Bethlehem is being lauded by yet another national media outlet.<\/p>\n
CNN named the Lehigh Valley city as one of America\u2019s Best Towns to Visit in 2026<\/a>. The list was released Wednesday.<\/p>\n A CNN spokesperson said hundreds of destinations nationwide were considered before selecting the top 10 based \u201con factors including attractions, food and drink, arts and culture, local identity, accessibility, proximity to other notable destinations and overall visitor experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Bethlehem was ranked fourth behind Sarasota, Florida; New Haven, Connecticut; and Greenville, South Carolina.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s rich history, celebrated Main Street and holiday-hub identity helped put Bethlehem in the top 10.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Bethlehem no longer produces steel. But its fabled industrial history lives on at the former Bethlehem Steel site, where visitors can tour the rusting plant and enjoy outdoor events in the shadows of the company\u2019s towering blast furnaces, which punctuate the city\u2019s skyline,\u201d CNN said. \u201cAfter some lean years, Bethlehem is thriving again, thanks to a picturesque Main Street, its appeal as a twinkly Christmastime destination and the US\u2019 newest UNESCO World Heritage site.\u201d<\/p>\n Other national honors for Bethlehem this year include being named one of the best places in America to spend July 4<\/a>\u00a0by Travel + Leisure magazine, and Bethlehem\u2019s Main Street was named the best in the country<\/a> by USA Today for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n The rest of CNN\u2019s top 10 included: Fort Collins, Colorado; Burlington, Vermont; Juneau, Alaska; Iowa City, Iowa; Lawrence, Kansas; and Roanoke, Virginia.<\/p>\n CNN said its third annual list \u201clooks beyond some of American tourism\u2019s heaviest hitters to find less-discovered communities or places whose unexpected histories and curiosities have been obscured by splashier attractions.\u201d<\/p>\n CNN Travel editors asked readers and staffers for nominations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bethlehem is being lauded by yet another national media outlet. CNN named the Lehigh Valley city as one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1391,157,182,139,434,28,432],"class_list":["post-233019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-area","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-northampton-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}