Travel

Quentin Baxter is a native Charlestonian, world-class drummer, and musical director of the Charleston Jazz Initiative. “There are a lot of restaurants where the music is part of the experience—this has been a big part...

Whatever moves you—food, history, or working up a sweat—you’ll discover it in Birmingham. Alabama’s biggest city is booming, snagging national honors for its chefs, parks, and artful reinvention.

A champion pitmaster offers a taste of Memphis’s smokin’ hot barbecue scene

The Gulf Coast beaches are considered the best in North America for shelling, and nowhere is this more evident than along South Florida’s Lee Island Coast, a fifty-mile stretch of white, sandy coastline studded with more than 100 barrier islands.

Knoxville’s population—approximately 185,000—is about one-third that of Memphis and Nashville. And while Memphis claims Elvis and Nashville the Grand Ole Opry, Knoxville boasts an unlikely pair of native sons: country singer Kenny Chesney and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

The highest cocktail bar in Durham is on the sixth-story rooftop of the Durham Hotel, a white-and-gold midcentury building. Like a few other classic structures in downtown Durham, it was once a bank, but it now trades in a different kind of currency: cool.

Some of our picks are celebrated locales; others may be new to you. All share these essential elements: natural splendor, a colorful history, and a slate of interesting places to drink, dine, and do a little shopping.

South Carolina's capital city, Columbia, has emerged from the coast's shadow as an awesome getaway in its own right. Like Louisville or Asheville or other mid-sized cities, "Cola" (as it's nicknamed) has experienced a renaissance over the last couple decades. Now, while Cola's charms are still relatively undiscovered, may be the best time to go.