Don’t want to fight the crowds on your next vacation? Try these wonderful but undervisited travel destinations instead.

DURANGO, COLORADO

This small town, nestled in a river valley at the foot of the forested San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado, offers an irresistible mix of history and activity.

There’s a caught-in-time feel to Durango—the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, in operation since 1882, uses Victorian coaches to carry tourists along a 45-mile route that gains 3,000 feet in elevation as it crosses narrow bridges and roaring white-water canyons. The railroad was featured in the train robbery scene of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (round-trip tickets start at $59).

Durango also offers white-water rapids, a ski resort and close proximity to Mesa Verde National Park, 35 miles to the west. Durango makes a great starting point for a drive on the San Juan Skyway, a 233-mile scenic route through stunning mountain passes.

Information: www.Durango.org.

Where to stay: The Strater Hotel (rooms start at $109).

MOAB, UTAH

This small town in Utah’s “Red Rock Country,” about 240 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, offers movie-quality scenery and outdoor adventure. It’s 10 minutes from Arches National Park, with its thousands of natural salmon-colored sandstone arches, and 40 minutes from Canyon-lands National Park, Utah’s largest park, offering hiking and scenic drives.

Moab sits in a green valley split by the Colorado River, making it a prime location for river rafting. Summer can be very hot, so the best time to visit is either between April and early May or between September and mid-November. September also is notable for the renowned Moab Music Festival, featuring chamber music, jazz and bluegrass.

Information: www.DiscoverMoab.com.

Where to stay: Gonzo Inn offers retro 1970s’ charm (from $160).

BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA, MINNESOTA

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area along the northeastern edge of Minnesota is a magnificent wilderness preserve, with one million protected acres. Another 1.2 million protected acres lie across the border in Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park. Together these parks have more than 1,000 lakes. This massive wilderness is free of cars and largely free of motorboats. The transportation of choice is the canoe. Some visitors paddle and portage (carry their canoe over land) from lake to lake for days or weeks, camping on the shore and dining on walleye and northern pike that they catch themselves.

Winter is magic here, too. Nearby Ely, Minnesota, is the Sled Dog Capital of the continental US. Polar explorer Paul Schurke offers dogsled trips at his Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge.

Information: 218-626-4300, www.fs.fed.us (select “Superior” from the “By Name” pull-down menu, click the link for “Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness”).

Where to stay: When not camping, try the handsome log cabins of the Burntside Lodge (from $156).

BLUEGRASS COUNTRY, KENTUCKY

This is among America’s most genteel and elegant landscapes. Tara-style manor houses and oak-plank fences abound. It’s also the world’s leading center of thoroughbred horse breeding.

Bluegrass country is dissected by two of America’s most scenic byways, the Old Frankfort Pike and the Paris Pike. These roads meander past bucolic horse farms and through charming towns. The International Museum of the Horse in the Kentucky Horse Park north of Lexington is worth a stop, as is The Keeneland racecourse in Lexington. Keeneland is the South’s most beautiful track, with elegant limestone grandstands in a tree-shaded setting. Watch workout sessions at Keeneland from dawn to 10 am, then enjoy breakfast at the Track Kitchen, a local favorite.

Nearby Berea, Kentucky, is an idyllic town known for its hundreds of potters, painters and other artisans.

Information: www.VisitLex.com.

Where to stay: The Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg (from $100) or Boone Tavern Hotel in Berea (from $130).

BRANDYWINE VALLEY DELAWARE/PENNSYLVANIA

Brandywine Valley, straddling the Delaware/Pennsylvania border, is an unparalleled region of manicured gardens, grand historic estates and interesting small museums. It’s best experienced by following the 25-mile Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway from Wilmington, Delaware, to the Brandywine Battlefield, where one of the largest battles of the Revolutionary War took place on September 11, 1777.

Several former du Pont family residences in and around Wilmington are worth a visit, including Nemours, which is filled with exquisite furniture, rugs, tapestries and museum-quality art and has the largest formal French garden in the US, and Winterthur, arguably the leading museum of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century American antiques and decorative arts.

Also worth a stop is the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, which displays art by the Wyeth family.

Information: www.VisitWilmingtonDE.com or www.TheBrandywine.com.

Where to stay: The Inn at Montchanin Village in Montchanin, Delaware (from $192), or Hotel du Pont in Wilmington (from $161).

BLOCK ISLAND, RHODE ISLAND

Block Island manages to be both sophisticated and unpretentious. It’s a barefoot-and-bicycle kind of place, with rolling green hills, hundreds of freshwater ponds, 17 miles of beach and dramatic 250-foot bluffs that remind many of Ireland. The Nature Conservancy considers Block Island “one of the last great places in the Western Hemisphere.”

Roughly one-third of Block Island’s land is set aside as wildlife refuge, with more than 30 miles of hiking trails and gorgeous cliffside biking paths.

Block Island isn’t exactly undiscovered—thousands of tourists squeeze onto this 11-square-mile gem on summer weekends—but it’s little-known outside its region. Visit in September or October for much sparser crowds and the best bird-watching.

The island is 12 miles from the mainland and can be reached by ferry from Narragansett, Rhode Island…New London, Connecticut…or Montauk, New York.

Information: www.BlockIslandChamber.com.

Where to stay: Great options include Hotel Manisses (from $75) and The 1661 Inn (from $90) or the Sea Breeze Inn (from $150).

GRAFTON, VERMONT

This is a lost-in-time, picture-perfect New England village of 600 people less than 60 miles northeast of Bennington. It’s a wonderful destination for those who like the lazy pace of yesteryear. Historical buildings include The Grafton Inn, built in 1801, where Rudyard Kipling once honeymooned.

There’s a cluster of interesting shops along the tree-lined main street, and the town is credited with restarting Vermont’s handcrafted cheese industry—watch one of the world’s finest cheddars being made at the Grafton Village Cheese Company.

Drive to nearby Bellows Falls to catch the Green Mountain Flyer, a vintage sightseeing train that makes a 90-minute round-trip run past covered bridges, bucolic small towns and an explosion of color each autumn when the leaves change.

Information: www.GraftonVermont.org.

Where to stay: The Grafton Inn (from $155).

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