Hey, hi! I went to Skidmore, as did my spouse – the town it’s in, Saratoga Springs, is incredible. SPAC (Saratoga Perfoming Arts Center) is a great space (I saw Jimmy Buffet there, I’m old). There’s a historic racetrack, balloon rides, a winery, TONS of bars and restaurants, Victorian history up the wazoo. I can’t recommend Saratoga Springs enough. And, because it’s got so many things going for it, you don’t see that town/gown resentment you see at some schools which are the main economy in other towns. However, Skidmore isn’t as elite as Vassar/Wesleyan.
yes Bryn Mawr has a lot of decent restaurants but I’m not sure I’d call it a traditional college town like was mentioned.
I don’t think OP mean town as in, " Is this a good town or area." I think he/she may mean college town as in a town built around a college. For example UGA. The area around UGA caters to the university. It’s a college town. Correct me if I’m wrong OP that is what I got from your post.
If the above is what you mean I second Amherst.
Amherst might have the best combination of nice college town and genuine socio-economic diversity that can be found out there.
Whitman (Walla Walla)
BMC and Haverford are barely different towns, though they are different stops on the train line . . . they are 1 mile apart (walked it many a time), and while many of the local shops focus on the the Main Line resident rather than college students in the area, there were plenty of dive bars, pizza, and good music in the area, anywhere from Ardmore to Villanova ( a distance of a grand total of 4 miles along Lancaster Ave).
Denison in Granville is pretty great – campus is gorgeous and Granville is a lovely village, with plenty of restaurants, a terrific coffee shop, and the famous Whit’s custard shop. The town is quite the weekend destination for cyclists and others out for the day.
But all depends on your definition of “college town.” These are not Madison, WI or Ann Arbor, MI.
I’d also say Skidmore. Colgate’s town has been described as one of America’s “friendliest” (Forbes), but the school would not appear to match your other criteria.
The University of Mary Washington is a public LAC in the cute town of Fredericksburg, VA. It’s a nice walkable downtown with restaurants and a riverfront. You can also walk to the train that goes to DC.
Sevening Skidmore /Saratoga Spring and diving Smith/Northampton.
Northfield /st Olaf + Carleton.
The Claremont consortium may count, as would bmc /haverford, but it’s depend what OP means.
Saratoga Springs is a great town. We toured Oberlin years ago with younger d and unless it has been built up it seemed to me to be several blocks all around the campus with some coffee shops and restaurants. Actually Hanover is pretty similar in the way Dartmouth is located.
For anyone interested, Saratoga Casino is opening a very nice hotel with a Mortons Steakhouse 
D attends Skidmore and is doing a research project there this summer…she’ll be popping into the casino to look for a job this summer, they are advertising lots of jobs!
St. Olaf is also in Northfield, MN and it is a nice LAC.
My daughter applied and was accepted early decision to Haverford after choosing it over at eleven other LACs she visited- Wesleyan- one block town with no direct public transportation to either Boston or NYC. Mount Holyoke- no town at all, just a small stripe mall and quite a bit removed from the other 4 schools in the consortium. Smith- liked North Hampton but wasn’t up for an all girl’s school. Williams- beautiful campus, but too remote. Skidmore- liked Saratoga Springs, did not like the campus. Bard- no town at all, did not like the campus. Vassar- liked the campus, saw anti-Vassar banners in run down Poughkeepsie and did want to attend a school that was at odds with the community. Lafayette- immediate area seemed a little run down like it had definitely seen better days, even more so for Lehigh in Bethlehem half an hour away. Colgate- on a hill overlooking the quaint all American small town of Hamilton, but too remote. Hamilton- the nearby village of Clinton was well kept and adorable, but also too remote. Haverford College won her over for every reason. The town of Haverford is a well kept and safe suburb with a train station right across the street to the campus giving her access to Philadelphia in 20 minutes and NYC in an hour and 45 minutes. Haverford has a great relationship with the community as they have an open campus where locals are welcome to walk their dogs and run their nature trails anytime.
I want to reiterate the suggestion of Claremont by @intparent, assuming the OP is open to the West Coast. Claremont is a very nice little town with the nickname “the city of trees and PhD’s.” Lots of restaurants and little shops plus a Trader Joe’s all within walking distance of campus, plus Metrolink to LA and plenty of college sponsored trips to LA. Pomona is comparable to Amherst in terms of socioeconomic diversity. http://www.jkcf.org/five-colleges–universities-finalists-for-1-million-cooke-prize-amherst-davidson-pomona-rice-and-stanford/. Domestic students of color make up 52% of the Class of 2020 and internationals are 11%. https://www.pomona.edu/news/2016/03/18-introducing-pomona-college-class-2020. Undocumented students make up 4% of the student body. Plus the rest of the consortium adds even more variety to the mix of students across the 5c’s.
Pomona is a great school, but I found the town of Claremont to be 90 percent wealthy retirees, and maybe 10 percent students. It didn’t feel like a college town at all.
I’ve only been there twice, but that was my impression.
I’ve been to Haverford. I don’t remember there being a vibrant downtown. There was a street with some restaurants. When I think of the perfect college town I think of Athens, GA, Bloomington, IN and maybe Madison, WI. Those are just examples. Like others have said, Skidmore is next to a vibrant town if you want a smaller school.
“Actually Hanover is pretty similar in the way Dartmouth is located.”
Yes, the layout around the green is similar. On the other hand, Hanover is super upscale compared to Oberlin.
OU in Athens, OH has the same kind of layout. I liked that town much more than I expected to, and the countryside around it is beautiful.
Depending on what exactly you are looking for by “college town” this may or may not fit, but what about Lewis and Clark in Portland OR. It’s not walkable to downtown Portland, but there’s a regular shuttle, and Portland, while not a traditional college town, is very fun for young people.
I get the impression from some of the OP’s other threads and comments that she is looking for a LAC with a fairly open curriculum but also a student body with variety that isn’t dominated by one type of student, whether it’s the jock type, the frat type, the artsy type, etc. Again, I think the Claremont consortium is great for that because each of the 5c’s has a slightly different student body so you get an interesting mix of science nerds, Wall Street wannabes, environmentalists, political activists, social do-gooders, artsy types, jocks, hippies, etc.
@ThankYouforHelp I don’t claim by any means that Claremont is the “best” college town, just that the part known as the “Village” is quite nice and very accessible for students. It’s definitely better than you would expect for suburban SoCal. Here’s an enthusiastic article from the Sacramento Bee about the virtues of Claremont as a college town.
Read more at: http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article4033433.html
Map of the “village” here: http://www.thevillageclaremont.com/map.html
The residents of Gambier, Ohio may be surprised to hear that @momcinco . There isn’t much to it but it does exist.