Purse strings may be tight this summer, and as airlines struggle to keep up with the surge in travel interest, choosing trips closer to home or within driving distance is perhaps the better way to go. How about a vacation in a city that for the second year in a row takes the number one spot on Livability.com’s “100 Best Places to Live in the US”? Madison, Wisconsin, could be your next budget-friendly destination.
The Setting
As far as settings go, Madison is pretty hard to beat: A chill university town with two beautiful lakes on either side of a downtown isthmus where a D.C.-style state capitol sits atop a modest central hill visible for miles around. This is a particularly green city, with well-developed park and trail systems and a 1,200-acre forest and spring-fed lake right in town. And the surrounding countryside balances rich agriculture with land preservation amid the fascinating terrain left behind after the last advance of glaciers.But for me a visit begins at the heart of Madison: the Memorial Union Terrace at the University of Wisconsin. A place to gather lakeside for a beer and a brat, for a free live concert in the evening, for a scoop or three of the university’s own ice cream, or for one of the magnificent sunsets over Lake Mendota. Then walk the seven blocks through the shops and cafes of State Street to the Capitol.
