Of all the major U.S. cities, Chicago does not rank very high on the romance scale, at least in my opinion. Of course, I'm coming from the vantage point of a single woman, so my view is a little biased. (Though many friends, both single and attached, agree with my sentiments, but we won't get into that.) Despite my opinion, Chicago was actually named one of the top five most romantic cities in the country by MissTravel.com.
Sidenote: MissTravel is a dating website just launched in April, pairing wealthy men looking for traveling companions with women who are financially unable to go on vacations alone. I'm not gung-ho about the idea for obvious reasons, but apparently its somewhat of a lucrative market.
Based on the 20,000 trips that have been coordinated by the website, it has compiled a list of the 20 most romantic destinations in the U.S.
And they are as follows:
1. Las Vegas
2. New York City
3. Miami
4. San Francisco
5. Chicago
6. Honolulu
7. Los Angeles
8. Orlando
9. Santa Barbara
10. Washington, D.C.
11. Napa Valley
12. Dallas
13. San Diego
14. Boston
15. New Orleans
16. Philadelphia
17. Houston
18. Tampa
19. Sedona, AZ
20. Cleveland
Now, some of these I can totally see, while others (cough, Cleveland) make no sense at all. And how did Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. beat out Napa Valley. In my opinion, that should have definitely made the top five. What is more romantic than spending a weekend on a vineyard enjoying different wines and cheeses? And how did some other great romantic cities not make the list? What about my home town of Denver, with its proximity to the mountains providing ample opportunities to rent out a log cabin for an evening where you can cuddle with your sweetie next to a fire sipping hot cocoa. Or how about Baltimore, Atlanta, Seattle or Santa Fe? I find those to be more romantic than some of the other choices.
luxury ski retreats (http://www.luxuryskiretreats.com/index.aspx)
Well, maybe I just need to take a few romantic trips and create my own top 20 list. I'll add that to my array of travel tasks and report back when I finish.
