Happy Independence Day to our readers in the USA! We’re celebrating at CNN Travel with the launch of our list of America’s 10 Best Towns to Visit for 2026. While this weekend is hotter than many of us might like (stay safe if your region’s being hit hard by the US heatwave), the 250th anniversary of the USA is a time to celebrate the nation’s people and places.
And while the Travel team’s not always big on staying close to home, airfares remain high right now, even as jet fuel prices are dropping sharply. The world outside your window is looking pretty attractive.
America’s Best Towns to Visit
American communities are the threads that weave the United States together, and they have never been more essential. Even in divisive times, we can trade ideas, voice disagreements and learn from one another in cafés, bars and bookstores or while strolling along paved urban trails or up mountain paths.
Our third annual list of America’s Best Towns to Visit looks beyond some of American tourism’s heaviest hitters to find less-discovered communities or places whose unexpected histories and curiosities have been obscured by splashier attractions.
