Travel
One of the best tiny towns to visit in 2021 – Film Daily , 2021
One of eight Virginia Towns that Could Star in a Hallmark Christmas movie – Travel Awaits , 2021
Small Town Perfect for a Winter Getaway – House Method , 2018
One of the eight best “Fall Foliage Cities.” – Where to Retire Magazine , 2018
#2 of 30 Most Gorgeous Fall Towns – CarRentals.com , 2017
#6 in America’s Favorite Towns – Travel & Leisure, 2016
By the Side of the Road Inn & Cottages is listed in the Top 10 Little Known Inns in VA – Onlyinyourstate.com , 2016
One of 10 Most Exciting Places in Virginia – Movoto , 2015
By the Side of the Road Inn and Cottages Joins Diamond Collection – Bedandbreakfast.com, 2014
Outdoors
One of Eight Awesome Mountain Biking Towns – Local Freshies, 2022
One of the region’s Best Biking Meccas – Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine , 2018
One of 10 Best Blue Ridge Bike Town – Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine , 2017
Bluestone Trail has been listed as a Virginia Treasure – Commonwealth of Virginia , 2017
One of the 20 Best Mountain Bike Towns in America – National Geographic , 2017
Heritage Oaks Golf Course voted #1 Golf Course in the Shenandoah Valley – Virginia Living Magazine , 2017
Shenandoah National Park is listed in the 50 Most Beautiful Places in America – Conde Nast Traveler , 2016
One of the 10 Best Blue Ridge Bike Towns – Blue Ridge Outdoors , 2016
#3 Happiest Town in the Mountains – Blue Ridge Outdoors, 2016
Most Popular Regional Travel Destination for Mountain Bikers – Singletracks , 2015
One of America’s Top 10 Mountain Bike Towns – National Geographic Society, 2015
Bronze Award Bicycle Friendly Community – League of American Bicyclists, 2015
James Madison University honored as a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly University – League of American Bicyclists , 2013
Eastern Mennonite University honored as a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly University – League of American Bicyclists , 2012
Elevated to a Bronze Level Ride Center – International Mountain Bicycling Association , 2011
Honored as a Bronze Award Bicycle Friendly Community – League of American Bicyclists , 2011
Designated an Appalachian Trail Community – Appalachian Trail Conservancy , 2011
Food & Drink
Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint ranked #19 of 50 Best Burger Joints in America – Business Insider , 2016
Little Grill Collective ranked #123 of 240 Reaseons to Celebrate America Right Now – Time Magazine , 2016
CubanBurger is listed as the Most Over-The-Top Burger in Virginia – Esquire , 2016
Corgans’ Publick House is listed as one of the 9 Extrememly Tiny Restaurants That Are Actually Amazing – Onlyinyourstate.com , 2016
Bella Luna Wood-Fired Pizza is listed in the Top 10 Italian Restaurants The Will Make Your Taste Buds Explode – Onlyinyourstate.com , 2016
Harrisonburg is considered the Pizza Capital of Virginia – WTVR-TV , 2016
FoodBarFood among the 14 Restaurants that Prove Brunch is the Best Meal of the Day – Onlyinyourstate.com , 2016
Xenia Kebab Grill is listed in the Top 13 “Hole in the Wall” Restaurants that will blow your taste buds away – Onlyinyourstate.com , 2016
Downtown Harrisonburg named Virginia’s first Culinary District – City of Harrisonburg, 2014
Attractions
Harrisonburg Farmers Market is one of the 14 Incredible Farmers Markets in VA that is a Must Visit – Onlyinyourstate.com , 2016
Massanutten WaterPark Named Top 10 Best Water Parks of 2016 – Parents Magazine , 2016
A Dream Come True Playground was named one of 13 inclusive playgrounds that are downright awesome – Red Tricycle , 2015
History
Designated a Preserve America Community, 2009
Designated a National and Virginia Historic District – National Park Service, 2004
Designated an Arts and Cultural District in Virginia, 2001
Business
#32 for Best Small Places for Business & Careers – Forbes , 2015
Downtown Renaissance receives National Trust Main Street Accreditation , 2011
Designated a Virginia Main Street Community, 2004
Environment
Top 10 Cleanest Places to Live in the U.S. – American Lung Association , 2022
Tree City USA – The Arbor Day Foundation , 2019
Tree City USA – The Arbor Day Foundation, 2017
US with the cleanest air – ‘State of the Air ‘ reports by the American Lung Association , 2017
Harrisonburg Farmers’ Market named 2017 Green Travel Leader – Virginia Green Program , 2017
Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center named 2016 Virginia Green Visitor Center of the Year – Virginia Green Program , 2016
Home to over 33 Virginia Green businesses, organizations, and events – Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Tree City USA Community – Arbor Day Foundation, 2004
Lifestyle
9th among over 350 metro areas in Dwellsy’s guide to Top Cities for Renters . It was the only Virginia metro area ranked to land in the top 50. – Dwellsy , 2021
One of the Best Cities for First Time Homebuyers – CNBC , 2021
Best City to Retire in Virginia – Insurify , 2021
One of the best cities in the South to move to after the pandemic – Business Insider , 2020
Editor’s Choice for a Top Dating Destination – DatingAdvice.com , 2020
One of the Top 10 Best Places for Millennials to Move to in the US – Reviews.org , 2019
Runner up as the Best Place to Retire in Virginia – Forbes , 2018
#10 in Virginia for Safest Cities – Safe Home , 2017
#1 most popular mid-size city to relocate – Movebuddha.com , 2017
One of 15 Affordable Small Towns We Love – Southern Living , 2017
#10 Fastest Growing City in Virginia – HomeSnacks , 2016
#6 in Virginia’s Safest Cities From Severe Weather – HomeownersInsurance.com, 2015
College & University
One of the 10 Most Livable College Towns in America – Strategistico , 2022
One of the Best Places in the Country for Students Seeking a High-Quality Education – College Factual , 2019
One of the most charming college town Main Streets – Best Value Schools , 2017-2018
Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan Cebuano Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Esperanto Estonian Filipino Finnish French Frisian Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hausa Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Kazakh Khmer Korean Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kyrgyz Lao Latin Latvian Lithuanian Luxembourgish Macedonian Malagasy Malay Malayalam Maltese Maori Marathi Mongolian Myanmar (Burmese) Nepali Norwegian Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Samoan Scottish Gaelic Serbian Sesotho Shona Sindhi Sinhala Slovak Slovenian Somali Spanish Sudanese Swahili Swedish Tajik Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Uzbek Vietnamese Welsh Xhosa Yiddish Yoruba Zulu