San Francisco

San Francisco

San Francisco is hills, fog, Mission burritos the size of forearms, and pastel Victorians stacked like dominoes. Karl the Fog has his own Instagram, the cable cars are still mechanically pulled by cables running under the street, and the Pacific shows up at the end of every west-bound avenue. The food is wildly good, the views are theatrical, and yes, you'll get cardio just walking to the corner store.

New Haven

New Haven invented apizza (that's a-PEETS, the local New Haven Italian style), and Frank Pepe's claims the white clam pie as their original. Yale anchors the city with its Gothic spires and museums (the Yale University Art Gallery is free and exceptional). The Long Island Sound is right there, and the city's a 90-minute train ride to Grand Central. Pizza-pilgrimage worthy on its own.