CNN names Lawrence one of America’s 10 best towns to visit

Lawrence’s new spot on CNN’s list of America’s 10 best towns to visit arrives with a practical test: whether national attention turns into more visitors on Massachusetts Street, fuller hotel rooms and stronger sales for downtown shops and restaurants.

CNN Travel released the 2026 ranking Wednesday, July 1, and placed Lawrence at No. 9. The list was drawn from reader and staff nominations, with editors weighing dining, nightlife, proximity to sites of interest and identity. CNN’s headline for the city, “The American town that keeps rising from the ashes,” leaned into the kind of resilience that has long shaped Lawrence’s image.

City Commissioner Kristine Polian, speaking downtown on July 1, said the recognition made her unusually excited and connected it to a bigger moment for the city, especially with the attention already building around the World Cup. Businesses up and down Massachusetts Street had reason to see the ranking as more than a flattering mention: a national travel list can function as free marketing for the restaurants, boutiques and hotels that rely on visitors deciding Lawrence is worth a stop.

Barry Neild, CNN Travel’s global editor, visited Lawrence this spring for the research and said Mass. Street immediately struck him as a place with “independent-store charm” and a strong destination feel. He also said he could see why a visitor might think, “I could live here.” Neild framed Lawrence as part of a larger travel story too, saying perceptions of the United States as a tourist destination have declined in recent years even as cities like Lawrence still deliver the kind of experience travelers imagine.

The timing gives the ranking immediate business stakes. Lawrence is already drawing World Cup-related attention because Algeria is using the city as its base camp. Score Lawrence opened a pop-up headquarters at 1026 Massachusetts St. with hours from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the tournament, closed Wednesdays and Sundays, with extended hours on watch-party dates. The space includes screens, a live bracket, Score Lawrence and Team Algeria scarves, Lego displays by Limestone Community School students and artwork created by animals from the Prairie Park Nature Center.

Earlier coverage said Lawrence had 1,400 hotel room nights available and expected them to be used as spillover from the Kansas City matches reached Douglas County. Another report put the city about a 45-minute drive from Kansas City International Airport, a detail that helps explain why downtown leaders, hotels and event organizers have been preparing for more traffic.

Lawrence’s deeper branding also matches CNN’s pitch. The city was founded as a free-state center of resistance to slavery, burned in Quantrill’s Raid in 1863 and rebuilt, a history that still underpins the city’s public identity as resilient, distinctive and worth the trip.