America contains multitudes. Few countries on Earth are as colossal or fantastically diverse as the USA
and you’ll find attractions for every kind of traveller laid out from coast to coast.
The cities alone could fill entire bucket lists. You can lose yourself between the cloud-kissing skyscrapers
of New York, whose concrete jungle you’ll have seen in movies before ever crossing the pond. Or feel the
soul-stirring pulse of a jazz band down in New Orleans. Or hop between world-renowned museums on
DC’s National Mall. Or gaze at the Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles’ sand-trimmed shores. Then there are
the small towns – which unfold draped in Spanish moss in the South, or spring up among snow-crested
mountains in the Pacific Northwest, or play out by the rugged Atlantic coast in New England..
Mother Nature puts on a show too. Mountains, deserts, glaciers, rainforests, waterfalls, swamps – it’s all
here. You can ski and surf in a single day in California, or hike and snowshoe in the same afternoon in
Oregon. The Grand Canyon swoops across northern Arizona, carved out by the Colorado River over
millions of years, while geysers and hot springs burn and bubble in Yellowstone National Park. Alligators
lurk amid the mangroves in South Florida’s Everglades and grizzly bears hulk across Alaska’s titanic
wildernesses – from Denali to Kenai Fjords.
For all the big hitters, great swathes of the USA still remain under-the-radar. Beyond the Big Apple,
upstate New York reveals itself in a bounty of lakes, waterfalls and forested peaks, and otherworldly
badlands ripple across little-visited North and South Dakota. Georgia’s Golden Isles are all blonde sand
and moss-covered oak trees, while you’ll find prized institutions like the First Americans Museum in
Oklahoma City.
Above all else, America is the land of the road trip. Legendary Route 66 strikes a diagonal line west
across the country, travelling from Chicago to Santa Monica via neon-drenched diners, Americana-filled
museums and wide open backcountry. Highway 1 hugs the Pacific Coast in California, skirting ochre
cliffs and revealing laid-back beach towns and stellar wine country. And the Natchez Trace Parkway
snakes through the South, from Nashville, Tennessee down to quaint Natchez, Mississippi itself.
You’ll not go hungry either. Food nourishes the USA’s soul and everything from the all-American
hamburger (New Haven, Connecticut) to deep-dish pizza (Chicago, Illinois) to Buffalo wings (Buffalo,
New York) was invented here. Feast on buttery, boat-fresh lobster rolls in Maine; dive into a plate of
melt-in-your-mouth brisket at a Texan barbecue joint; sample Tex-Mex in San Antonio and Sonoran-style
dishes in Tucson. You could plan entire trips around the USA’s drinks scene too. You’ll drink
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from California’s Napa to Oregon’s Willamette Valley or swill Viognier in
Virginia. The bourbon trail beats a path across bucolic Kentucky, while everywhere from Asheville,
North Carolina to Bend, Oregon claims it has the country’s best beer.
All this plays out against an epic soundtrack too. Blues in Mississippi; motown in Detroit; grunge in
Seattle; country in Tennessee – so much of the USA’s story can be told through its music, and you can
move to the USA’s distinct beat everywhere from a Nashville honky tonk to a snug Clarksdale blues
joint.
Whatever’s on your travel wish list, the USA will surely deliver – and then some.
Jacqui Agate is the North America Travel Editor at Wanderlust magazine.
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