What are Your Favorite U.S. Cities?

Large, medium, small.  What are your favorite U.S. cities?  (We can follow up with a “Favorite International Cities” post next week)

Downtown San Deigo photo courtesy of Justin in SD via Flickr

41 thoughts on “What are Your Favorite U.S. Cities?”


  2. Medium – Durango, CO

    Large – San Francisco

    Small – Silverton, CO or Livingston, MT

    1. My first year of college was spent in Durango at Fort Lewis College. Fantastic town…if it hadn’t been a drought year spent skiing on rocks at Purgatory I may have stayed all four years!!!

      1. Yep, I understand. Somehow got through CU-Boulder in spite of 50+ days on the slopes in Vail freshman year…

  4. Portland, Oregon
    Burlington, Vermont
    Santa Fe, New Mexico
    Boise, Idaho
    Chicago, Illinois
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Asheville, North Carolina

  8. Big city: Chicago (as long as it’s May through September)

    Small: Miami Beach (as long as it’s December through February)

    I like almost anyplace, however. I’m sort of Pollyanna-ish on travel. I wasn’t too crazy about Plano, but maybe I just didn’t see its good side.

    1. Every time I end up in Amarillo, Texas, I try to find something I like and can’t. Haven’t loved Dallas or Houston either. Austin and San Antonio are better but still don’t do it for me. I’ve kind of given up on Texas but haven’t been to El Paso yet. I might like El Paso.

      What is the Marfa magic?

        1. Of all the major cities I’ve been too, Dallas is probably the one I have the least desire to revisit (though I expect many people would say the same about Atlanta).

      2. There are 2 sides of Texas: the green east and the desert west. I lived in El Paso for close to a year when I was 10 and have been back twice as an adult. A lot of people down it (especially East Texans), but I like it. The food is delicious and cheap (handmade flour tortillas, homemade spicy salsa verde, etc). There’s hiking at Franklin Mountain State Park, where you can see well into Northern Mexico, Texas, and New Mexico and the sunset over the city and Ciudad Juarez is really pretty. The Camino Real hotel bar is beautiful with an original Tiffany dome. It’s also a great base for nearby places like White Sands, the Green Chile Cheeseburger trail, the massive pecan orchards, towns like Mesilla with the old jail that Billy the Kid broke out of, Sierra Blanca, etc. If you go Labor Day weekend, drive to Hatch, NM for the Green Chile Roast.

        1. Had a feeling I would like El Paso. New Mexicans love to complain about Texans but they’ll exclude El Paso.

      3. AHID: Two things worth seeing in Amarillo. Palo Duro State Park. Very beautiful in that western arid flash flood way. Really.
        And, of course, America’s Stonehenge: the ten Cadillacs buried hull down off the interstate. You can enjoy them as a drive-by, or you can get off the highway and enjoy them up close and personal. It seemed like a sort of interactive site, in that they reek of urine, but it’s a uniquely American installation.

        As to Marfa’s charms. I’ve been trying to formulate an answer to that since I saw your post this morning. It’s not an easy place to describe. It’s in the middle of nowhere, there is a very serious art scene, and there are the mysterious Marfa lights. I visited there on a cross country trip in 2008 and I contributed a post on the Fodor’s travel forum. Not great prose but as you are interested I’ll excerpt it here. For the rest of you readers, don’t bother to continue unless you are interested in Marfa.

        The following is from my 2008 Fodor’s post:

        O.K., I’ll take a stab at Marfa. I can’t say I’ve ever been to a stranger place. That may be why I’m delinquent on getting my report posted. I hope Bill posts some comments of his own cause we were both impressed by Marfa.

        Let’s start with the ride. There’s mile after mile of rolling road, arid, desolate, winding. The only human outposts are tiny, and Marfa is tiny, too. I think the population is about 2500.

        So, when we got there, and found the Hotel Paisano, we were surprised. If you like an old hotel, this place is for you. We step out of our car, having traversed the arid countryside, and enter the Paisano through a courtyard that suggests nothing more than it suggests Tuscany. (Well, my imagination of Tuscany—I’ve never been there.) A tiled fountain surrounded by discreet tables and chairs, further surrounded by potted palms and flowering plants.

