Best little Tourist Towns!

[michaelskis]

We talked about under rated little cities, but what about little tourist towns?

Mine would be: (yes they are all links)

South Haven MI
Grand Haven MI
Escanaba MI
Curtis MI
Mackinac Island
St. Ignace MI
Traverse City MI
Sturgeon Bay WI

 

[cololi]

Jackson Hole, WY
Park City, UT
a number of socal beach communities
Hanalei, HI

 

[Repo Man]

My favorite is Minocqua - which I have been visiting every year since I was born and now visit about 5 times a year
Bayfield, WI
Galena, Il
Sister Bay, WI
New Glarus, WI

 

[Seabishop]

Gettysburg, PA
Mystic, CT
Newport, RI
Provincetown, MA
Plymouth, MA
Kennebunkport, ME

 

[NHPlanner]

Wolfeboro, NH

Meredith, NH

 

[Seabishop]

Wolfeboro, NH

Ever go on that 1920's speedboat there? That thing is great.

 

[NHPlanner]

Ever go on that 1920's speedboat there? That thing is great.

Not in many years....but yeah, I've been on it.

My favorite spot in Wolfeboro is Wolfe's Tavern ;-) :

 

[Kiltie]

Bisbee, AZ - great little old mining town. You can still go into the old mine, eat at great little restaurants downtown, and stay at a bed & breakfast that is a converted old school building from 1900. Lots of great old buildings too.

 

[DecaturHawk]

Some well-known and some out-of-the-way places:

Illinois: Galena, Utica/Starved Rock area, Carbondale/Giant City/Shawnee NF area, Quincy

Iowa: Amana Colonies, Spirit Lake/Okoboji area, Villages of Van Buren, Dubuque

Minnesota: Lanesboro, Park Rapids and Lake Itasca area

Wisconsin: Mineral Point, Baraboo/Wisconsin Dells area, Door County

Missouri: Ste. Genevieve

Michigan: in addition to the Lake Michigan shore towns listed above, I would add St. Joseph and New Buffalo. Also: Chesaning, the Irish Hills area.

Also: just about anywhere on Prince Edward or Cape Breton islands.

 

[nerudite]

Some of my favourites:

Avalon, CA (Catalina Island)
Carmel, CA
Cambria, CA
St. Helena/Calistoga/etc., CA
Ashland, OR
Astoria, OR
Orcas, WA
Friday Harbor, WA
Taos, NM
Jasper, AB
Banff, AB
Lunenberg, NB
Carcassone, France
Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
San Gimignano, Italy
Elvas, Portugal (although, I'm not sure exactly how touristy it is... I just happened to see it as a tourist)
Toledo, Spain
Granada, Spain
A hundred other little towns in Spain...

 

[Bullwinkle]

McCall, Idaho

 

[JNA]

Places that I have lived in or spent some time

Long Beach Township, NJ
Tupper Lake, NY
Ketchum, ID
Breckenridge, CO
Cumberland, MD

 

[Zoning Goddess]

Mt. Dora, FL
Steinhatchee, FL

 

[Rem]

Byron Bay, and Hallidays Point both in NSW, Australia.

 

[jordanb]

Gaylord Michigan!

Home of America's most hilarious and pathetic kitsch.

Now that's what I call a cool city!

 

[Red Right Hand]

My fave tourist town: Port Victoria, South Australia

Although I haven't been back for five years, my family used to own a holiday shack and hobby farm at this place. It had a population of ninety people in the early 1980s, which usually quadrupled in the summer. It had a jetty, a boat ramp, a pub, course and miles of rugged unspoilt coastline. The swimming, snorkelling and fishing was great. Life was simpler then......

 

[Dan]

A few more to add to the list:

Ellicottville, New York - "The Aspen of Buffalo"
Mesilla, New Mexico - historic Spaish-era village outside of Las Cruces
Cloudcroft, New Mexico - small alpine village in southern New Mexico
Durango, Colorado - unpretentious but very fun and liveable ski town
Mount Dora, Florida - quaint village northwest of Orlando
Taos, New Mexico - a smaller version of Santa Fe, without the snobbery.
Fredericksburg, Texas - that state's version of Gaylord, Michigan
Canadaigua, New York -quaint Finger Lakes town
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario - textbook small town Main Street
Chagrin Falls, Ohio - Extremely quaint village in Cleveland suburban with lots of B&Bs; Bill Watterson lives there

When I was a kid, my family spent summers at a beachfront cottage on Lake Erie in Wainfleet, Ontario.

