Best small cities within the US? Travel + Leisure picks Boone NC

• Travel + Leisure named Boone, NC, the most effective small mountain city within the U.S. for 2025.
• The publication highlighted Boone’s vibrant tradition and restoration from Hurricane Helene.

A month after Asheville made Travel + Leisure’s 2025 listing of greatest U.S. journey locations, one other Western North Carolina city has been acknowledged by the web site.

Travel media web site Travel + Leisure publishes journey guides, lists of strategies and extra. On July 18, the Citizen Times lined Asheville’s inclusion among the many publication’s greatest U.S. journey locations of 2025. The metropolis was chosen primarily based on a survey with greater than 657,000 respondents.

In a brand new research, T+L acknowledged America’s greatest small cities throughout numerous classes together with small seaside cities, small purchasing cities, small meals and drinks cities and extra. With the assistance of an professional panel, one WNC city stood out. Here’s what T+L liked, plus the entire listing and extra.

What to do in Boone, NC

“Rising from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, Boone, North Carolina, hums with a renewed spirit.”

Boone was the winner of T+L’s “best mountain town” class for 2025. Andy Long, chef and co-owner of Over Yonder, was quoted within the entry, describing his love of the city as a spot that was “small enough to know your neighbors, big enough to have a vibrant dining and music scene.”

The city’s entry on the listing additionally included numerous strategies for what to do whereas visiting Boone. Here’s what writers urged vacationers to strive:

• Stay at Horton Hotel, which is able to unveil new luxurious suites this fall, 1850 Hotel, which opened in March 2025 on historic King Street or Rhode’s Motor Lodge, for its “mid-century charm.”
• Dine at Asian eateries The Happy Persimmon and CoBo Sushi Bistro.
• Sip at numerous native vineyards.
• Visit exhibitions together with Jack Boul: Land, City, Home at The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum.
• Attend occasions comparable to “iconic” Tweetsie Railroad’s Heritage Weekend in August.

Best small cities within the US

The full listing of America’s greatest small cities in accordance with T+L:

• Best Small Beach Town – Asbury Park, New Jersey
• Best Small Mountain Town – Boone, North Carolina
• Best Small Lake Town – Ogallala, Nebraska
• Best Small Desert Town – El Centro, California
• Best Small Arts + Culture Town – Sewanee, Tennessee
• Best Small Spa + Wellness Town – Mineral Wells, Texas
• Best Small Retirement Town – Panama City Beach, Florida
• Best Small Family Town – Frankenmuth, Michigan
• Best Small Shopping Town – Taos, New Mexico
• Best Small Food + Drinks Town – Bardstown, Kentucky

Iris Seaton is the trending information reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, a part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.