Is the Midwest Worth Visiting or the Most Gaslit Travel Region in America?

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Is the Midwest worth visiting? That depends on who you ask—and how honest they’re willing to be. Travel magazines love to call it “underrated,” but most travelers skip it entirely unless they have family nearby or a connecting flight. I live here. And after years of reading think pieces trying to rebrand the region, I’ve got thoughts.

Table of Contents

• Is the Midwest Worth Visiting?
• I Don’t Hate the Midwest
• Who Is This For?
• The Great Midwest Gaslight
• The Myth of “Real America”
• Let’s Be Honest
• You’re Allowed to Say No

I Don’t Hate the Midwest

I don’t hate the Midwest. Yes, I live here. But I didn’t choose it. I landed here because my husband was stationed at the Rock Island Arsenal—one of many practical reasons people end up in the Midwest. Nobody’s planning a dream move to the Quad Cities. You relocate here for the military, a job, affordable housing, or family. You make it work. And you keep your expectations in check.

But every time I see another travel article describing the Midwest as “underrated,” I pause. Underrated by whom? People from the coasts don’t vacation here. International travelers rarely pass through unless they’re visiting Chicago—which, let’s be honest, most of them don’t even associate with “the Midwest” until someone from Illinois reminds them.

So why does the travel industry keep pushing this narrative? If we have to keep asking whether the Midwest is worth visiting, maybe we already know the answer.

Who Is This For?

The Midwest has become a tourism project. A fixer-upper. The regional influencers and marketers try to sell like a charming but overlooked character in a Hallmark movie.

It’s affordable. It’s friendly. And it’s “authentic.” That’s the pitch.

But the truth is, most of the people who call the Midwest a “hidden gem” already live here. They’re not flying in from L.A. for a quiet weekend in Peoria. They’re talking up their backyard because it’s theirs—and maybe because they’re tired of it being dismissed by people with passports full of stamps.

If you live in New York or San Francisco—or you’re coming from abroad—you don’t plan a trip to the Midwest unless something pulls you in. A wedding. A funeral. A family reunion. You pass through. You don’t linger.

According to the National Travel and Tourism Office, less than 10% of international visitors make it to the Midwest at all. And of those, the overwhelming majority head to Chicago. The rest of the region? Ignored.

The Great Midwest Gaslight

Travel marketers. Tourism boards. Content creators on the hunt for something “different.” They’ve spent years telling us we’ve been missing out on a culturally rich, visually stunning, and affordable slice of Americana. They pitch the Midwest like it’s the next Lisbon. However, not every cornfield or covered bridge makes the Midwest worth visiting—despite what the brochures suggest.

It’s not. And it doesn’t need to be.

I live here. I know how to make the most of it. Thankfully, I enjoy walking river trails and wandering into antique stores just to kill time. I know which small towns are worth a Saturday drive and which ones look better on a brochure than they feel in real life. I count it as a win when I find a cafe that doesn’t close at 3 p.m., serves something stronger than drip coffee, and has at least one vegetarian option that isn’t a side salad.

But here’s the thing: I’ve also lowered the bar—a lot. I’ve celebrated mediocrity not because it was what I wanted, but because it was available. I’ve praised things as “charming” when, really, they were just clean and open. That’s the quiet compromise of life here—learning to appreciate what’s here while quietly mourning what isn’t.

The Myth of “Real America”

And layered into that is another kind of myth: that this is where the “real Americans” live. The Midwest is the moral center of the country. It represents what the rest of us have forgotten.

But realness doesn’t mean better. It doesn’t mean more grounded or more honest or more American. It just means different. And sometimes, it’s just code for sameness, safety, and suspicion of change.

The frustration isn’t that the Midwest is bad. It’s that it’s constantly being sold as something it’s not. The Midwest is not a sleeper hit. It’s not “emerging.” This place isn’t undiscovered. It’s a region people know about—and most have consciously chosen to skip. So when I see another glowing write-up trying to convince people otherwise, I don’t feel inspired. I feel a little lied to.

Let’s Be Honest

What I don’t love about the Midwest is that—outside the major cities—the food leans a little bland, the culture feels thinner, and the worldview often stops at the state line. Yes, people know what Thai food is. You can find a decent bánh mì or pad see ew if you look hard enough. There are Asian markets where you can buy kimchi, instant ramen, or even durian tucked in a freezer near the back. And on weekends, if you’re lucky, you might get a steaming bowl of pho with a generous side of fresh herbs.

But these experiences still feel like novelties. You don’t stumble into them the way you would in more cosmopolitan places—they take effort, planning, sometimes a long drive. They aren’t part of the everyday rhythm. They exist on the edges, not in the flow. And that’s the part that wears on you.

Because that lack of variety—on the plate, in the music, in the street signs or the accents or the bookstores—starts to chip away at your sense of movement and connection. The region can feel insular, even when you’re trying to open a window. It’s not that people are unfriendly. It’s that curiosity doesn’t always stretch far. And if you’re someone who craves complexity, texture, and perspective, the Midwest can feel much smaller than it actually is.

You’re Allowed to Say No

Not every region needs to be a travel darling. The Midwest doesn’t need to be trendy to be valuable. It can offer calm. However, it can offer space. It can offer a kind of stillness that doesn’t perform for social media—and for some, that’s exactly what they’re looking for.

But let’s stop pretending it’s something it’s not. Let’s stop gaslighting people into choosing destinations out of guilt, obligation, or the pressure to be a “different” kind of traveler.

The Midwest is not underrated. It’s accurately rated—for now. And that’s not a dig. It’s just a reality check. If you live here and love it, great. And if you visit and find something special, even better. But if you’d rather go somewhere else—somewhere with more spice, more diversity, more energy—go. Marketing teams want you to believe the Midwest is worth visiting; my experience says: sometimes, maybe.

We’ll be right here. Reading another think piece that tries to make us trendy.

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