Travel Destinations in United States — City Guides | Trevio

The United States is less a single destination than a collection of distinct worlds stitched together by a shared language and a highway system. New York City and Los Angeles alone could keep a traveller occupied for months; beyond them lie jazz-soaked New Orleans, the Pacific Northwest's rain-laced forests, the red rock canyons of the Southwest, the plantation-era streets of Savannah, and the volcanic beaches of Hawaii. Few countries reward slow exploration as richly — the further you drive from the major airports, the more interesting things tend to get.

American food culture has undergone a genuine renaissance in the past two decades. Every major city now has a serious restaurant scene shaped by the waves of immigration that built the country: Vietnamese banh mi in Houston, Ethiopian injera in Washington D.C., Korean barbecue in Los Angeles, Puerto Rican mofongo in New York. Street food, barbecue joints, farm-to-table bistros, and Michelin-starred tasting menus coexist comfortably. The myth of American food being nothing but fast food died a long time ago.

Getting around requires a different mindset than Europe. Distances are vast, public transit outside a handful of cities is limited, and the car is still king. But the reward is a road-trip culture unlike anything else — interstate highways that unfurl across prairies, two-lane blacktop cutting through national parks, and the freedom to stop wherever looks interesting. The US has 63 national parks, and they are, collectively, one of the great achievements of the American government: Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the Everglades, Zion — landscapes so dramatic they look digitally enhanced, free (or nearly so) for anyone to visit.