OT: Favorite College Town

[Hey Adrien!]

Would love to hear what you guys think.

I haven't been to a ton, but my vote today goes to Missoula, MT, home of University of Montana, my wife's alma mater.

Gorgeous scenery, walkable downtown, great food/drink/music scene, nice, welcoming people. Special shoutout to: Catalyst Cafe (best breakfast), Draught Works (favorite brewery), Union Club (favorite bar), Top Hat (favorite place to see live music), Butterfly Herbs ($1 coffee and just a delightfully, weird place to buy random stuff).

Underdog vote goes to Easton, PA, home of Lafayette College. Beautiful campus on a hill that overlooks downtown and the Delaware River.

Downtown starts in the ironically-named "Center Square" (it's a circle) and its offerings branch out from its four quadrants. Blue-collar vibe mixed with a modern revitalization and the city certainly looks better in 2020 than it did in 2016, the year I first visited.

Special shoutout too: Easton Public Market (newly open and a food lover's paradise), Greenmouth Table (cozy organic food spot), Grand Eastonian Hotel and Suites (reasonably-priced, massive apartment sized hotel rooms right in downtown), Quadrant Book Mart (old bookstore/breakfast spot in an old firehouse).

 

[Fatroony5]

Would love to hear what you guys think.

I haven't been to a ton, but my vote today goes to Missoula, MT, home of University of Montana, my wife's alma mater.

Gorgeous scenery, walkable downtown, great food/drink/music scene, nice, welcoming people. Special shoutout to: Catalyst Cafe (best breakfast), Draught Works (favorite brewery), Union Club (favorite bar), Top Hat (favorite place to see live music), Butterfly Herbs ($1 coffee and just a delightfully, weird place to buy random stuff).

Underdog vote goes to Easton, PA, home of Lafayette College. Beautiful campus on a hill that overlooks downtown and the Delaware River.

Downtown starts in the ironically-named "Center Square" (it's a circle) and its offerings branch out from its four quadrants. Blue-collar vibe mixed with a modern revitalization and the city certainly looks better in 2020 than it did in 2016, the year I first visited.

Special shoutout too: Easton Public Market (newly open and a food lover's paradise), Greenmouth Table (cozy organic food spot), Grand Eastonian Hotel and Suites (reasonably-priced, massive apartment sized hotel rooms right in downtown), Quadrant Book Mart (old bookstore/breakfast spot in an old firehouse).

It’s not exactly a college town, but I used to visit a buddy at College of Charleston every year and I’ve always loved that city. I still visit a few times a year, and it was an awesome time at the tourney earlier this past season, great turn out. Chuck town is prolly my favorite beach town in the Southeast.

As far as other college towns, I always loved Chapel Hill/Carrboro. Really nice campus and I prolly would’ve loved living there as an undergrad. Still a place I can picture myself living, they did a nice job with that town.

Missoula is at the top of my list of places to visit. Ideally catch a good show there one day and trek it over to Glacier. One day after the world opens up again..

Edit: forgot about Boulder, CO, tough to top that with that kind of scenery. Prolly plenty of other mountain town/college campuses im missing similar to that.

 

[MTHusky]

[

I haven't been to a ton, but my vote today goes to Missoula, MT, home of University of Montana, my wife's alma mater.

Gorgeous scenery, walkable downtown, great food/drink/music scene, nice, welcoming people. Special shoutout to: Catalyst Cafe (best breakfast), Draught Works (favorite brewery), Union Club (favorite bar), Top Hat (favorite place to see live music), Butterfly Herbs ($1 coffee and just a delightfully, weird place to buy random stuff).


[/QUOTE]

The sleepy college town was dubbed the nation's rape capital, and the chronic claims forced the federal government to probe Missoula police and the university, ABC's Nightline reported.

 

[XLCenterFan]

If we are counting Burlington, Vermont (and I would), it's got my vote.

Also, when I was in my early 20's we ALWAYS had fun in Providence.

 

[UConnDad]

I’ll take Boston. Just a walkable fun place. Plenty of history, bars and restaurants, a lively energetic experience.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Burlington and Boulder

 

[cohenzone]

If we’re talking college town as opposed to campus, Ann Arbor ain’t too shabby. U of Michigan isn’t gorgeous, but Ann Arbor is a great pure college town There are a lot of pretty college campuses and settings . Cornell is up there. UVA is too if you like all colonial architecture. And some of Charlottesville is nice. UCLA has a nice urban campus and it’s in Westwood Village which has a lot going on.

 

[Pgh2Storrs]

Madison (UW) Knoxville (UT) and Bloomington (IU) stick out for me. Boulder is gorgeous as well, but the first three are pretty great

 

[TyroneShoo]

Madison WI is my pick. Probably State College second

 

[nashusky109]

UT knoxville, Purdue- West Lafayette , and storrs just cause I truly enjoyed my time there as undergrad.

 

[Palatine]

Do you mean second favorite college town?

 

[nwhoopfan]

I prefer Bozeman over Missoula, but I've spent more time there so I'm more familiar with it.

