Attention wanna-be Mensa members and braniacs. School’s in, and now is a great time to match IQ points with the brightest of the bright. Why not take a trip to some of the world’s intellectual Meccas, institutions that will make even the smartest traveler feel like Homer Simpson.

• Geeks with tans, that’s what you’ll find on the sunny Palo Alto campus of Stanford University. The sprawling, pastoral Stanford campus (a.k.a. “the Farm”) is regarded as the most beautiful on the West Coast (although the tree huggers across the bay at Berkley might disagree). And the surrounding Silicon Valley will give you plenty of opportunities to get your nerd on, talking tech with Apple programmers. Another smart bet is to drive north to explore San Francisco, or to kill some brain cells in Northern California’s wine country.
  • Flights to San Francisco
  • Hotels in Palo Alto
  • Hear what other Kayakers say about Palo Alto
• College rivals Harvard and MIT make Cambridge, Massachusetts a tough place to win at bar trivia. Even the village idiot has a PhD. See if you can still split the atom after a few beers at Miracle of Science bar in Central Square, near MIT. Or head to Pinocchio’s Pizza in Harvard Square and have your own “Good Will Hunting” moment by mentally dressing down some Ivy League jerk (and grab a slice of the best pizza in Boston) Check out the tiny Café Pamplona at any time to do a few shots, of espresso. As we all know caffeine, and beer are what truly fuel academia.
  • Flights to Boston
  • Hotels in Cambridge
  • Hear what other Kayakers say about Cambridge
• If the provincial intellectual snobbery of Cambridge, Mass is below your elitist tastes, you’ll feel right at home in its sister city. Cambridge and Oxford are just a short train ride from London. Established in 1096, Oxford is the oldest English-speaking University in the world, we’re talking real ye olde school here. Bask in the kind of old European ambiance that makes Harvard feel like a Wal Mart. Oxford is the home of such illustrious alum as Roger Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh, Lewis Carroll and the inventor of Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss.
  • Flights to London
  • Hotels in Oxford
  • Hear what other Kayakers say about London
• * Beating Oxford by a mere six years (in your face Oxford), the University of Bologna is the oldest still-operating university in the world. At this time of year, the bars, cafes, and squares are teeming with students, and an eclectic mix of concerts, art exhibits, and ballet and theater performances that will broaden the mind so much, your head might not fit through your hotel room door. If you’re feeling intimidated by Bologna’s intelligencia, come back at the end of the school year, when traditional commencement celebrations involve activities like graduates wearing diapers and standing in fountains while reciting Dante. Not the same as the time you streaked through campus singing “Freebird”, but it’s the thought that counts.
  • Flights to Bologna
  • Hotels in Bologna
  • Hear what other Kayakers say about Bologna

Get the Fare Buzz for these college towns from your home airport.

Yours in the smartest of smarty pants.
Steve and Paul, Kayak.com co-founders

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 11:43 am and is filed under Newsletters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.