 

[The One]

Souris Manitoba

Souris Manitoba was nice and remote...

Info from the web:
The Swinging Bridge

Probably the most known attraction in this small town is the swinging footbridge that crosses the Souris river. Originally the only way to cross the river, now it is used more for enjoyment than utility. Longest rope suspension bridge in Canada?

 

[Elisabeth]

In agreement with Nerudite, San Gimingnano, Italy is such a great little town to see when you're in Italy. I also recommend the little towns in County Galway, Ireland.

Stateside (northeastern US)...

Rockport, MA
Cooperstown, NY
Manchester, VT
Stockbridge, MA

 

[SGB]

Tupper Lake, NY

My favorite Adirondacks-region poster is a map captioned "New York City will never
amount to anything. It's too far from Tupper Lake."

 

[Hceux]

Slightly O/T

In agreement with Nerudite, San Gimingnano, Italy is such a great little town to see when you're in Italy. I also recommend the little towns in County Galway, Ireland.

I second, triplicate, quadriplicate that recommendation of Galway, Ireland! When you get tired of being there, you can always do a side-trip to see Connemara in the NW, the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin (all in the SW), and the Aran Islands, which is only a short ferry ride in the West.

I still say that Galway is a great small touristy town!

 

[pitchaudio]

Port Dalhousie, ON, Canada

 

[Greenescapist]

North Conway, NH
Bar Harbor, ME
Camden, ME
Boothbay Harbor, ME
Rockport, MA
Stowe, VT

 

[NHPlanner]

North Conway, NH

No thanks.....awful traffic year round!

 

[Maister]

Hah, you call those tourist traps! I have only this to say:
www.frankenmuth.org
www.swisstown.com

Suffice it say, that when Mrs. M & I go 'touristing' we know how to do it right... I always make sure I am attired in a Hawaiian shirt, bermuda shorts, wingtip shoes, black nylon socks. Mrs. M is wearing her floral print dress, large plastic framed sunglasses and has a thick layer of white sunblock slathered on her nose. We try to stop at most statues and monuments and pose for pictures with one of us standing in front of it.
Don't hesitate to ask me for tips - you want to know which motel to stay in? (the Ramada Inn not only has a pool outside but they got color tv in the rooms too!) Sites to see? I know where all the good ones are!

 

[SGB]

Littleton, NH

 

[NHPlanner]

Littleton, NH

McCall, ID

Two cheap plugs, one for a former place of employment, one for a current! Nice work guys! ;-)

 

[michaelskis]

Suffice it say, that when Mrs. M & I go 'touristing' we know how to do it right... I always make sure I am attired in a Hawaiian shirt, bermuda shorts, wingtip shoes, black nylon socks. Mrs. M is wearing her floral print dress, large plastic framed sunglasses and has a thick layer of white sunblock slathered on her nose. We try to stop at most statues and monuments and pose for pictures with one of us standing in front of it.

I am thinking that we should start a fund so Maister can get the professional help he needs.

 

[edp828]

Mystic, CT
(sorry for BIG photos)

^ A town once famous for its whaling industry...

... Now famous for its starring role opposite Julia Roberts in "Mystic Pizza"

Main Street stops when the bridge goes up!

Certaintly doesn't hurt that the famous Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport and the world's largest casino (Foxwoods) are located inland nearby. It's amazing though how downtown has gone virtually unchanged.

 

[Downtown]

If we're talking Adirondacks, here are the obvious -
Lake George, NY
Lake Placid

Best Wedding Weekend Ever -
New Glarus, WI

Best place to tube down a river AND eat weinerschnitzel
Helen, Georgia

Best place to celebrate women's rights
Seneca Falls, NY

 

[Bullwinkle]

Two cheap plugs, one for a former place of employment, one for a current! Nice work guys! ;-)

There's nothing wrong with a little shameless self promotion. I'll even vote for Littleton, too. Except the skiing's better in McCall! :-D

 

[JNA]

Talking about Idaho -
how about Driggs, http://www.tetonvalleychamber.com/index.htm
which also has good skiing at Grand Targhee Resort http://www.grandtarghee.com/