Cleveland

Cleveland does not ask for your sympathy and doesn't need your pity — it's a city that has quietly assembled one of the best cultural footprints in the Midwest. The Cleveland Museum of Art has free general admission and a collection that rivals Boston's. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is legitimately world-class. The West Side Market is the best covered farmers market in the country. Ohio City and Tremont have a restaurant density that would embarrass cities twice Cleveland's size. The lakefront sunsets over Lake Erie are genuinely stunning, and the city has been doing serious things with its riverfront. Cleveland is not the punchline it used to be.