City Guides
Local places, hidden gems and things worth discovering.
Each guide covers what there is to do, where people who live there eat, the shops worth a detour, and the small odd places that never make a top-ten list. When you're ready to wander, every guide hands off to the live Nearbyly explorer for that city.
Georgia
Illinois
Italy
Japan
Kentucky
- Berea, KentuckyKentucky's folk arts and crafts capital: working studios, a tuition-free college with public sites and quick access to the Pinnacles' ridgeline trails.
- Hazard, KentuckyThe Perry County seat sits in a bend of the North Fork Kentucky River, with downtown murals, mountain overlooks and honest eastern Kentucky cooking.
- Lexington, KentuckyHorse farms on the edge of town, bourbon within reach and a college-town core — Lexington is the Bluegrass at its most walkable.
- Louisville, KentuckyDerby traditions, a bourbon-soaked Main Street and Ohio River parks give Louisville a split personality worth a long weekend.
- Pikeville, KentuckyPikeville is the Appalachian town that moved a river and a highway through solid rock — plus Hatfield-McCoy history, mountain trails and a compact downtown.
- Prestonsburg, KentuckyJenny Wiley State Resort Park, a working theater season and the Big Sandy River valley make Prestonsburg an easy base in the Kentucky mountains.
- Whitesburg, KentuckyHome of Appalshop and a walkable Letcher County main street, Whitesburg pairs a serious mountain arts scene with paddling on the North Fork.
Louisiana
Nevada
New York
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
- Bristol, TennesseeThe birthplace of country music still runs a state line down its main street, with a legendary speedway and Appalachian scenery on all sides.
- Chattanooga, TennesseeA river city rebuilt around its waterfront, with Lookout Mountain above it and some of the South's best in-town outdoor recreation.
- Gatlinburg, TennesseeThe Smokies' front door: aerial tramway views, trailheads minutes from the strip, moonshine tastings and mountain craft shops.
- Knoxville, TennesseeA walkable downtown, university energy and the closest big-city gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains, with Appalachian food and markets to match.
- Nashville, TennesseeBroadway honky-tonks are only the start — Music City also means the Hall of Fame, hot chicken counters and East Nashville's songwriter rooms.
- Pigeon Forge, TennesseeDollywood, dinner theaters and outlet shopping in the Smoky Mountain foothills, with cabins and quieter riverside corners nearby.
Virginia
West Virginia
- Charleston, West VirginiaWest Virginia's capital sits on the Kanawha River under a gilded dome, with riverfront trails, local markets and unfussy downtown kitchens.
- Huntington, West VirginiaAn Ohio River college town with Marshall University at its center, the Heritage Farm museum village and long stretches of riverside park.