest city (population: 112,914) is tucked into Mesilla Valley near the Rio Grande, the Chihuahuan Desert, and the stunning Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, which turns fiery shades of pink and orange at sundown. Las Cruces is also less than an hour from Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport, and the mystical gypsum dunes of White Sands National Park are day-trippable from the city.
Get schooled on the state’s rich agricultural history at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum; spend an hour touring the Branigan Cultural Center, which features Native American and Hispanic art and artifacts; and get a feel for local culture at the Farmers & Crafts Market of Las Cruces, where turquoise jewelry, tamales, and ristras (those strings of dried chile peppers you see hanging on porches all over New Mexico) are sold in equal measure.
Sample Las Cruces’ famous spice by chomping into a green chile cheeseburger at El Jacalito, or trying the green chile sundae with locally grown salted pecans at Caliche’s Frozen Custard, load up on jarred salsas at the Hatch Chile Store, or tour the Chile Pepper Institute Teaching Garden at New Mexico State University. Come nightfall, the elegant Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces makes for a comfortable crash pad with its luxurious bedding and inviting swimming pool.
The biggest city on our list (population: 569,330) might be known for its beer (Pabst was founded here and Milwaukee is now home to dozens of craft breweries, as well as the newly launched incubator and tasting room Pilot Project Brewing), but hops aren’t the only draw here. There are more than 30,000 works in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s holdings, including pieces from German, Haitian, and Wisconsinite artists (several works by Sun Prairie native Georgia O’Keeffe are on display). Six minutes away, Milwaukee’s first immersive arts hotel, Saint Kate, features artist-designed suites, rotating galleries and studios, and an events calendar stacked with DJ sets and dance performances.
Elsewhere, learn the history of America’s famous hogs at the Harley-Davidson Museum; take in Wauwatosa’s UFO-like Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; or hunt for your favorite sports figures, cartoons, and pop culture icons at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. However you fill your days, you won’t go hungry: Pop into Odd Duck for innovative spins on global dishes such as Korean ssam, Siberian pelmeni, and Brazilian moqueca. To sample some of the Midwest’s most creative vegan food (think: wood ear mushroom ropa vieja with cashew cream and tamarind-cacao sauce), grab a table at Strange Town. Or find out first-hand why Dane Baldwin, chef-owner of The Diplomat, was awarded the 2022 title of Best Chef Midwest by the James Beard Foundation when you’re chowing down on his fried crab rolls and salt cod hashbrowns. For a classic local dessert, get the creamy butter pecan frozen custard from Leon’s, a drive-in staple since 1942, or go for a boozier finish at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge.
Colonial brick row homes, colorful street murals by globally renowned artists, and a bounty of public parks make this densely packed city of a quarter million—one of America’s oldest—a delight to visit. Travelers flock to Richmond from D.C. and Baltimore to check out its dozens of craft breweries distilleries (Veil Brewing Co. and Hardywood Park Craft Brewery are good places to start)—and its restaurant scene, with West African buffets (Africanne on Main), rustic Greek eateries (Stella’s), and farm-to-table Southern fare (Heritage), is no slouch either.
On the arts front, the collections at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts span more than 5,000 years and deserve a full day to explore, with exhibitions touching on everything from 6th-century Buddhist sculptures to Dirty South hip hop. There’s even more art to ogle when you book a room at the Quirk Hotel, which has an on-site gallery and original works scattered throughout the property. It’s also walking distance to acclaimed art spaces including ADA Gallery and 1708 Gallery. Other specialty museums of note include the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, the Virginia Holocaust Museum, and the 101-year-old Poe Museum.
If you like miniature golf, queue up for a round at Hotel Greene, designed to look like an Eastern European hotel circa 1905. If duckpin bowling is more your speed, check out the newly opened venue The Park with its 18-lane alley, food hall, and beer garden. Lastly, carve out an afternoon to explore the forested trails, rock flats, and quarry pond at beautiful Belle Isle, accessible via a highly Instagrammable footbridge.
