America does not fit in one trip. Pick the days that do.
Which Grand Canyon run out of Las Vegas actually reaches the rim. What the Empire State costs against SUMMIT and Edge. Whether the Oahu island loop beats a day on the North Shore. Reviews of every tour you can book across the United States.
A deck over Manhattan, a canyon rim, an island road, a lit-up French Quarter.
The four bookings a first American trip usually gets built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The Manhattan viewSUMMIT One Vanderbilt TicketsTwo floors of mirrored glass a thousand feet over Midtown. Take the last slot before sunset and one ticket buys you the day and the lights.
02The canyon dayGrand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and SkywalkOut of Las Vegas to the West Rim and back past the Hoover Dam. The long day that justifies flying into Nevada at all.
03The island loopOahu Grand Circle Island and Haleiwa Tour: 9-Hr Deluxe ExperienceOne road around Oahu: the windward cliffs, the North Shore, the shrimp trucks, and a different beach at each end of the day.
04The night walkNew Orleans Premier Ghost, Voodoo and Vampire Walking TourCemeteries, courtyards and what the French Quarter says after dark. Cheapest thing on this list and the one people quote longest.
Harbour, reef, sunset and swamp: four ways this country puts you in a boat.
A skyline reads differently from the water, a Hawaiian reef only opens up with a mask on, and there are stretches of Florida with no road at all. Pick the hull that fits the coast you are standing on.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Chicago Architecture River Cruise
Harbour and river cruisesSkylines from the water, Chicago to New York.
Reef and turtle daysMasks on over Hawaiian coral and the Florida Keys.
Sunset sailingsGolden hour off Key West, Waikiki and San Diego.
Whale and dolphin runsHumpbacks off Maui and Boston, dolphins along the Gulf.
All 343 days on the water →
Six American cities that carry a whole trip on their own.
A harbour with three observation decks over it, a desert strip with a canyon behind it, an island road, a quarter that runs on brass and heat, a bay under a red bridge, and sawgrass an hour west of South Beach.
The most booked days out in the United States.
Every American tour review →More travellers take these than anything else in the country, and what earns each one its slot.
1
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Tickets
Review of SUMMIT One Vanderbilt in NYC, with mirror rooms, glass skyboxes, sweeping views, timing advice, price value, and practical tips.
From · $47
Read our review →
2
9/11 Memorial & Museum Timed-Entry Ticket
from $25
3
Empire State Building Tickets – Observatory & Museum
from $47
4
Empire State Building Observation Deck Tickets
from $48
5
Edge Observation Deck Admission Ticket
from $39
6
Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and Skywalk
from $109
7
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with Ferry
from $19
8
Oahu Grand Circle Island and Haleiwa Tour: 9-Hr Deluxe Experience
from $140
Four Hawaiian islands, and only one of them is Waikiki.
Oahu has the road, the surf and the crowds. Kauai keeps a coastline you can only reach by air or hull. Maui has the whales from December and the road to Hana. The Big Island is still being built.
Every Hawaiian day out →
New York: pick your deck, then get on the water.
Everything in New York →
Four buildings sell a view of the same island and each one sells a different island. Then there is the harbour, which is the only place you see the skyline whole. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the city.
Two museums that need a whole morning
The Natural History halls and the Modern both run on timed entry and both take longer than you plan for. Go early, and treat the dinosaur floor and the fifth floor at MoMA as separate visits.
The harbour, after the decks
Ferries and sightseeing cruises put Lower Manhattan, the bridges and Liberty in one frame, which no observation deck manages. The evening sailings cost the same as the daytime ones.
Liberty and Ellis Island, properly
One operator lands on the islands and the ferry queue at Battery Park is the whole game. Take the first sailing, do Liberty first and give Ellis the second half of the morning.
Savannah squares, Charleston piazzas and a French Quarter courtyard: this country walks better than it drives.
The old American cities were laid out before the car and it still shows. Ninety minutes on foot through the Garden District, along the Freedom Trail or around Salem in October gets you further into a place than any bus will.
What a day out in America actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it charges. Plenty of the days people quote back years later sit at the cheap end of this.
City walks, ghost tours, hop-on hop-off passes and most museum entries.
The full-day standards: canyon runs out of Las Vegas, island loops, harbour cruises with lunch aboard.
Helicopters, private guides and the once-a-trip days that earn it.
The Colorado Plateau does not care that you only have one spare day.
Grand Canyon rims, Horseshoe Bend, the slot canyons at Page and the red rock behind Sedona all sit within a day of Las Vegas or Phoenix. Most people see them on somebody else’s schedule, and out here that is usually the right call.
Three American days you cannot book anywhere else on earth.
Canyons and old towns exist everywhere. Sandstone cut into corridors on Navajo land, a witch-trial town that leans all the way into October, and a spring where getting into the water with a wild manatee is legal do not.
Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend
The slot canyons outside Page sit on the Navajo Nation and nobody walks in alone. Every visit goes with a permitted guide in a booked slot, and the light beams in Upper Antelope only drop through the roof for an hour or so around midday. Horseshoe Bend is a separate stop, a mile of sand from the car park, and it is worth saving for the last hour of daylight.
- 1Lower Antelope Canyon Entry and Navajo Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 7,801 reviews
- 2Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend Day Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,764 reviews
- 3Lower Antelope Canyon Hiking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,216 reviews
The American ghost walk
Salem, New Orleans and Savannah each turned their worst history into an evening industry, and the guides are usually better read than the posters suggest. Salem becomes impossible in October and books out weeks ahead. New Orleans runs its walks all year because the cemeteries and the courtyards do most of the work.
- 1Gangsters and Ghosts Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,155 reviews
- 2Salem’s Best Ghost Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,186 reviews
- 3Haunted Evening Horse and Carriage Tour of Charleston★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,678 reviews
Swimming with manatees
Crystal River is the only place in the United States where getting into the water with wild manatees is legal, under rules that put you in and keep you still. They crowd into the warm springs once the Gulf drops below about twenty degrees, which makes this a January booking rather than a July one.
- 1Most Popular 3hr Manatee Swim Tour + In-Water Guide!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,782 reviews
- 2The ‘OG’ Manatee Snorkel Tour with In-Water Guide/Photographer★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,539 reviews
- 3Manatee Swim Tour with In Water Photographer★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,300 reviews
Four American bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged from a motel car park the night before. These four run on permits, ferry manifests and seasons that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Lower Antelope Canyon Entry and Navajo Guided TourThe slot canyons are on Navajo land and there is no walking in on your own. Every visit is a guided, permitted slot, and the midday light-beam hours go first.
- 02Alcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided AppOne ferry operator is allowed to land on the island and nothing else may. Summer sailings routinely go weeks ahead.
- 03Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with FerryA single official ferry serves Liberty and Ellis Islands. Pedestal and crown access is a separate, much smaller allocation released well in advance.
- 04Niagara Falls in 1 Day: Tour of American and Canadian SidesThe boat and the Cave of the Winds decks are seasonal. Out of season the falls are still there and the walkways down to them are not.
Las Vegas in July is a night city with a canyon attached.
Phoenix and Las Vegas spend the summer past forty degrees and the canyon rims are worse again in the open. The answer everybody out there uses is the same one: the rock before eight, air conditioning through the middle of the day, and the city after dark.
By place, coast to coast
By kind of day: water, rock, street or table
New York to San Francisco: the run most first American trips end up doing.
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