# What is the best underrated weekend getaway in the US?

> Skip the big-name resort towns: these are the small American cities and former mining, mill, and fishing towns that reward a weekend without the crowds.

*By YPB Team · Published September 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-underrated-weekend-getaway-in-the-us*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Bisbee, Arizona**
   A former copper-mining town in the Mule Mountains, now full of galleries and hillside stairways.
2. **Astoria, Oregon**
   A Columbia River port town of Victorian houses, a working waterfront, and the Goonies house.
3. **Duluth, Minnesota**
   A Lake Superior harbor city known for the Aerial Lift Bridge and dramatic North Shore hiking.
4. **Bentonville, Arkansas**
   A former farm town reshaped by world-class art at Crystal Bridges Museum and miles of mountain-bike trails.
5. **Paducah, Kentucky**
   A UNESCO Creative City on the Ohio River known for its floodwall murals and quilting museum.
6. **Port Townsend, Washington**
   A Victorian seaport on the Olympic Peninsula with wooden-boat culture and waterfront bluffs.
7. **Silver City, New Mexico**
   A high-desert mining town turned arts hub near the Gila Wilderness.
8. **Beaufort, South Carolina**
   A Lowcountry town of antebellum homes and marshland views along the Beaufort River.
9. **Galena, Illinois**
   A 19th-century river town of preserved brick storefronts near the Mississippi bluffs.
10. **Ojai, California**
   A small inland valley town near Santa Barbara known for citrus groves and pink-sunset light.
11. **Marfa, Texas**
   A remote West Texas desert town known for minimalist art installations and mystery lights.
12. **Hood River, Oregon**
   A Columbia River Gorge town built around windsurfing, orchards, and craft cideries.
13. **Woodstock, Vermont**
   A New England village of covered bridges and white church steeples in the Green Mountains.
14. **North Adams, Massachusetts**
   A former mill city in the Berkshires now anchored by MASS MoCA's contemporary art galleries.
15. **Cannon Beach, Oregon**
   A Pacific coast town facing Haystack Rock, one of the most photographed sea stacks in the US.

Tags: usa, travel, road-trip, small-towns