For a town of 40,000 people, Amherst packs an unusual concentration of things worth visiting — a function of three colleges and one of American literature's quietest giants. The Emily Dickinson Museum is the obvious headline; beyond it, the Beneski Museum of Natural History, the Mead Art Museum, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, and the Yiddish Book Center each deserve a half-day on their own terms.
Add the Norwottuck Rail Trail for a half-day on foot or by bike, and a wander up the Amherst College and UMass campuses for the architecture and the views, and you have several days of solid material in what looks at first like a one-coffee-shop town.