Interesting small and medium-sized cities in the US.
 

After having visited NYC, Boston, DC, Chicago, LA, and all of the other major cities multiple times, I've taken an interest in visiting some of the small and medium-sized cities in the US. I recently spent a long weekend in St. Louis with a friend and had a grand time. The local color there made me think about all of the other cities out there that must be overlooked gems that one doesn't think to visit right away.

Just curious if there are any favorite places that you would recommend to get a taste of a different slice of the US. Medium-sized places that are on my radar (for no particular reason) include Kansas City, the Raleigh-Durham area, Minneapolis and Hartford. I haven't even begun to consider the smaller ones, although I had a great time driving up in the Berkshires a few years ago.

Consider taking a weekend trip outside of the US :) where unlike in the US, many small and medium-sized cities have much more variation and more character :).

With most mid-sized U.S. cities, a lot can be about timing. For example, you mention KC...nowhere better to be during March Madness, but as a tourism destination in January, ummm, well, your upgrade would probably clear!! @:-)

Others I'd throw on the list in no particular order (some of these push "large" and some push "small")...I've had a good time in all of them. :) Also throwing in Canadian since you're coming from Salt Lake and could get to those as easily as the American cities.

- Austin
- Madison
- San Diego
- Denver
- New Orleans
- Minneapolis
- Vancouver
- Seattle
- Toronto
- Kingston
- Montreal
- California, north of the Bay Area
- California, south of the Bay Area (I assume "in" the Bay Area you've done)
- Any number of weekend activities within 1-2 hours' drive of the DC area (wine, ocean, hiking, golf, etc.)

That's off the top of my head...if you narrow it by interest people will likely come up with even better suggestions.

middle market cities that no one goes to but can be a lot of fun - Buffalo NY.

I can give you a great weekend itinerary around food alone. It's not a bad place if you know what to do and what to see. and it's fairly cheap if you come from a big city like myself.

I made a list of small and mid-sized cities in the US I wanted to visit and they included:

Seattle
Denver
New Orleans
Austin
Nashville
Key West
Palm Springs (well more for the general area)


I will agree with pinniped, and suggest some Cdn cities like Calgary, Halifax, Quebec (though I would say Montreal and Toronto are big cities - esp with the metropolitan Toronto area being the 5th largest in NA wrt population.)

Consider Cleveland. It does, as they say, rock.

Portland over Seattle in my opinion. Could easily spend a week there on a microbrewery tour. Granted you might not remember much of it, but it'll be fun.

Tuscon
Santa Fe
San Antonio
Albequerque
Madison
to name a few more.

San Antonio and San Diego are both great cities, but hardly small or medium sized! They both rank in the top 10 by population. If we’re including cities this big I’m throwing Houston in the list, but it’s hard to enjoy without a local to show you around.

That said, come to San Antonio! Get off the Riverwalk, get some *good* Mexican food and enjoy an awesome city. Rent a bike and go up or down the brand new San Antonio River Project urban trails. PM if you want some non-touristy ideas on San Antonio.

If you're talking about mid-sized US cities, New Orleans is probably as unique as it gets.

Austin, TX

Portland, ME

Portland, OR

Seattle & Portland are definitely worth seeing

Spend a couple of days in Albuquerque, then drive the hour up to Santa Fe for a few days.

No one has mentioned San Francisco, which has a reputation as a Big City, but it's actually smaller tham most of the places suggested here.

Portland, ME
Portsmouth, NH
Burlington, VT
Madison, WI
Memphis, TN
Charleston, SC
Winnipeg, MB

I'd try to avoid:
Lansing, MI
Columbus, OH
Peoria, IL
Albany, NY
Worcester, MA

I'm looking for an excuse to go:
Boise, ID
Austin, TX
Halifax, NS
St. John's, NF


Nothing necessarily wrong with those places I'd avoid, I just don't think they're much touristy fun.

I've seen Madison, WI mentioned a couple of times. What's the interest there? Admittedly it's a city I have never really even thought about.

Nice to see a couple votes for Quebec City, it's quite possibly my favorite city in North America. :)

Quebec City, Montreal & Vancouver are all great actually.

As far as ones in the US:

Seattle
Asheville, NC

I was pleasantly surprised when I visited Milwaukee a few years back. Nice little city. Ditto Nashville. I'll also give a plug for my hometown: Vancouver

(I know a lot of my friends would take umbrage and consider Vancouver a big city, but they'd be wrong. They just haven't been to many big cities.)

Its a super liberal city. Its also a big college party town if you google haloween in madison, things where kind of crazy although tamed down in recent years. When I live there it wasn't downtown where all the fun happens :(

Since I live between Milwaukee and Madison let me recommend Milwaukee - by far - over Madison. I find Madison extremely boring as it is just a college town to me and I am so beyond that. Milwaukee during festival season (all summer) is much more likable I think for mature people. Plus it's on a great lake!

Savannah

Buffalo/Niagara

Everglades City

Portland, OR
Nashville, TN
Austin, TX

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Somebody a bit earlier asked things I'm into to help narrow it down a bit. I'm really into classical music and travel all over to see concerts. I also enjoy photography, especially some of the unusual things you see.

My St. Louis trip I found fun after an evening at the St. Louis Symphony, a photography evening at the City Museum (what a crazy place that is!), and some of the best barbecue I've ever had at Pappy's.

Conversely, I didn't find myself able to get into Austin that much - lots of live music and drinking, but not much else. I think those days are ten years behind me. :o

So I guess you could classify me as more of an arts-and-food junkie rather than a party junkie.

I'm a little surprised at the answers so far - not that the suggestions aren't good, but that many of the cities mentioned don't fit my definition of "small or medium" (I do understand that each of us will have his/her own feeling on this).

I think of "medium" as maybe 50,000 to 300,000 population, and "small" as under 50k population.

For "interesting", the first place that came to my mind is Columbus, Indiana, population about 40,000. What distinguishes this town from any rural Midwestern county seat is its architecture - the CEO of Cummins Engine Co. (Cummins Diesel) instituted a program under which the company paid architect's fees for public and private buildings, resulting in schools, churches, government and commercial buildings from the likes of Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Robert Venturi, Cesar Pelli, Richard Meier and others.

Visiting the town, it's interesting how the architectural works are integrated into the framework of the town as a whole - these are not sterile, stand-offish structures.

Savannah, GA
Charleston, SC
Memphis, TN - (for the Blues)
Nashville, TN
Asheville, NC (Smokey Mt area)
Door County, WI (the "Cape Cod" of the Midwest)

Make note - For any of these small cities you are hearing about, you can't just drop in unprepared and expect to have a good time. You'll need to research where to go, where to eat, etc.

wonder why noone said midwest cities.

Cincinnati, OH during the Oktoberfest - the largest in the US, and 2nd largest in the world after the one in Munchen ( google it). Also spectacular views of the city downtown + some nice museums

Dayton, OH during their air show, plus the largest air museum, makes the Udvar one in IAD look super tiny. OK downtown

Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH - some nice things to see there as well, OSU + the race track, a lot of history.

Vancouver - Swim, Ski, Sushi, Hike, Victoria, etc. etc.

Santa Fe - Hike, Eat, Art, etc.

Dayton - Air Museum, side trip to Cinci for the Art Museum

I don't disagree...but the OP established his acceptable definition of "medium" as being cities like KC and the Twin Cities, both metro areas with over a million people.

Also to the OP: I originally threw Austin and Madison onto my list because of music. I think of both of them as much more than the typical college party scene - a little more cosmopolitan with good food, more sophisticated nightlife, etc. The colleges themselves will both have fine arts offerings. The other Big Ten towns on the list (Lansing, Columbus, etc.) will too but for some reason I find Madison more...I don't know...interesting than those. I think of Lansing as a place I'd go for a football weekend.

Kansas City will have a new performing arts center in a year or so...new home for the Lyric Opera, the KC Symphony, and perhaps the KC Ballet (not sure about the ballet...). Stay downtown or in the Crossroads district...you'll be walking distance to 40-50 small art galleries and many of the city's best restaurants.

You may be the first person I've ever run across that has said that one of their best bbq experiences occurred in St. Louis. If you like bbq, there are numerous places in Kansas City that would be worth visiting (Arthur Bryant's, Gates, Oklahoma Joe's, and Jack Stack all come to mind).

I let that slide: once he actually completes the Kansas City trip, the STL 'que will no longer seem palatable. :p

Interesting thread.

I'll second the recommendations re Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine.

New Orleans, definitely.

Also, Baltimore, especially but not only if you like crab.

Charlottesville, Virginia.

I recently visited Pittsburgh briefly a couple of times, partly to visit my niece who'd started college there. I didn't see enough of the town to give a really knowledgeable recommendation, but its rivers and hillside provide a much prettier setting than I'd expected.

For classical music and art I'd put Cincinnati up against any city in the US. Professionally you have The Cincinnati Symphony and the Cincinnati Opera. You also have the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music and the School for Performing Arts. The Art Museum and Taft Museum are both worth a visit.

A visit to the Santa Fe Opera coupled with museums, history and fabulous scenery could be a real treat for you.

Happy travels!

Cleveland is also great on classical music and art with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Great ethnic neighborhoods, too. And some very, very good restaurants.

LOL I like Cincy just fine, but that statement is crazy. The mayor of Cincy wouldn't argue that Cincy could rival NYC in terms of classical music and art.

Nor would I. The OP was asking about small or medium size cities.

Hmmm...an interesting thread here.

These are places that we have been to and want to return to in our travels (some may be smaller than wished):

Bend, OR-- beer, whitewater, fly fishing, skiing and some pretty good eats.
Santa Fe NM-- four visits and we never get enough time there.
Bozeman, MT: outdoor sports, beer, not just a college town.
Tacoma, WA: glass museum, interesting DT and a big park (Pt. Defiance)
Bakersfield, CA: Hispanic meets cowboy, sprawled out but intriguing.
Flagstaff, AZ; old west, Grand Canyon
Tucson, AZ, not just a college town and not very small
Albuequerqe, NM, great food, used bookstores and a nice museum or two
Spokane, WA; food, four seasons, nice older downtown
Sandpoint, ID; food, setting & some very nice locals
Key West, FL, go when the cruise ships don't dock there

I like Des Moines, Iowa. The Court Ave district has some nice restaurants and brewpubs, plus there are running and biking trails, and a very nice art museum.

one can look for Omaha and Milwaukee

This thread got me to start thinking about all the cities I've been to. My short list that I would go back to are:

Medium:
Portland, OR
Victoria, BC
Charleston, SC
Savannah, GA
Spokane, WA

Small:
Walla Walla, WA
Dayton, OH
Cheyenne, WY
Halifax, NS (or is it medium.. I don't care, I'd go back!)
Estes Park, CO (it's a bit of a drive from Denver, but if you go to the Scottish Festival it is awesome!)

Reno/Lake Tahoe
Boulder, CO
Ann Arbor, MI

santa cruz, ca