Items18The creator’s order
  1. 1Carmel-by-the-Sea, CaliforniaCarmel-by-the-Sea, CaliforniaA village with no street addresses, parking meters or streetlights, which tells you most of what you need to know about the pace. Shops, galleries, restaurants and tasting rooms all sit within about a square mile, so once the car is parked you can stay on foot all weekend. Hugh Comstock's…0
  2. 2Mendocino, CaliforniaMendocino, CaliforniaWhere Carmel is polished, Mendocino is weathered and quiet. Mendocino Headlands State Park wraps around the village on three sides, so miles of clifftop trails, with their sea arches and hidden grottos, start a few steps from the inns and old water towers. The village and its headlands have been a…0
  3. 3Healdsburg, CaliforniaHealdsburg, CaliforniaThe wine-country weekend for couples who would rather walk between tastings than drive. Restaurants, tasting rooms, galleries and shops ring the town plaza, and three wine regions meet here: Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley. That makes it an easy alternative to Napa,…0
  4. 4Cannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonHaystack Rock, a 235-foot sea stack rising out of the surf, is the reason most people come, and the long flat beach in front of it is made for slow walks in any weather. Its tide pools hold starfish and crabs, and terns and puffins nest on the rock. The town itself is small and low-key, with…0
  5. 5Taos, New MexicoTaos, New MexicoHigh-desert light, adobe walls and a mountain backdrop give Taos a stillness that busier Southwest destinations have lost. Just outside town, Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, has multistory adobe homes whose oldest parts date to around the year 1000, and it remains a living…0
  6. 6Santa Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe, New MexicoThe pick for couples who like art as much as scenery. Canyon Road, a narrow lane climbing toward the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, holds more than a hundred galleries and studios, and drifting from one to the next with no plan is the best afternoon in town. Santa Fe is a state capital, so it has…0
  7. 7Fredericksburg, TexasFredericksburg, TexasTexas Hill Country's answer to a wine weekend. Founded in 1846 and settled by German immigrants, Fredericksburg still has a beer garden on Main Street, and it is the usual starting point for the region's wineries. For a morning with a view, Enchanted Rock, a pink granite dome about 17 miles north…0
  8. 8Galena, IllinoisGalena, IllinoisOne of the best-preserved small towns in the Midwest. Much of Galena lies within a National Register historic district, so Main Street's 19th-century brick storefronts curve along the hillside almost unchanged, with wine bars, bakeries and antique shops inside. It is an easy drive from Chicago,…0
  9. 9Door County, WisconsinDoor County, WisconsinA peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan with nearly 300 miles of shoreline, six state parks and around 50 lights and lighthouses. Pick one village, such as Ephraim, Fish Creek or Sister Bay, and you can spend the weekend biking park roads, watching the sun set over the bay side and eating…0
  10. 10Asheville, North CarolinaAsheville, North CarolinaMountain views, a serious food scene and a downtown you can cover on foot make Asheville the pick for couples who want the Blue Ridge and good restaurants in one weekend. Biltmore, the Vanderbilt estate on the edge of town and the largest privately owned house in the country, fills a day with its…0