Tallahassee

Tallahassee maintains a tranquility quite different from the sun-and-surf coastal towns. Tallahassee is Florida with a Southern accent. The only Southern capital spared in the Civil War, Tallahassee has preserved its past. So along with Florida State University, the perennial Seminoles football champions, and FAMU's fabled "Marching 100" band, the city has more than a touch of the Old South. Vestiges of the city's colorful past are found throughout. For example, in the capitol complex, the turn-of-the-20th-century Old Capitol building is strikingly paired with the New Capitol skyscraper. The canopies of ancient oaks and spring bowers of azaleas line many streets; among the best "canopy roads" are St. Augustine, Miccosukee, Meridian, Old Bainbridge, and Centerville, all dotted with country stores and antebellum plantation houses. If you visit between March and April, you'll find flowers in bloom, the legislature in session, and the Springtime Tallahassee festival in full swing.