Known as New York's tough neighbour with a major international airport, Newark is a destination in its own right. The city is undergoing revitalisation efforts and its attractions include several large parks, art galleries and architecturally significant buildings. The Newark Museum is a complex of art and science exhibits, a mini-zoo, a planetarium and more. Theatre, music and dance performances take place at venues such as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Newark Symphony Hall.

Sitting high atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers, the city of Vicksburg was the setting of a bloody 47 day siege during the Civil War. The site of this epic battle is now Vicksburg National Military Park, preserving original fortifications and the U.S.S. Cairo, an ironclad gunboat that once prowled the waters of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg is also the place where Coca-Cola was first bottled, a fact that is happily immortalized at the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum.

Is there any possible way Las Vegas could not be on our "best nightlife" list? The only way we could possibly omit it is on a technicality—since you can do pretty much anything 24/7 in Vegas, it might be wrong to call it "nightlife."