Legends such as George Strait, Hal Ketchum, Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett have played and even current superstars like Maren Morris. Since 1878, Gruene Hall has been putting on live music and dance gatherings. The center of community life – back when it was a thriving cotton industry town, and now, that it has been lovingly restored – is the Gruene dance hall. It may only be a three street town, but Gruene Texas oozes historic charm, boot-scooting fun, and is one of the best small towns in America. Winter is meant to be a unforgettable experience here with their “Village of Lights” when the village is transformed with over 500,000 Christmas lights, live music, Santa Claus visit and usually a blanketing of snow. It’s location at the base of the Cascade Mountains and on the Wenatchee River means its also a hotspot for outdoor activities like hiking, skiing, whitewater rafting or gentle tube floating. In the town, you’ll find Bavarian style architecture that houses restaurants, bars, breweries, cideries and local retail stores. ( Seattle is only 117 miles west of Leavenworth.) It’s now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Washington, especially for nearby Seattleites. When that took a turn for the worst, instead of letting it die, the community decided to turn use its beautiful setting to turn it into mini-Bavaria. Leavenworth was once a thriving logging village. And of course a few pretzels, bratwurst and steins – you are welcome to wear lederhosen while doing so. It’s a tastefully done tourist trap with a lot of soul and plenty of reasons to enjoy a little taste of Bavaria. They’ve turned into massive tourist traps missing a little bit of soul.īut I was pleasantly surprised with Leavenworth.

I’ve come across a few places before that just haven’t done it well. I was a little worried coming into Leavenworth that it was going to be kitschy Bavarian imitation tragedy. We’ve created this list of US destinations in collaboration with our sponsor, Allianz Travel, who want you to have a GREAT vacation and let them take care of your precious investment! Cool Places to Visit in the US – Cities and Small Towns Leavenworth, Washington Others are perfect for weekend getaways or longer, more relaxing trips. You’ll find some of these places close to some big name attractions and destinations so you can easily add them in to your US road trip itineraries. The suggestions down below offer small town charm, cultural uniqueness, and stunning landscapes and outdoor adventures you’ll be talking about forever. You all know they are epic experiences in the US and we highly recommend you visit them too. We wanted to steer away from the places you’d typically find on a list like in New York and its Central Park, San Francisco and its Golden Gate Bridge, Washington DC and its White House and Smithsonian Museums, Grand Canyon and Yosemite. We have enough travel experience to ascertain which places can offer you something special. You follow our blog for a reason – you resonate with our travel style and trust our insights and opinions. We wanted to create this cool places to visit in the US list based upon our own personal travel experiences. And there are hundreds of more places in the USA that we haven’t traveled to yet that may find there way to this list next year when we do! There are hundreds of places that could have made this list.

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