Rural commute to Bentonville <15min? (Fayetteville, Springdale: rentals, house, living in)

[CairoCon]

Hi there,

I am moving to Bentonville soon for work and am trying to find a location based on some pretty specific criteria - mainly commute related. It'd be great to get input on some towns and rural areas to look at, particularly more off the beaten path, rural communities.

On the commute side: as towns go, Fayetteville (and Eureka Springs) would be most my style, but the 35 min commute from Fayetteville every day will not work for me. The highway driving / potential highway traffic jams are what really do me in. At most I think a 15 min commute is doable. Also, I will probably be flying pretty often so want an easy commute to the airport (also ideally about 15 min). It would also be great to have a relatively short (i.e. 30 min) drive to Fayetteville for the occasional evening or weekend trip.

On the living side: Definitely planning to rent for the time being and am single so looking for a small house or apt. I could go one of two directions - town or rural, but I am quickly ruling out some of the towns:

Bentonville - want to be close but not that close
Rogers/Springdale - not seeing a great match for me here, but I'm not ruling them out until I visit
Fayetteville - too far for daily commute, unfortunately
Bella Vista - looks nice, but may be very suburban?
Other suburban areas - not interested

So I am thinking more about possibly finding an off the beaten path rural location that's within the commuting time. It would be nice to be somewhere with woods, nice views, etc. but also get into town easily.

So my questions mainly are - (1) am I judging any of the towns incorrectly? (2) are there any smaller towns / rural areas that you'd recommend based on the commuting criteria? I need the most help on this latter question as I don't know anything about the more rural areas around Bentonville and am not sure where to begin looking.

Sorry for the longwinded description, but any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

[Dr. Foosball]

Is it really 35 minutes from Fayetteville to Bentonville. I think it is closer than that.

[nmnita]

I agree with Dr F and if 35 min is too far but you want rural you might have some problems. Maybe someplace like Centerton would work, yes, it is going to be pretty suburban and there might not be a lot of rentals, but I really don't know where else to suggest, maybe Pea Ridge? There are a lot of small towns in the vacienty to think about. You say Eukeka Springs and Fayetteville seem to fit your lifestyle, that says you are probably on the liberal or cultural side. If that is the case you might have to settle for Fayetteville. By the way, it is a awesome town.

Nita

[CairoCon]

Thank you for the feedback - appreciate it. I'm getting the 35 min from google maps and a couple other threads here that said it was the commute (during rush hour). But it sounds like I should test it out a few times to see what it's really like.

My interest in Fayetteville is cultural, but with work during the week I'd realistically only be taking advantage of it on weekends. Hence interest in some alternatives, particularly if the commute does end up being substantial.

Nmnita, thanks for the suggestion of Pea Ridge - I'll take a look. Do you have any suggestions on some of the smaller towns as starting points? Thanks in advance if any come to mind.

[hognoxious]

Originally Posted by Dr. Foosball

Is it really 35 minutes from Fayetteville to Bentonville. I think it is closer than that.

35 minutes is probably about average.

I work at an office off the Pinnacle exit and live in north Fayetteville so my travel time is about 20-25 minutes. What I hear from friends that work at the home office, the trip from headquarters to Fayetteville is closer to 45 minutes ... simply because of traffic congestion on Walton Boulevard and traveling I-540 at peak times.

[DC at the Ridge]

Pea Ridge would put you farther from the airport than your criteria stated. Centerton is a suburban-y, but would otherwise suit your stated desires. To get that rural feel, you might consider Elm Springs. Plus, Elm Springs is closer to Fayetteville. You'd learn the back roads of Benton County pretty quickly, too.

[Tuck479]

Just a suggestion, not sure how far you your commute would be because I am not sure where your work is located but what about Decauter or Gentry or even Siloam Springs? I beleive that XNA the airport is in-between Siloam Springs and Bentonville. Oh, you might want to look in Cave Springs, I belive its located by XNA and not far from Betonville.

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by Tuck479

Just a suggestion, not sure how far you your commute would be because I am not sure where your work is located but what about Decauter or Gentry or even Siloam Springs? I beleive that XNA the airport is in-between Siloam Springs and Bentonville. Oh, you might want to look in Cave Springs, I belive its located by XNA and not far from Betonville.

Siloam Springs is definitely more than fifteen minutes to Bentonville.

[thewizard16]

Cave Springs, Highfill, Elm Springs, Pea Ridge, and Gravette are all worth a look as far as small towns near Bentonville go. Centeron is very close to Bentonville and as a result is pretty suburban. Little Flock might be rural enough for you and it's also very close to Bentonville, but I'm less familiar with that side of town. Lowell is another one that you might consider- it's pretty suburban in the newer parts of town, but there are some nice country-feeling places around there too. I'm not a huge fan of Bella Vista (I'm not big on golf and I'm not retired), but it's a pretty area as well. Rogers has some very nice parts of town, but the nice parts of town tend to be extremely generic/suburban.

I love Fayetteville (and hope you would too), and compared to larger urban areas, the commutes around here aren't bad at all, but the drive might wear on you if you're wanting a 15 minute or less daily drive to work, and the airport (I'm assuming XNA, it's the only real commercial airport) is a bit of a drive from Fayetteville. I wish you the best of luck finding a place that fits you, and we look forward to having you in NWA!

[Mattway]

With what you're describing, living in Bentonville/Centerton would be your best option. I would NOT want to drive from Fayetteville to to XNA for an early flight. That said, Bentonville/Centerton are NOT the place for singles, especially if you're coming from an area with a lot of cultural stimulation. Top notch and absolutely awesome for families, but painful enough if you're single to swallow the pill of a long and utterly annoying I-540 commute.
(not long by Atlanta standards or anything, but for our area quite long. Definitely 30 minutes plus in rush hour.)