Boulder

Boulder comes with plenty of stereotypes. It's a hippie town. It's a yuppie town. It's pretentious. It's the most beautiful place on earth. Like many preconceived notions, many of these have at least a grain of truth. But the real Boulder, the one behind the layers of perception, is simply a wonderful place to be.

At the center of it all is the University of Colorado campus with its manicured quads and towering stone buildings. The college-town atmosphere also means Boulder has plenty of arts, culture, live music, hippie drum circles, and sharp-nosed intellectual debates.

Beyond the campus, the town is a lovely grouping of small retail enclaves, like the pedestrian Pearl Street Mall, walking paths, parks and Victorian houses dating back a hundred years.

On the edge of town you have one of the best open-space park systems in the US with amazing outdoor adventures right at your door.