Points, Miles and Martinis is back again to give away a cool 5,000 American Airlines miles. This time it is small that wins BIG! Here at PMM we value redemptions that avoid the usual suspect tourist cities of the world and seek out unique places we could never get to otherwise.
For part II of the Points, Miles and 5,000 mAArtinis Giveaway, we want to know your favorite small towns. For this giveaway, we will define a small town as any city in the world with a population less than 5000.
Contest Entry
- Leave a comment in this official entry post with your favorite small town to visit and the reason why you recommend others visit.
Example: My favorite small town is Marfa, Texas because of the minimalist art museums, West Texas landscape, incredible remoteness, and the Marfa Lights.
Grand Prize – 3,000 American Airline Miles
PMM will select the commenter who best ‘sells’ their favorite small city. The winner will receive 3,000 American Airlines. The miles will be deposited into their American Airlines account.
Prizes – Two Sets Of 1,000 American Airlines Miles
Two winners will be selected at random to each win 1,000 American Airlines. The miles will be deposited into their American Airlines account.
Promotion Rules
- Limited to the first 350 comments
- Limit one entry per person
- Comment must include a small town with less than 5,000 people AND a reason
- Winning comments will be subjectively selected
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About alex
Alex loves to travel and does so a lot. Logging 100,000 flight miles each year over the past 4 years, Alex uses points and miles to power his passion. Alex is continuously striving to experience the far reaches of the globe. In his day job, Alex is a Management Consultant frequently on the road advising Technology organizations. I love thinking about, reading about, and talking about all things travel. Feel free to reach me at pmmalex@gmail.com
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My favorite small town is Marco Island, FL. It has the best ocean in my opinion and everyone knows you and the seafood is outstanding. =)
Paestum is one of the best collections of Greek temples anywhere and is a charming, small, Italian town. Serenely situated, it’s surrounded by fields and wildflowers and a modest commercial strip. It was founded by the Greeks in the sixth century B.C. and was a key stop on an important trade route. It was conquered first by Romans in the third century B.C. and later by malaria-carrying mosquitoes that kept the site wonderfully desolate for nearly a thousand years. Rediscovered in the 18th century, Paestum today offers the only well-preserved Greek ruins north of Sicily. The town is under 1,000 people and the residents know that they are not the most popular tourist destination so they rejoice when those who visit, visit. Take the Roman built winding road down through the Amalfi coast but be sure to continue to the small Italian town of Paestum. You will not regret it. It’s like living in a fairy tail.
Caseville MI for lots of fun festivals year round.
Arco, ID. Love this town because they have a huge wall with classes that have graduated and the orginal “Hells Submarine.”
WARREN, VT.
GREAT SMALL TOWN WITH COVERED BRIDGE AND 15 MIN. TO SKI
Cap Sante, near the Saint Laurent river, in the way to Quebec City…wind mills, drinks, lake and kite surfing
Stanley, Idaho. In a valley, on the banks of the Salmon River, between the Sawtooth Range & River of No Return Wilderness. I recommend this town to anyone looking for anything from hiking, fishing to adventure travel or just a beautiful drive.
My favorite small town in the world is Vernazza, Italy. I think about 300 people live there. It’s one of the most absolutely beautiful places I’ve seen in the world. A little town carved into cliff on the coast in Italy. They call it Cinque Terre. If it’s not on your bucket list, you should surely add it.
El Cajon California. Close to San Diego but just far away to get that country feeling.
Burlington, VT is a great small town to visit. Shopping, restaurants, Lake Champlain, and skiing nearby are all pluses.
My favorite small town is Waynesville, NC because its secluded in the mountains, but only a 30 min drive to Asheville. You get to enjoy the amazing countryside of NC. My favorite thing about Waynesville is the nice people. They treat outsiders will smiles and waves to make you feel like you belong.
Burlington, VT is a wonderful place to visit because of the easy access to shopping, good restaraunts/bars, proximity to Montreal, skiing, and Lake Champlain.
My favorite small town is Curtis, Michigan, in the upper peninsula. I have fond memories of my grandparent’s cabin (sold long ago) and the wonderful lakes. Curtis is a unique waterfront village around the Manistique Lakes. If you like being outdoors, you’ll love Curtis! July 4th fireworks, friendly residents, and local vendors give Curtis a small town feel.
Evansville, IN. Small town but have nice people and restaurants on the lake for romantic evenings…
Thanks
Sathish
Truckee, CA. It offers hundreds of miles of hiking around the Lake Tahoe area in the summer, along with mountain biking, great restaurants, concerts in the casinos by the lake, and easy access to Reno. In the winter, it’s a skier or snowboarder’s paradise, offering the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, along with dozens of other ski resorts and backcountry areas.
And even though it has all these great things, there is a small one street downtown strip with a few bars, a few restaurants, and a few small shops. You can stroll in the evening and imagine you are in old time California during the gold rush. It’s a great place to spend a weekend, a week, or maybe the rest of your life, if you really fall in love.
Cairo, GA. Where my parents and sister’s family live, so its always great to get visit.
Oops. Cairo is too big. Whigham, GA, the town next door with its one stop light and very down to earth folks.
Alleghe, Italy. It is nestled in the Italian Dolomiti mountains, sits squarely on a gorgeous lake, quaint, unspoiled, peaceful,a cyclists and hikers paradise, and a place I am heading for (again) in two short weeks. Here I come, Alleghe!!!
Cannon Beach, OR – population 1,718. a great coastal town in Northwest
I love Hanalei Bay, Kauai. It has a very laid back vibe to it combined with spectacular scenery.