 

[McLovin]

I prefer Bozeman over Missoula, but I've spent more time there so I'm more familiar with it.

Love Bozeman. Would love to live there (seasonally) one day.

 

[Excalibur]

Love Bozeman. Would love to live there (seasonally) one day.

Bozeman is the only non-coastal town I’d consider summering in. I love oceans, but Bozeman and the surrounding area is special.

 

[Travelman6]

Portland, Maine, though it is becoming too gentrified and hipster like and, thus, pricey.

 

[brihman]

Saratoga Springs — highest bar per capita ratio in the country!

 

[brihman]

Ithaca is gorgeous too!

Madison (UW) Knoxville (UT) and Bloomington (IU) stick out for me. Boulder is gorgeous as well, but the first three are pretty great

 

[Sonova]

Hard to compare college towns with college areas in larger metropolitan locations and/or state capitals, etc...but I’ve really liked :

Metro college towns

Cambridge, MA
Austin, TX
Georgetown (DC)
Madison, WI
Annapolis, MD
Berkeley, CA
Evanston, IL
Palo Alto, CA
Westwood, CA
Columbus, OH

College towns

Athens, GA
Chapel Hill, NC
State College, PA
Boulder, CO
Burlington, VT
Charlottesville, VA
Ann Arbit, MI
Fayetteville, AR
Lawrence, KS


Haven’t been to Gainesville, FL, Bloomington, IN, Knoxville, TN or Oxford, MS but have heard great things

 

[Pgh2Storrs]

Hard to compare college towns with college areas in larger metropolitan locations and/or state capitals, etc...but I’ve really liked :

Metro college towns

Cambridge, MA
Austin, TX
Georgetown (DC)
Madison, WI
Annapolis, MD
Berkeley, CA
Evanston, IL
Palo Alto, CA
Westwood, CA
Columbus, OH

College towns

Athens, GA
Chapel Hill, NC
State College, PA
Boulder, CO
Burlington, VT
Charlottesville, VA
Ann Arbit, MI
Fayetteville, AR
Lawrence, KS


Haven’t been to Gainesville, FL, Bloomington, IN, Knoxville, TN or Oxford, MS but have heard great things

Columbus is so large that I have a tough time calling it a “college town” but it is a sneaky great town to visit for sure. It’s only about 3 hours from Pittsburgh, but I only went over for the first time a few years ago when we played at OSU. Incredibly fun time. I try to head out at least once a year either when the Pens play the Jackets or for a concert

 

[8893]

College city: Boston
College town: Burlington

 

[UConn Esq]

I’ll preface my answer slightly different.

To spend a weekend: Madison and Boulder win for me. Richmond is also underrated.

To spend a day only: Princeton and Charlottesville (UVA).

 

[dvegas]

The ONLY downside to the AAC exit is the loss of an extra trip or two to New Orleans annually....where any adult can feel like they are back in college

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Ithaca is gorgeous too!

Gorges too!

 

[the Q]

I really like Newport and Narragansett RI.

They would technically qualify even though they’re thought of more for summer touristy locations.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

State College is great.

Vanderbilt....because, well, Nashville. We roadtripped it there when UConn played them in football a few years back.

 

[Guapo]

It’s Athens, GA.

 

[Sphinx]

In no particular order...

Burlington, VT
Charlottesville, VA
Gainesville, FL
State College, PA
Chapel Hill, NC

Never was in any of these until I was 60+, never had a relative in any of them. Just cool places to go for an older couple looking to recapture a day or two of youth.

 

[storrsroars]

Underdog vote goes to Easton, PA, home of Lafayette College. Beautiful campus on a hill that overlooks downtown and the Delaware River.

Downtown starts in the ironically-named "Center Square" (it's a circle) and its offerings branch out from its four quadrants. Blue-collar vibe mixed with a modern revitalization and the city certainly looks better in 2020 than it did in 2016, the year I first visited.

Special shoutout too: Easton Public Market (newly open and a food lover's paradise), Greenmouth Table (cozy organic food spot), Grand Eastonian Hotel and Suites (reasonably-priced, massive apartment sized hotel rooms right in downtown), Quadrant Book Mart (old bookstore/breakfast spot in an old firehouse).

Friend of mine is one of the owners of Two Rivers Brewing, and I try to make that a regular stop when I cross PA. Solid food and brew. And he's shown me some excellent bars. Otherwise, my personal experiences with Easton are not great, dating back to early 80s as wife #1 was a Lafayette grad and she used to force me to go to homecoming. I stayed at a Larry Holmes hotel once... ants in the bed. One of the three worst pizzas in my life was partially consumed there.

Much as I hate to admit it, State College has a lot going for it. Too bad it's built around Penn State. Also have enjoyed Charlottesville, Ithica, and of course Berkeley, which I consider separate from Oakland.

 

[TRest]

Northhamptom/Amherst is a frequent day trip for us.

 

[8893]

Northhamptom/Amherst is a frequent day trip for us.

NETA?