- 9 November 2009
- 12:01pm
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What’s the greatest college town?
VivekWLonely Planet author
There are the big hitters – the New Yorks, Bostons, Seattles, New Orleans…umm…es.
Then there are the secondary towns – Athens, Georgia; Gainesville, Florida; Berkeley, California.
And there are the tiny towns with names like College Station, Texas.
They all have one thing in common: great college culture.
We’re on a quest to find your favorite US college town of all. Does it have the best parties? Sweetest outdoor activities? Greatest bars? Most killer sports scene?
Got any great ideas? Reply to this thread and tell us, in 100 words or fewer, what the USA’s best college town is – and why you love it. The best response (as judged by the editorial staff here) wins a free Lonely Planet City, Country, Encounter or Shoestring guide.
Go for it!
Of course there are the obvious ones… those great cities that happen to have some great colleges as well. There isn’t much to distinguish between great college town and great young-professional city.
The “real” college experience, in my opinion, happens in those little towns that might be an otherwise forgotten point on a map. In these towns, the ebb and flow of college students throughout the course of an academic year sets the pace of the entire town.
In these towns, its funny to show up at happy hour and pool together handfuls of change to pay for $2 pitchers. I can’t imagine that going over too well in a “real” city.
The unique part is that the students really make the experience, undefined by trendy restaurants or hip bars. I vote Harrisonburg, VA and James Madison University.
Although many people that believe this city is a communist enclave, the wheels of political correctness and Hollywood-like capitalism are always turning in Boulder, Colorado. Local aspiring professional rock climbers, skiers and triathletes rub shoulders with college students at night (and sometimes in the morning), making Boulder the “land of the beautiful people.” Whether you talk to professors or politicians, authors or activitists, Boulder occupies a unique place in the hearts and minds of every Coloradan. Like it or not, Boulder has it all and an elevation of 5,280 feet above sea level, too.
Gainesville, FL is the absolute best college town. Home of the Reigning National Champions, this town can brag about everything from good football to good weather. It is far enough from big cities that you get the country feel, but you can be in Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville in less than two hours.
The Florida Gators have won two football and two basketball championships in the last four years, making it the best athletic school out there. School spirit is amazing and students know how to party it up!
Definitely the place to be if you want a good education, nice weather, and the best NCAA team in the country.
KNOXVILLE TN….Best parties? UT was ranked #1 party school in recent years…tailgating at UT is something to be witnessed. Outdoor activities? 6 lakes within 50 mi. National park within 35 mi. kayaking, snowboarding, wakeboarding, any sport you can think of has a scene here. Sports arena’s sell out, football-103k, basketball-26k, Knoxville is big enough to accommodate any activity but not big enough to be lost in.
Hands down, Austin, Texas is the town that has it all. 50,000 kids in a thriving capital city bent on diversity. From the outstanding UT athletic program, to wakeboarding on Lake Travis to cycling with Lance Armstrong, to all girl roller derby, Austin feeds your athletic soul with 300 sunny days a year. Set to the beat of the LIVE Music Capital of the World, where scores of musicians preform every night at ground zero for the Austin City Limits Music Festival and SXSW. ATX is a state capital where a conservative can rise to prominence, like Michael Dell, and a liberal can burn out their THC receptors while trying to land a good role, like Matt McConaughey. There is no place on earth like Austin, TX. We love you Boston, but atop this list Austin is the Lone Star.
Athens, Georgia has it all: live music of every genre played on street corners, grungy clubs and concert halls; a downtown where hipsters, frat boys and families can all come out to play; fall football gamedays when campus swarms with tens of thousands of fans clad in red and black, alumni and students walking to the stadium together as they down their last beer and “Call in the Dawgs;” thriving local agriculture, arts and activists; all set against the backdrop of ornately columned antebellum architecture and huge old trees where you can just sit and take it all in.
Minneapolis, MN. Students from all across the world, bars and parties in Dinkytown, and sports teams that can’t be beat.
Old Big Ten Only…Definitely OSU!
1. OSU knows how to party…great campus for walking. Then, there is the gallery and cafe district at “Short North” on High Street north of downtown Columbus. Town has a great mid-western feel to it.
2. IOWA is first runner-up… A Great Bar District…nice campus business district. Small town corn feed feeling…
3. WISCONSIN second runner-up. Nice Campus…Great Business District for wandering and shopping… Feels “Smart.”
4. MICHIGAN STATE has the same general “feel” as OSU…One big main street centers the campus…Capitol a few miles away… Great Walking Campus…Very “Botanical” with historic gardens…Every tree is “labeled” by genus and species… But likes to party hard.
5. University of Michigan. Huge crowds for football, but everyone rushes home after the game? Great Bars Downtown on weekends. Many Brew Pubs- packed in the evenings… Town and Campus are all one neighborhood…So easy to walk everywhere.
6. Minnesota. Very Urban…Right in the middle of the City… So lacks a mid-western campus atmosphere of other schools. Has the cultural dynamism of a large urban area.
7. Indiana Nice but not in my top five…
8. Purdue…Really a “Tech School”…too small for a really crazy Liberal Arts style bar scene…
9. Illiois Nice Classic Colonial look to buildings… Odd Rural/Urban feel to the campus…not my top choice for bars and cafes.
10. Northwestern. Campus buildings built to resemble a 19th Century “Water Treatment” facility that was in the neighborhood. Honest! Some nice book stores and cafes. Campus in a residential neighborhood away from the urban bustle. Very Intellectual.
See if you can guess:
–Located at the base of the nation’s most majestic mountain range, where a wild river flows down to meet prairie.
–A city of 150,000 people (25,000 of them students), but with a small town feel thanks to the cobbled streets of Old Town.
–Home of three reknowned microbreweries (New Belgium anyone?)
–Within one hour of the capital, two hours of superb skiing, one hour from a stunning National Park, and ten minutes from hiking, climbing, kayaking and fishing (hint: it’s all up the Poudre)
–Cheap eats from sushi to mountain pies (that’s pizza to you flatlanders)
–Home to the biggest “beer, bikes and ballyhoo” bash in the nation
Did you guess yet? Fort Collins, Colorado, home of Colorado State University!
There is no better place than State College, PA, especially on a fall Saturday. What could be better than enjoying a game with 100,000 of your closest friends? But it’s not all about football. State College has it all, small town feel, big city energy, nationally ranked sports teams, and great nightlife. Plenty of outdoor activities are at one’s disposal, including some of the best fly-fishing available anywhere this side of the Rockies. There’s also arts (Arts Fest), philanthropy (THON), and a thriving music scene to be had as well. There’s no place like Happy Valley. Let’s go State!
The University of Florida is in Gainesville…the Gator Nation is everywhere!
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