Roanoke is the largest city in western Virginia — a former railroad town of about 100,000 people tucked into a wide valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains, roughly midway between Washington DC and Knoxville on the Interstate 81 corridor. It grew up in the 1880s as the headquarters of the Norfolk & Western Railway, and the city's restored downtown still revolves around the 1882 Hotel Roanoke and the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which displays steam locomotives in an old freight station by the tracks. The adjacent O. Winston Link Museum and the contemporary Taubman Museum of Art round out the cultural core, anchored by the daily bustle of the historic City Market.
The real reason to stop in Roanoke is the scenery and the access to the mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs right past the city and some of its most spectacular stretches are within a short drive — McAfee Knob and Dragon's Tooth on the Appalachian Trail, both about 20 minutes west, rank among the most-photographed viewpoints on the entire 3,500-km trail. Above the city itself, the Roanoke Star — a massive 88-foot neon star on Mill Mountain that has been illuminated every night since 1949 — gives the city both its nickname ("Star City of the South") and one of the best panoramic views of the valley.