20 best cities to visit while in your 20s

[Duke87]

The drive to Key West is well worth doing. You can do it as a day trip from the Miami area (I have), but it is an all-day affair if you do, and you will only be able to spend a few hours in Key West before you have to start heading back.

My advice is to make sure you do everything you want to do in Key West during the one trip you make there. It's a great drive to do once, but you don't want to have to do it twice. For roadgeeking purposes, this means make sure you drive along US 1 all the way to the end (and get a picture of yourself with the end sign), and make sure you clinch the Key West section of A1A.

And if your wife isn't willing to go, just take a day to go on your own and tell her to go outlet shopping or something.

[realjd]

I would like to make the trip down to Key West sometime, though, even though it means turning around and coming back the way you came. It just strikes me as a unique road to travel. Finding time to fit it into the itinerary has thus far proven impossible, though.

It's worth it for the drive alone.  I'd drive it as soon as I could.

I see some mixed opinions in the thread about disappointing roads, but I doubt anyone in that thread would dispute that it's worth doing at least once. The problem, as I noted, is the time factor. From my brother-in-law's house down to Key West is around 170 miles via US-27 to the Homestead Extension and then down US-1. Normally I'd estimate 170 miles as taking around 3 hours, but from everything I've heard from people who have made the drive, getting to Key West is likely to take at least an hour longer due to slow traffic and lower speed limits, right? So figure four hours each way, and my wife won't be willing to do that roundtrip in one day, so we basically lose two days of our trip if we go down there. My wife would rather spend the time with our relatives while their kids are still kids and I guess I can't really blame her for that, given that we only see them twice a year most years (once in the summer, once at either Thanksgiving or Christmas).

We make the drive regularly from Palm Bay. It's a 5-6 hour drive, with the end of the Turnpike in Florida City as the half way point time wise. Figure 2 1/2 to 3 hours to drive the length of the Overseas Highway.

Definitely don't do it as a day trip. Stay for a couple of nights.

[Zeffy]

I'm surprised Philadelphia isn't on this list. I've had a great time when I've went to Philadelphia.

Pity that Trenton, New Jersey is such a shithole - it's such a historical relic and I believe it contains the last known army barracks during the Revolutionary War. It's a real shame to see what happens in that city day-by-day.

Being that I just hit 20, I would love to visit these cities. Especially the Florida ones - I can't remember the last time I went to Miami or Key West. Now I want to go down the entire stretch of US 1 just to experience it.

This is a highly personality-specific question, but a big destination in my 20s (and 30s) was Pittsburgh.  It's a playground for anyone interested in geography, industry, history, and bars.  I still make it back every few years and not only love the offerings, but people's unassuming attitude.  People appreciate that you came. 

Still need to check out Pittsburgh. And Boston. And lots of cities on the east coast. My life travel history is pitiful.

[formulanone]

My life travel history is pitiful.

Don't worry, you're only twenty. You've got plenty of time...

[vdeane]

Though with the economy these days, it's hard for some of us to increase the amount of travel we do.  My travel wishlist is a mile long, yet I'll be considering myself very lucky if I find the money to go to the NYC meet (much less make it a mini-vacation of downstate exploration like I wanted), and it's not even out of state!

[kkt]

Seattle remains a hip place for 20-somethings on the list, remember how popular it was for Generation Xers in the early 90s? Grunge and alternative rock began in Seattle before it became the mainstream rock genre, and it's high minimum wage at $15 took effect this year should make Seattle livable for young adult workers.

No, the $15 minimum wage that took effect is for the City of Sea-Tac, the suburb and commercial strip by the Seattle airport, not Seattle itself.  Seattle is discussing a higher minimum wage, but nothing has been decided yet.  Seattle has Washington State's minimum wage of $9.32.

I'm no longer that crazy about Seattle, but traffic and housing prices have gotten much worse while nightlife doesn't matter to me much.

[leroys73]

How about Bangkok or Rio?

[Zeffy]

Rio?

Don't get lost in a Favela. Otherwise you're done for.

[NE2]

Those are what, the top 20 cities to huff and post?

[Laura]

I love Ocean City...but a destination for 20-somethings? Really? Maybe I'm just biased since it's where I went as a kid every summer, so I think of it much differently - where Maryland spends its summers (down the ocean, hon).