Smart travel choices for brilliant babes

Golden Gate BridgeI love traveling to new cities, dreaming of a day when I might relocate, and until now, I didn't have a clue how to decide which cities are best for a cultured and confident woman. I usually use word of mouth to pick up on cities with a thriving arts scene and innovative cuisine, but my travel research just got easier.

WomenCo has a girl-power fueled index of the top 25 cities for women in the US. Yes, they use a lot of the same data as other best-of lists, but they look at female-specific stats too.

Better jobs for women and high diversity scores also equal a smoking hot cultural scene. From the top 3, Sexy San Francisco has the edgy Mission District; Boston has museums about everything and great New England Seafood; and New York is obviously America's cultural capital. But hit up any city on the list for your fix of world-class music, galleries, and restaurants! museums.

Plan a southern-belle style road-trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Nashville's country scene and cowboys in Austin. Or follow my try-before-I-die list with a visit to Oprah in Chicago; a cheese steak in Philly; and a Broadway show in New York City. And that isn't even touching the West Coast.

Top 25 Cities for Women

1. San Francisco, California

2. Boston, Massachusetts

3. NYC, New York

4. Washington, DC

5. Austin, Texas

6. Berkeley, California

7. Seattle, Washington

8. Ithaca, New York

9. Richmond, Virginia

10. Portland, Oregon

11. Chicago, Illinois

12. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

13. Nashville, Tennessee

14. Denver, Colorado

15. Burlington, Vermont

16. Minneapolis - St. Louis, Minnesota

17. LA, California

18. Madison, Wisconsin

19. St. Louis, Missouri

20. Providence, Rhode island

21. Portland, Maine

22. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

23. Atlanta, Georgia

24. Bethesda, Maryland

25. Stamford, Connecticut

What have these women-on-top cities inspired you to do?