        Rooms are not big—this is not a modernized place. It is old but in good repair. We were happy there and quickly made the decision we needed two nights, not one. But, I would not say it is for everyone. On the other hand, once you get to Marfa, you don’t have too many choices.
        One great feature of the Paisano: Its restaurant, open every night, with a nice bar, if that sort of thing interests you. There’s a variety of dining options in Marfa, but many of them are focused on the weekend. Do your research if your itinerary takes you to Marfa on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

        The Paisano played host to the cast of the iconic movie Giant—James Dean, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, screenplay based on the novel by Edna Ferber. A Huge movie that lives up to its name. There’s a nice collection of movie memorabilia housed in a room off the lobby. Also, a lovely shop with work by local artists plus some imported stuff—but nice; you won’t feel like you wasted your time.

        Do not miss the hotel pool. Even if you don’t swim, check it out. It is one of these over the top elaborate indoor pools, set up like Shangri-La, with grottos and potted plants.

        By now, the question should be rising, “How does a town of 2500 support such an elaborate hotel?”
        Part of the answer: the Chinati Foundation. The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum in Marfa, Texas, based upon the ideas of its founder, Donald Judd. And when it says “contemporary,” believe it.

        Rooms that used to house military aircraft, now housing rows of aluminum cubes. Stark white rooms with colored fluorescent tubes. Crushed automobiles displayed like enormous precious gems. And docents who give the guided tours who are proscribed from helping you to understand the art.

        It was hilarious (to me) to see these young college interns, ultra hip, out in the middle of nowhere. I had fun trying to get them to tell me something, anything, about what I was looking at.

        Here’s what really struck me about Chinati. Think about this. Marfa’s population is about 2500. Our tour group was limited to 20. The foundation runs tours twice a day, five days a week, and always sells out. None of these visitors are here on day trips—Marfa is too remote. So most of them are booking a hotel room and eating at a restaurant and wandering through town.
        To put things into another perspective, when I went to the local Laundromat there were antelopes wandering the street. Also, the Laundromat had the best wi-fi I found in the area.

        OK, it’s getting late.
        I have more to say about Marfa but I wanted to get something posted. More to come. Hint: the Marfa lights!

        *********

        The Marfa Lights. A mysterious and unexplained phenomenon and just another great thing about Marfa.

        Drive about nine miles out route 90 East to an attractive viewing area. The night we went there were about a dozen people there, I got the feeling it was sort of a happening.

        Mostly folks were just hanging out but a couple of guys had high powered telescopes hooked up to their computers and were radioing back and forth to another party.

        Did I see the lights? Well, we all saw some lights. Were they distant fires as was reported in earlier centuries? Were they ghost fires? Were they automobile headlights from distant Rote 67? I have no idea. For certain, one of them, the red one winking on and off at regular intervals, was a cell tower.

        But it was a beautiful night and it was a fun excursion.

        1. Wow. This description reminds me of parts of New Mexico–that interesting mix of genuine high desert life and quirky arts scene. It is definitely on my list of places to go sometime, probably post-children. Thank you. There is always something to learn on DM!

  12. My favorite large city to visit is San Francisco (going there next week, though staying in Sausalito). But if could I afford it, I’d live in Manhattan.

    Not sure what counts as a small city or medium city, but I’ll go with Boulder, CO as my favorite medium-sized city and, to avoid being a “homer,” Monterey, CA as my fave “small” city.

    My favorite city I can easily drive to is Asheville, NC. My favorite city in Georgia (other than Decatur, of course) is Savannah, but my favorite census-designated place is St. Simons (have to mention that one because it’s where I got married).

  14. Very big: LA all the way–Griffith Park, the Getty, the Hollywood Bowl, Malibu Beach, and on and on.

    Big: Seattle–Biking, running, hiking and boating heaven; the view ain’t bad either.

