Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach has hard-packed sand you can actually drive your car on (yes, on the beach, it's a tradition). The Daytona 500 brings NASCAR to town every February and shakes the whole city awake. Bike Week is its own beast. Outside of the events, it's a quieter Florida beach town than its reputation suggests, with affordable oceanfront and the Halifax River making the geography interesting.

Knoxville

Knoxville is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains (the most-visited national park in the country, 30 minutes east), the University of Tennessee's Vol energy, and the gold-roofed Sunsphere left over from the 1982 World's Fair. Market Square downtown is brick, patios, and a Saturday farmers market that takes over the whole space. The food and bar scene has come into its own. The mountains do the heavy lifting.