July 4th Travel: Top 20 Fourth Of July Destinations In America

With the Independence Day Weekend coming up fast, people across the country are preparing for the madness of July 4th travel. But the nature of that travel is strikingly different this year than last.

On Tuesday, Priceline.com released its list of the Top 50 Destinations for July 4th, 2010. The most obvious change: last year's #1, New Orleans, fell to 26th on the list, almost certainly due to the oil spill. Another Gulf destination, Destin, FL -- 38th in last year's rankings -- didn't make this year's list.

But Priceline.com spokesman Brian Ek identified another trend in the data, as he told NBC Chicago:

"With the economy forcing many smaller towns to cut back or eliminate their fireworks displays, the beneficiaries are the big cities, like Chicago, Boston, New York City and Washington, DC, that traditionally put on elaborate July 4th events," Ek said.

So which city supplanted New Orleans as the #1 destination this year? Click through the list to find out!

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#20. Virginia Beach, VA

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Comments

[Monty Money]

12:19 AM on 07/01/2010

Chicago is a beautiful city! My family and I go there as often as we can, if fact, we are headed to Chicago this 4th of July weekend. We will be enjoying the fantastic sights of the city and the superb lake front. Also we are going to the annual 10 day summer event the "Taste of Chicago" right downtown on Lake Michigan. Come see for yourself what you have been missing!

[Boxotruth]

01:06 PM on 06/30/2010

Oh yeah. Go to Chicago and get killed from criminals. Smart move. 50 shootings in one day last week. Oh yeah gun ban really worked well. Morons!

[westreal]

02:30 PM on 06/30/2010

I was about to say something really great about Chicago and you brought me back down to reality. lol

[checkthefacts]

12:02 AM on 07/01/2010

Weren't you ever told if you make uniformed comments people will think your uninformed? If you take the time and effort it takes to become truly informed, rather than just parroting info you hear from the talking heads you might be taken seriously. Yes, Chicago is a fairly violent city and it has been for decades, probably dating back to before you were even born. If you where to take the time to actually check the Department of Justice statistics for yourself instead of letting others tell you what they want you to think, you would find, that although Chicago does have a relatively high violent crime rate per capita it is not in the top 10 U.S. cities. This tells me the violent crime rate in America says more about the U. S. than it does about Chicago. Also, if you would check, you would find Chicago has a violent crime rate about the same as Houston or Dallas/Ft, Worth or Miami. Also, the homicide rate in Chicago while way to high is about one half of what it was 15 or 20 years ago. So, please, we know we have a problem in certain areas of the city which encompass about 10% of the city's 235 square miles. Anyway, do you have some kind of axe to grind? Why would you flippantly try to "run-down' one of America's great cities for a problem they are trying to deal with? Are you that depraved?

[PoetPatriot]

11:24 AM on 06/30/2010

Honor our first veterans, our Founding Fathers on Independence Day.
Patriotic Poetry - http://www.Patriotic.PoetPatriot.com
Veteran Poetry - http://www.Veterans.PoetPatriot.com
Patriotic Rhymes - http://www.Liberty.PoetPatriot.com
TimeLines of Liberty - Includes Presidents before George Washington. - http://www.TimeLine.PoetPatriot.com
Black Patriots of the Revolution - http://www.Black.PoetPatriot.com
Women Patriots of the Revolution - http://www.Women.PoetPatriot.com

[Johnny Monsarrat]

10:05 AM on 06/30/2010

If you're in New England, I've posted 330 July 4th celebrations at http://boston.EVENTSinsider.com, all with manually verified websites, dates, and descriptions. It took me a week to do it and I think it's the biggest list ever.

[KIVPossum]

07:55 AM on 06/30/2010

Went through that list twice. Nope, not a place on it I want to be.

This 4th the local US ex-pats are pooling resources and doing our own fireworks display by a lake in town. Got a permit for it for a nominal bribe.

[ramal]

10:47 PM on 06/29/2010

A long, hot, holiday weekend, Chicago should have a hundred shootings.

[johnjohnson]

06:49 PM on 06/29/2010

If found some pretty interesting travel ideas/destinations in TravelWorld Magazine online, like this one http://issuu.com/jhemsworth/docs/travelworldmagazine.janfeb10sm/31, to Northern California wine country, which could be fun, relaxing and easy for the fourth. To find more travel ideas and articles visit TravelWorld Magazine's website, www.travelworldmagazine.com, which is the only online travel magazine in flash script, which is far easier and more pleasant to read.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

05:31 PM on 06/29/2010

I like that two of the top 20 destinations are in Canada...way to celebrate the birth of America.

[booboo111]

04:29 PM on 06/29/2010

If it's strictly for the fireworks, you can't do better than D.C. and Philly, but don't drive and take water, lots of it!

[Eykis]

04:05 PM on 06/29/2010

Hey, Hey, Hey - Music City, USA (Nashville) has one of the largest and best in the country. They usually show us on the national news!

[Elbrando]

03:55 PM on 06/29/2010

Excuse me Madison, WI has one of the largest fireworks displays in North America except for New York. Surrounded by four lakes and with its huge Rhythm and Booms display it knocks the socks off of other places. It didn't even make the top twenty.

[Chi--townfool]

04:41 PM on 06/29/2010

Actually Chicago has the largest 4th of July fireworks in North America....D**** cheesehead!!

[Terrible Towel]

04:50 PM on 06/29/2010

Not anymore. They now spread them across three places on the Lake instead of just at Navy Pier. It's going to suck.

[FrTown]

03:55 PM on 06/29/2010

Most of the people polled never been to DC
And why two cities in the poll are Canadian? One of which ahead of DC?
Garbage.

[Nick Katkevich]

03:48 PM on 06/29/2010

Bristol, Rhode Island

[rpasley]

04:51 PM on 06/29/2010

Best 4th of July parade in the U.S.

[Karl Herring]

03:48 PM on 06/29/2010

What a joke! Philadelphia is the birthplace of this nation's independence and has one of the largest July 4th celebrations in the country. How do they not even make this ridiculous list???

[JoeYD26]

03:41 PM on 06/29/2010

Philadelphia, birthplace of our nation, isn't even on the list? What the heck?!