    Small city: Savannah–I was charmed forty years ago, and can still spend days happily walking around the historic city.

    Small town: I am here.

    1. Two of your three-L.A. and Seattle– are cities I’m sad to say I’ve yet to visit. They’d be near the top of my to-do list, along with Santa Fe, Burlington, and Boise.

  16. Bozeman, Asheville, Glenwood Springs CO. Friday Harbor, WA, & Wilmington NC. for liveability.

    Marfa, TX for just the pure quirkyness of it.

    And in the category of “better win that lottery” : Mill Valley CA.

    2. Rolled a car and almost killed my cousin just outside of Glenwood Springs between there and Rifle, CO. To many days spent in the Glenwood Springs Hospital for that place to make my list!

  18. Big: Tie between San Francisco & NYC

    Medium: Washington DC (I don’t count it qualifies as a “big” city, even tho it’s our nation’s capital)

    Small: Tie between Decatur & Charleston, with Napa a close third

    OK, now I’m getting the travel itch after remembering what a good time I’ve had in all these places!!!

  20. That’s quite a range on your “small” category, given Charleston is about 5 times the size of Decatur!

    1. Depends on area & population–Charleston proper is much larger than Decatur (which, to be fair, is really “tiny” rather than just “small”), but much smaller than the medium & large cities I’ve listed. Maybe DM should’ve added a “village” category to satisfy you literalists. 😛

  22. Chicago. The architecture is incredible. The people are real. The Cubs are lovable. The food is amazing. Michigan Ave. is glamorous. Lower Wacker is gritty. And, all the other fantastic stuff still outweighs their absolutely crooked politics and the evil Bears (Go Pack). The bad weather days only serve to fuel the residents’ appreciation of everything good.

  24. Small – Nantucket, MA
    Medium – Madison, WI & Charleston, SC
    Large(r) – New Orleans

    DM would’ve done as well to have asked where I’ve lived or spent any time…

    It is interesting to hear the geographical backgrounds of those who self-select Decatur

  28. Big: New York City. Home. Ain’t no place like it.

    Medium: Austin. Migas for breakfast, music all day and all night.

    Small: Asheville. Beer, art, hippies, hipsters, mountains.

    1. Mmmmmmmmm…migas! The only place I can get them, Texas-style, is at my house (as far as I know).

          1. Basically eggs and tortillas (flour version in Northern Mexico / Tex Mex), a few variations from there. This will get you started:

            allrecipes dot com /Recipe/Tex-Mex-Migas/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes

  30. I was born here in the city
    With my back against the wall
    Nothing grows and life ain’t very pretty
    No one’s there to catch you when you fall

    Somewhere out on that horizon
    Far away from the neon sky
    I know there must be something better
    And I can’t stay another night

    “In the City”

    -The Eagles

    1. New Orleans, Detroit City, Dallas,
      Pittsburgh P.A, New York City,
      Kansas, Atlanta, Chicago and L. A.!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yrT0DpvfVI

  34. Small – Grand Junction CO
    Very Small – MarfaTX
    Medium – Nashville TN

  36. Someone has GOT to explain Marfa, Texas to me. Never heard of it before today and now I’m intrigued.

    1. I’ve never heard of Marfa either-I thought I was misreading it……no offense, Marfa-I’m sure you are a fine “city” as they claim but that’s quite a name!

    1. This one I know! I used to play bridge there. Also hike along the petroglyph trail. I am not a good bridge player and the guys in the Los Alamos bridge club were brilliant. But as the only woman who showed up in a group of mostly single young male scientists, they were tolerant of my level of skill. It was a win-win. I suspect that, with many more women physicists around these days, I would no longer make the cut for that bridge group. Favorite thing in Los Alamos: the OLD county-run museum of the town of Los Alamos–don’t know if it’s still there. NOT the modern science museum at the Labs but the small, funky, one located in a small building on the “main street” of Los Alamos. You got a real feel for what it was like to be assigned to the secret town of Los Alamos as a young adult during WWII with only a postal address of Santa Fe 40 miles away.

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