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Look into the Old Salem part of Winston Salem North Carolina. It is the origianl settlement so you have the old houses and has cute restaurants and Salem college right off the city streets where the farmers market is. It's just a great part of the country. They have a web site just Old Salem .com
I'm surprised to see myself saying this, but you might want to at least visit Philadelphia (particularly the center city area). I think it has everything you asked for in your original post. However, it also has more than its share of social problems and some people (including me) find the culture here just too aggressive and rude. But Philadelphia does offer great walkability, a vibrant downtown, an excellent restaurant scene (ranging from expensive five star places to reasonably priced ethnic eateries), a wide range of cultural activities (art museums and galleries; classical music, jazz, rock/pop/hip-hop/R&B, "world music," etc.; ballet, modern, and jazz dance concerts; lectures and author events), and at least a certain segment of the population which would share your interest in discussing books and ideas and so forth. Politically, the city tends to be pretty liberal (sometimes in self-defeating ways, albeit--and I say this as someone more liberal than not). While there are certainly plenty of devoutly religious individuals living here, religion doesn't have the same dominant position in the day to day culture that it does in some parts of the country (i.e., you won't find too many people here asking you what church you go to as a standard topic of small talk).
But if you would consider Philadelphia, definitely do a lot of research first. For instance, if you were to decide to have children, you might want to send them to private schools here, given the situation throughout much of the city's public school system. So your budget would have to be adapted for that type of consideration.
These guys are looking to get away from Sweden's cold weather. Why would they want to live in Minnesota or Wisconsin. Just because they have a lot of people whose ancestors came over 200 years ago from Scandinavia?
Well, if you'd read the post carefully you'd notice they said theyre "not concerned with the weather". And besides, while Chicago and MN might have cold winters, the summers are eons better than what most other cities experience during the summer, unless you live in San Diego. So either way youre gonna have to suffer at some point, and Im not gonna direct them to some drab sunbelt city, just so they can enjoy milder winters but get burned alive in the summer. That would be cruel.
Well, if you'd read the post carefully you'd notice they said theyre "not concerned with the weather". And besides, while Chicago and MN might have cold winters, the summers are eons better than what most other cities experience during the summer, unless you live in San Diego. So either way youre gonna have to suffer at some point, and Im not gonna direct them to some drab sunbelt city, just so they can enjoy milder winters but get burned alive in the summer. That would be cruel.
Naw...directing them to those winters is cruel. Especially when we have this thing called AC and fair number of ice rinks in the sun belt now! You can have the best of both!
I don't want to stereotype too much, but I've lived or significantly worked from West Coast to East, Midwest to South (all but the Interior West). If you're looking for that sophisticated liberal urban culture of discussing books and meandering city streets, you might be let down by most large and small cities in the South, Southwest (especially L.A. and Phoenix) and Midwest - even major cities like Chicago and Atlanta, while having great amenities, surprised me for missing that air of sophistication in the overall energy of the places.
The major intellectual hubs are probably Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York (I found while living in Boston that, while having some of the best universities in the world, it is very sports obsessed and surprisingly provincially minded in general). I'm sure you'd be happy in the airy, progressive vibe of the Pacific Northwest as well.
But, if those are too expensive (if you're willing to sacrifice space, they might not be), then any college town in any region of the country will provide what you seek (Ithaca, NY, Ann Arbor, MI, Asheville, NC...) at a very affordable price and usually with natural beauty nearby. The downside is that most have some sort of slogan like "45 square miles surrounded by reality" because they're usually islands of tolerance and sophistication in seas that are not.
(These are my opinions based on experience of the general vibe of a place - please don't attack me for calling your city unsophisticated).
The OP said they "dont want to work too much to get a high standard of living." I think that would eliminate expensive places like DC, Bay Area, NYC,etc. I dont think places like Nashville, Little Rock, or Austin are as conservative as they used to be and have a cheaper cost of living. But since they want something with a walkable city center, may i recommend DENVER?
I don't want to stereotype too much, but I've lived or significantly worked from West Coast to East, Midwest to South (all but the Interior West). If you're looking for that sophisticated liberal urban culture of discussing books and meandering city streets, you might be let down by most large and small cities in the South, Southwest (especially L.A. and Phoenix) and Midwest - even major cities like Chicago and Atlanta, while having great amenities, surprised me for missing that air of sophistication in the overall energy of the places.
The major intellectual hubs are probably Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York (I found while living in Boston that, while having some of the best universities in the world, it is very sports obsessed and surprisingly provincially minded in general). I'm sure you'd be happy in the airy, progressive vibe of the Pacific Northwest as well.
But, if those are too expensive (if you're willing to sacrifice space, they might not be), then any college town in any region of the country will provide what you seek (Ithaca, NY, Ann Arbor, MI, Asheville, NC...) at a very affordable price and usually with natural beauty nearby. The downside is that most have some sort of slogan like "45 square miles surrounded by reality" because they're usually islands of tolerance and sophistication in seas that are not.
(These are my opinions based on experience of the general vibe of a place - please don't attack me for calling your city unsophisticated).
They said in the post they didn't want to have to live in an area with extremely high costs of living, so I think that eliminates the first four cities you listed. And cities in the South, Southwest, and Midwest are not as fast paced as New York, so of course they are going to seem mild in comparison.
I agree with you on the colelge towns though. Very good selections that they have from those that they might enjoy.
The OP said they "dont want to work too much to get a high standard of living." I think that would eliminate expensive places like DC, Bay Area, NYC,etc. I dont think places like Nashville, Little Rock, or Austin are as conservative as they used to be and have a cheaper cost of living. But since they want something with a walkable city center, may i recommend DENVER?
Having lived recently in the DC-Baltimore Metroplex, Denver is also a pretty expensive place to live by my reckoning. There's lots of the industry there I work in so I did research going there a time or two and I figured it would be more of a lateral move for us.
Kansas City and St. Louis are two good larger metros that are quite affordable. Not sure they'd be what these folks are looking for though.
Once again,
another person whose wishlist describes San Francisco almost perfectly except for one thing. Cost.
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And besides, while Chicago and MN might have cold winters, the summers are eons better than what most other cities experience during the summer, unless you live in San Diego. 
