18. Madison, WI

Must-eat/drink: The Scrambler from Mickies Dairy Bar

Don't leave without: Drinking a beer, looking at boats, and listening to live tunes, all while sitting waterside at the Memorial Union Terrace

Weekend highlights: Madison is a college town, of course, and it's almost impossible to visit without realizing that; the school has gobbled up the bulk of one side of the constantly visible capitol building. Said campus is worth a walk: Bascom Hill provides the finest view in the city, the famed chairs at the lakeside Memorial Union Terrace are one of the best places I've ever consumed a pitcher of German beer, and Camp Randall Stadium is Football Saturday incarnate. But there's more! Obviously food, including campus stuff like Mickies Dairy Bar, but also, notably, Ella's Deli's acid trip of a Reuben joint, and grinning culinary assassin Tory Miller's tremendous L'Etoile.

Drinking? Yes, they drink here. Constantly! And happily. Keep that in check and you can walk basically anywhere if you really want to. There are parks galore, the zoo is actually pretty impressive, don't forget the lake that Otis Redding's goddamn plane crashed into (great for waterskiing!), and of course, it's all finished off with a healthy coat or two of good old-fashioned Midwest Nice. -- Ben Robinson, editorial director