America's Coolest Desert Towns (houses, restaurants, stores)

[Champ le monstre du lac]

So there are the most well known desert resort and tourist magnet areas such as Sedona, Scottsdale, Santa Fe, Palm Springs, and Las Vegas. However Travel and Leisure compiled a list of lesser known desert towns with some a bit outside the box and off the beaten path as well as some with a bit of nostalgic history and also some noteworthy ones as well with ample recreation nearby.

Virginia City, NV
Bend, Oregon
Winslow, AZ
Marfa, Texas
Grand Junction, CO
Silver City, NM
Moab, Utah
Taos, NM
Yakima, WA
Borrego Springs, CA
Terlingua, Texas
St. George, Utah
Palm Springs, CA
Tubac, AZ

America's Coolest Desert Towns- Page 2 - Articles | Travel + Leisure

What are your favorite towns/cities in the American Desert? Criteria can include, history, landmarks, climate, recreation, character, location, etc.

[Dawn.Davenport]

Sonoita, AZ.

Mountains, wine, horses, sunsets. It's fantastic.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Dawn.Davenport

Sonoita, AZ.

Mountains, wine, horses, sunsets. It's fantastic.

Bisbee should be on that list, and Winslow probably shouldn't.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

Bisbee should be on that list, and Winslow probably shouldn't.

I agree, Winslow is a depressing dump. I've heard Bisbee is a pretty cool town from others. Haven't been yet as it is a bit off the beaten path.

[BMI]

Jerome, AZ
Rachel, NV
Page, AZ
Searchlight, NV
Truth or Consequences, NM
Bisbee, AZ
Dubois, WY
Aztec, NM
Sierra Vista, AZ
La Luz, NM

[Mezter]

Grand Junction is a nice town!

[cacto]

Strike Winslow from the list without hesitation.

Jerome's a good one. Apache Junction AZ kind of fits the criteria in a nightmarish kind of way.

[dothetwist]

Bisbee is a really cool town with lots of artists, antique stores and a very original downtown. Most of Old Bisbee is a historic area. Houses are a good bargain, though most need some work. Views can be amazing. Very safe, hipster town with restaurants and bars galore. Party town on weekends, but weekdays are made for us locals. We moved there 4 years ago and it's a very friendly, liberal outpost in AZ.

[kyle19125]

Springdale, Utah is probably too small for the list but found it to be rather interesting and unexpected in terms of what it has to offer. Springdale, gateway to Zion National Park | Utah.com

[Scott5280]

Spent lots of time in younger years at Fort Irwin, translation death Valley doing tactical maneuvers. There is something they call the thousand mile stare after spending months out in that hot, barren landscape. Must have had it many times because I started to think Barstow looked pretty nice. Anyway going with Santa Fe and Saint George purely for their aesthetic surroundings and SG has some decent places to mountain bike.