Great Towns

in the News

Traverse City, Michigan

One of Michigan’s most exciting restaurants is only a year old! The 7 Monks Taproom features creative American dishes showcasing mostly-Michigan-sourced ingredients, along with 46 tap beers highlighting ones made in Trappist monasteries. Don’t miss it for lunch or dinner at 128 S. Union Street in downtown Traverse City.

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

The new Pullman restaurant has opened downtown to rave reviews. This is the talented chef's third restaurant, and he is a major proponent of the locavore movement.

Jackson, WY; Aspen, CO; Tahoe City, CA; Park City, UT

Four great town ski destinations, what do they have in common? Now you can ski all four areas on a single ski pass!

Williamsburg, Virginia - Busch Gardens More Fun than Ever!

New rides, including the thrilling Verbolten, take full advantage of high-tech-meets-imagination. You can also get behind-the-scenes tours to learn about the art and craft of roller coasters. A new show and pretzel-themed restaurant are other spiffy additions.

Healdsburg, California

The chef of Cyrus will be turning over the restaurant space (but not its name) to the Les Mars Hotel at the end of October 2012. Chef Douglas Keane will continue his involvement with the Healdsburg Bar and Grill. We wish both the chef and the hotel the best in their future endeavors.

Ashland, Oregon

Bad news, a much-loved restaurant has closed its doors: Chateaulin. With its growing stature as a gourmet town, Ashland should be able to attract a talented chef to take its prime location.

Carmel, California

Thermal therapy is now available in ten mineral pools and the nation's largest Finnish cedar sauna at Refuge.

We're on Facebook!

Check out our brand-new facebook page. It will be a one-stop source for updates on all 100 great towns!

Great Towns are the nation’s most favored communities, enjoying both urban charms and unforgettable settings. Some are well known, like Key West and Aspen. Others — like Green Lake, Wisconsin and Spearfish, South Dakota — haven’t yet been fully discovered. Each great town is a fun-filled getaway with ideal recreational and cultural highlights to make it a worthy vacation town, or as the best place for you to call home.

David and Joan Vokac personally visited more than two hundred towns during two years of travel and 90,000 miles of research. The result is the second edition of The Great Towns of America — the only detailed travel and relocation guide to America's 100 top towns, the most scenic and civilized alternatives to the nation's cities. All major attractions, restaurants, and lodgings are detailed, along with livability ratings for each town.

GREATTOWNS.COM will continuously update the guidebook on these website pages, and showcase all of the follow-up books and eBooks that explore these special locales in even more detail.