Carmel,CA is my favorite small town since it’s right on the Pacific Ocean, the weather is never too hot or too cold, your around so much scenic beauty you never want to leave and the nature reserves out outstanding & great places to see wildlife in their natural habitat.
Oakley, ID is my favorite small town since it’s where I grew up. It is nestled in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. The best time to visit is for the 24th of July town celebration featuring rodeos, BBQ’s, a 10k and more. If you like rock climbing, it’s also near the city of rocks which is a well kept secret.
Stinson Beach, CA. Just a classic beach town in northern California – the drive there is part of the attraction. You can see it from the top of cliffs as you approach and have to take a winding road through a forest to get there. Once you’re there the big beaches and fun shops will keep you there.
Townsend Georgia, not anything to speak of, in fact it is so small that it could hardly be called a town. If you blink while driving you miss it. I went there in search of some blue crabs as several blue crab suppliers are listed there, but there doesn’t appear to be a single business in town, so not sure where they keep the crabs.
Woodstock, NY – Just for the fun to go back in time with hippies. Good restaurants too, especially for vegan
A town in Massachusetts, Manchester by the Sea on the other the “Cape”, Cape Ann, north of Boston. With a terrific small harbor, a true “Singing Beach” (the sand “sings” when one walks across it), and an attractive town center, Manchester by the Sea, offers a lot for being such a small town. There are one of a kind shops, several options for dining, and even a surf and paddleboard shop. It is also a quintessential old New England town, with several beautiful examples of Colonial architecture. Lovely at any time of year, but probably best enjoyed for what is it’s best natural resource, the ocean, I would recommend a visit in summer.
Roosevelt, NJ
A tiny town of 2 sq miles, almost forgotton. Yet rich in history. After the WWII Ppresident Roosevelt set up this town for survivors. With a beautiful park (only 5 trees and a bench), a nice trail/hike, a post office, and convience store. There really isnt much to do there besides relax!
My favorite small town is Cijin, Taiwan. It’s a small island off of Kaohsiung (the 2nd biggest city in Taiwan) in the south. It’s incredibly scenic, one of the only surfing spots in Taiwan, and I love all the fresh seafood available. The local seafood restaurants let you pick the fish you want and cook it up for you!
Impruneta, outside of Florence Italy. GREAT little town we stayed at a winery and enjoyed the hills of Tuscany!
Any town with a bar…but I will go with Crouch, Idaho…the place is off the hook on July 4th.
Freeport, Maine. Shopping and hiking!
Arcadia, Ca
My hometown. We got a racetrack, arboretum, lots of park n good coffee place
Sorry didn’t notice 5000 population or less.
Then I would recommend Mohave Desert. Hottest place in California.
Off track you can visit Indian museums, pretty stars at night
Straight up,Union, Mi.! Farms and pretty serene lakes abound. Even though everybody knows this is no where, they all come across as honest, hard working people that care about one another and show it with a “how ya doin'”
Red Lodge, MT. Great little ski town.
Galena, IL – 85% of the buildings are in a National Register Historic District. It’s like stepping back in time with this picturesque city.
DISH, Texas – Free Satellite TV, need I say more?
A favorite small town of mine would have to be Whitianga, New Zealand. It is part of Mercury Bay and has the prototypical New Zealand coastline. Quiet small town with access to deep sea fishing, hiking trails and Hot Water Beach where you can build a makeshift jacuzzi during low tide.
My favorite small town is Ossineke, MI. It may have only one, blinking traffic light, but it has cute antique shops, sandy beaches on Lake Huron, an Amish community that sells amazing raspberry preserves, and local places for breakfast that have REAL homemade recipes and cinnamon rolls to die for. It even has biking trails, campgrounds, abd a strange dinosaur exhibit called Dinosaur Gardens with a big statue of Jesus in front of it. 😛 The best part? It’s next to a bunch of other small towns on Michigan’s east coast that have even more flavors to offer you! I grew up here. You should really check it out. 🙂
Manhattan, Kansas. It’s the greatest little college town in the country and no one flys there other than AA!!!
Temecula, CA
Grand Marais, MN is a small town on the North Shore of Lake Superior, about 135 miles from the Canadian Border. In the winter it has lots of opportunity for Skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing. Many very nice cozy restaurants with amazing food and wonderful conversation with the locals as well as the constant stream of visitors. A wonderful art community, the grandeur of Lake Superior, the howls of wolves and sighting of moose, deer and other wild life is great. Spring and Summer are a real delight with late budding trees and amazing wildflowers and the sightings of newborn fawns, ducks and geese. In the Fall the colors of the hardwoods is not to be missed and grouse hunting is a popular Fall activity. It always has the warm and wonderful feel of a small and happy town.
Big Bear Lake, CA, skiing in the winter, fishing in the summer.
Redinton Shores, FL which population of 2412. Beaches along this town is so beautiful.
Montauk, Long Island, NY – is my favorite small town that boasts great fishing harbors, nice sandy beaches, and is famous for being the “end” of Long Island. Also, being the escape town for lots of famous Hamptonites, you’ll be rubbing elbows with a lot of famous people as well.
Chapel Hill, TX – Charming little town in the Texas Hill Country. And some amazing pie!
Uhniv, Ukraine. Because Ukraine not weak!
Exeter, California. Mostly because its a very picturesque place and great to photograph!
I’ll add a couple…
Česke Krumlov, Czech Republic
Burlington, VT
Lake Placid, NY
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany