As you watch the sun dip below 14,000-foot peaks from Allred’s restaurant, toast your craft beers to a vacation well spent in Telluride, CO, a historic ski town hip enough to host film and bluegrass festivals.
See the towns >
Telluride, rated No. 7, is just one of the small towns with outsize personalities that proved irresistible to the T+L community. For our first America’s Favorite Towns survey, we asked our fans and followers to nominate their favorites on social media with the hashtag #TLTowns—and then to vote for the 744 towns in 55 categories, including farmers’ markets, museums, adventure travel, and family-friendly hotels.
To determine the overall popularity results, we calculated each town’s average score. The results reveal that T+L readers have a soft spot for small towns in the Rockies, with the No. 1 title going to Aspen, CO, which scored highly for its attractive locals, beer scene, and Victorian-era Main Street.
What most winning towns have in common is a history dating back at least a century. Charlottesville, VA, for instance, still bears the imprint of Thomas Jefferson, who masterminded Monticello and the University of Virginia and also appreciated fine wine. The area makes a scenic wine-country getaway, with the Blue Ridge Mountains for a backdrop.
Read on for more of T+L’s favorite towns—and share your picks in the comments below.
More from Travel + Leisure:
America's Most Beautiful Neighborhoods
America's Greatest Main Streets
America's Best Hot Chocolate
Kitschiest Roadside Attractions in America
America's Most Iconic Drives
1. Aspen, Colorado
Beauty abounds in this tony ski town, from the 14,000-foot heights of the surrounding peaks to its residents, who won the No. 2 spot in the survey’s attractive people category—second only to the southern belles of Oxford, MS. (And looks aren’t everything: Aspenites also scored No. 3 for intelligence.) Victorian-era brick façades housing chic boutiques like Fendi and Prada lend an Old West–meets–Fifth Avenue appeal to the former mining town’s walkable streets, which encompass the No. 3–ranked Main Street and No. 1 town square.
2. Estes Park, Colorado
Elk wander the streets at will in this gateway town to Rocky Mountain National Park, where a bustling Main Street encourages visitors to stroll with ice cream cone in hand. Its 2 million annual visitors can choose from rustic to regal accommodations that earned high marks in the cool motels (No. 1), B&Bs (No. 4), and vacation homes (No. 9) categories. Historic inns like the 105-year-old Stanley Hotel, which inspired Stephen King’s The Shining, came in at No. 3.
3. St. Simons, Georgia
The ebb and flow of the Atlantic dictates life in this resort town on an 18-square-mile island off the Georgia coast. T+L readers gave St. Simons high marks for the caliber of its residents, scoring ninth place for most active and sixth for their intelligence. They’re lucky to live in a beautiful natural setting, with miles of sandy beaches and sprawling oaks. Attractions include golf courses and an 1872 lighthouse with sweeping views.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider