Historic sites
9/11 Memorial and Museum, New York
Manhattan, New York
Two large reflecting pools set in the footprints of the Twin Towers, with the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks of 2001 and 1993…
Travel tips in United States of America
Historic sites
Alcatraz Island
San Francisco, California
A former federal prison on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay, which held Al Capone and others until 1963.
Natural features
Antelope Canyon
LeChee, Arizona
A narrow slot canyon in the Navajo Nation near Page, Arizona, with smooth, wave-like sandstone walls lit by shafts of sunlight.
Natural features
Arches National Park
Moab, Utah
More than 2,000 natural stone arches in red rock desert near Moab, Utah.
Tours and activities
Big Sur and Highway 1
Monterey, California
One of the world's great drives, along the rugged California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains drop into the Pacific.
Walks and treks
Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon, Arizona
The view from the South Rim is stunning, but walking down into the Grand Canyon is unforgettable: you descend through layer after layer of rock up to…
Walks and treks
Brooklyn Bridge and the High Line, New York
Brooklyn, New York
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, on its raised wooden promenade, with views of the Manhattan skyline, then explore DUMBO and Brook…
Natural features
Bryce Canyon National Park
Utah
A series of natural amphitheatres filled with thousands of orange and white rock spires called hoodoos.
Natural features
Central Park, New York
Manhattan, New York
A park of 341 hectares in the middle of Manhattan, designed in the 1850s, with lakes, meadows, woodland and landmarks such as Bethesda Terrace and Fo…
Tours and activities
Chicago architecture river cruise
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, and the best way to see its architecture is a boat cruise along the Chicago River with a guide from the …
Natural features
Denali National Park, Alaska
Alaska
A vast wilderness around Denali, the highest mountain in North America at 6,190 m.
Natural features
Everglades National Park
Florida
The largest subtropical wilderness in the USA, a vast 'river of grass' of sawgrass marshes, mangroves and cypress swamps, home to alligators, manatee…
Historic sites
French Quarter, New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
The oldest neighbourhood of New Orleans, with Spanish and French colonial buildings with iron balconies, Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral, and l…
Natural features
Glacier National Park
Montana
A wild mountain park in Montana with glacier-carved valleys, turquoise lakes and grizzly bears.
Buildings
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San Francisco, California
The famous suspension bridge, painted 'International Orange', opened in 1937 across the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
Natural features
Grand Canyon South Rim
Grand Canyon, Arizona
One of the world's great natural wonders, a canyon 1.6 km deep and up to 29 km wide, carved by the Colorado River.
Natural features
Grand Teton National Park
Moose Wilson Road, Wyoming
Jagged granite peaks rising abruptly above lakes and the sagebrush valley of Jackson Hole, just south of Yellowstone.
Natural features
Hanalei Bay, Kauaʻi
Princeville, Hawaii
A wide crescent of sand on Kauaʻi's north shore, backed by green mountains with waterfalls streaming down them after rain.
Natural features
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
East Honolulu, Hawaii
A curved bay inside an old volcanic crater on Oʻahu's south-east coast, protected since 1967 as a marine life conservation area.
Natural features
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Volcano, Hawaii
Two of the world's most active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
Attractions
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Manhattan, New York
One of the largest and greatest art museums in the world, covering 5,000 years of art: the Egyptian Temple of Dendur, European paintings including Re…
Natural features
Monument Valley
Utah
Red sandstone buttes towering over the desert on the Arizona-Utah border, in the Navajo Nation, the backdrop to countless Western films.
Walks and treks
Nā Pali Coast and the Kalalau Trail
Princeville, Hawaii
Kauaʻi's north-west coast is a wall of jagged green cliffs up to 1,200 m high, plunging into the sea, with hanging valleys and waterfalls, and no roa…
Historic sites
National Mall, Washington, D.C.
Washington D.C., District of Columbia
A long park between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, lined with monuments and the free museums of the Smithsonian Institution.
Natural features
Niagara Falls (US side)
Niagara Falls, New York
The American and Bridal Veil Falls, part of the great Niagara Falls on the border with Canada.
Natural features
Redwood National and State Parks
Westhaven-Moonstone, California
Forests of coast redwoods, the tallest trees on earth, some over 110 m, along the foggy northern California coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Tours and activities
Road to Hāna and Haleakalā, Maui
Hana, Hawaii
The Road to Hāna winds along Maui's north-east coast over 59 one-lane bridges, past waterfalls, rainforest and black-sand beaches such as Waiʻānapana…
Buildings
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Manhattan, New York
The 93 m statue, a gift from France in 1886, stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.
Historic sites
USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor
‘Aiea, Hawaii
The white memorial straddles the sunken battleship USS Arizona, which was sunk in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
Natural features
Waimea Canyon, Kauaʻi
Kekaha, Hawaii
Called the 'Grand Canyon of the Pacific' by Mark Twain: a gorge about 16 km long and up to 900 m deep, with red, orange and green walls and waterfalls.
Natural features
Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming
The world's first national park, founded in 1872, on a volcanic plateau with more than half of the world's geysers, including Old Faithful, which eru…
Natural features
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite Valley, California
A glacial valley in the Sierra Nevada with granite cliffs such as El Capitan and Half Dome, and waterfalls including Yosemite Falls, one of the talle…
Walks and treks
Zion National Park
Toquerville, Utah
A deep red and cream sandstone canyon carved by the Virgin River in southern Utah.
Natural features
Acadia National Park
Bar Harbor, Maine
A national park on the rocky coast of Maine, mostly on Mount Desert Island, with granite mountains, lakes and 72 km of historic carriage roads for cy…
Tours and activities
Bromley Mountain, Peru
Londonderry, Vermont
A family-friendly ski resort in southern Vermont, unusual for facing south, so it's sunnier and warmer than most New England ski areas.
Natural features
Death Valley National Park
California
The hottest, driest and lowest national park in the USA, with Badwater Basin salt flats 86 m below sea level, sand dunes at Mesquite Flat, colourful …
Tours and activities
Florida Keys and Key West
Key West, Florida
A chain of tropical islands linked by the Overseas Highway, with 42 bridges, including the Seven Mile Bridge.
Walks and treks
Freedom Trail, Boston
Boston, Massachusetts
A 4 km red-brick line through central Boston linking 16 sites of the American Revolution, from Boston Common past the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, …
Historic sites
Graceland, Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
The home of Elvis Presley, where he lived from 1957 until his death in 1977, preserved with its Jungle Room, his cars, planes, costumes and gold reco…
Natural features
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Bryson City, North Carolina
The most visited national park in the USA, on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, with forested mountains, misty valleys, waterfalls, black b…
Attractions
Hollywood and Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
The Griffith Observatory, on a hill in Griffith Park, has free exhibits, telescopes and views of the Hollywood Sign and the Los Angeles basin, especi…
Attractions
Kennedy Space Center
Merritt Island, Florida
NASA's launch site on Florida's Atlantic coast, with the Space Shuttle Atlantis, a Saturn V moon rocket, and bus tours of the launch pads.
Tours and activities
Magic Mountain, Londonderry
Londonderry, Vermont
An independent, old-school ski area in southern Vermont, popular with skiers who prefer challenging, natural terrain to crowded mega-resorts.
Historic sites
Mesa Verde National Park
Colorado
Cliff dwellings built by Ancestral Puebloan people in the 1200s under overhanging rock in canyons in south-western Colorado, a UNESCO World Heritage …
Natural features
Olympic National Park
Washington
Three parks in one in Washington State: the moss-draped Hoh Rain Forest, wild Pacific beaches with sea stacks such as Rialto and Ruby Beach, and the …
Shopping
Pike Place Market, Seattle
Seattle, Washington
One of the oldest continuously operating public markets in the USA, opened in 1907, above the waterfront, with fishmongers throwing salmon, flower st…
Natural features
Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park, Colorado
Alpine scenery above Estes Park in Colorado, where Trail Ridge Road climbs to 3,713 m, the highest continuous paved road in the USA, across tundra wi…
Attractions
Walt Disney World, Orlando
Horizon West, Florida
The world's most visited holiday resort, with four theme parks: the Magic Kingdom with Cinderella Castle, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom…
Tours and activities
Whale watching from Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
The Santa Barbara Channel, between the city and the Channel Islands, is one of the best places in California to see whales.
Attractions
Las Vegas Strip
Winchester, Nevada
A 6.8 km boulevard of themed casino resorts in the Nevada desert, with the Bellagio fountains, the Venetian's canals, shows, and the Sphere, a giant …
Shopping
Mall of America, Bloomington
Bloomington, Minnesota
The largest shopping mall in the United States, with more than 500 shops and 50 restaurants on four levels.
Food and drink
Ristorante Paradiso, Kirkland
Kirkland, Washington
A long-running, family-owned Italian restaurant in downtown Kirkland on the shore of Lake Washington, run by a chef-owner from Sardinia.