Must-see attractions in North America

  • Linn Cove Viaduct along Blue Ridge Parkway.

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park

    Southern USA

    The story of the Smoky Mountains began in primordial times when clashing supersized continents created a chain of mountains that are today among the…

  • A family of goats near Gunsight Pass in Glacier National Park

    Glacier National Park

    Montana

    The rival of any of the United States' most spectacular national parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park is…

  • October 9, 2014: Visitors gather at Glacier Point with the Half Dome mountain in the background.

    Yosemite National Park

    Yosemite & the Sierra Nevada

    Yosemite means "killer" in the Indigenous Miwok language, and in today's parlance it's indeed an impressive, awesome site. Everywhere you look in Yosemite…

  • An aerial view of Golden Gate Park from the Pacific Ocean. Golden Gate Park is the third most visited city park in the US.

    Golden Gate Park

    San Francisco

    When Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York's Central Park, gazed in 1865 upon the plot of land San Francisco Mayor Frank McCoppin wanted to turn…

  • OCTOBER 2015: Visitors paddle in boats near a bridge at Central Park..

    Central Park

    Upper West Side & Central Park

    One of the world’s most renowned green spaces, Central Park comprises 843 acres of rolling meadows, boulder-studded outcroppings, elm-lined walkways,…

  • LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - AUGUST 28:  An exterior view shows the marquee at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino left of the Leo the Lion statue on the Las Vegas Strip amid the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) on August 28, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. MGM Resorts International will lay off 18,000 furloughed employees in the United States on Monday as the resort industry struggles to recover from the pandemic. The move was necessary since federal law requires companies to lay off furloughed workers after six months. Before hotel-casinos shut down in March, the company had 68,000 employees nationwide, including 52,000 in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts said laid-off employees could be brought back as business demand returns.  (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

    MGM Grand

    Las Vegas

    Owned by the eponymous Hollywood studio, the MGM Grand casino and hotel liberally borrows Tinsel Town's themes. Flashing LED screens and computerized…

  • Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, USA.

    Alcatraz

    The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers

    Alcatraz: for over 150 years, the name has given the innocent chills and the guilty cold sweats. Over the decades, it’s been a military prison, a…

  • The Capitol, Washington, DC

    US Capitol

    Washington, DC

    Since 1800, this is where the legislative branch of American government (ie Congress) has met to write the country's laws.

  • Exploratorium

    The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers

    Is there a science to skateboarding? Do toilets really flush counterclockwise in Australia? At San Francisco's hands-on science museum, you'll find out…

  • Balmy Alley

    The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill

    Since at least the 1980s, if you stroll through San Francisco's Mission District you've likely noticed the neighborhood's profusion of colorful murals and…

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    Tulum Ruins

    Tulum

    Tulum is one of the most visited archaeological zones in Mexico and for good reason: it’s sublime. The ruins sit on seaside cliffs, high above turquoise…

  • National Air and Space Museum

    National Air and Space Museum

    Washington, DC

    The legendary exhibits at the National Air and Space Museum include the Wright brothers' flyer, Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St…

  • People entering Knott's Scary Farm at Knott's Berry Farm, celebrating a Southern California Halloween tradition, on October 14, 2013.

    Knott’s Berry Farm

    Orange County

    What started as a simple berry farm is now a sprawling 160-acre operation with rides, live shows and lovable Peanuts characters roaming the grounds. Knott…

  • The exhibits at the Henry Ford Museum feature all makes of automobiles and tell the reader how they affected American culture.

    Henry Ford Museum

    Michigan

    The Henry Ford Museum contains a fascinating wealth of American culture. It’s comprised of two parts: the indoor Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation,…

  • Eastern Market entrance in Detroit.

    Eastern Market

    Detroit

    One of the oldest and largest year-round bazaars in the United States, Eastern Market draws Detroiters of all types to its six-block spread of wares…

  • Aerial of a path between palm trees on Isla Contoy.

    Parque Nacional Isla Contoy

    Cancún

    A white sand beach with manta rays gliding through the shimmering turquoise waters. No hotels. No nightclubs. No roads or cars of any kind. It’s hard to…

  • VENICE BEACH, USA - SEPTEMBER 29, 2016: The crowded Venice Beach Boardwalk. Lots of people are strolling down the boardwalk. On the sides there are several shops and palm trees.

    Venice Boardwalk

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Prepare for a sensory overload on Venice's Boardwalk, a one-of-a-kind experience. Buff bodybuilders brush elbows with street performers and sellers of…

  • APRIL 24, 2018: Victorian-style homes in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.

    Haight Street

    The Haight & Hayes Valley

    Was it the fall of 1966 or the winter of ’67? As the Haight saying goes, if you can remember the Summer of Love, you probably weren’t here. The fog was…

  • USA, Arizona, Yavapai county. Sedona, View of Chapel of Holy Cross

    Chapel of the Holy Cross

    Sedona

    If you glance east when driving Sedona’s Red Rock Scenic Byway, a slender structure seemingly welded into the sandstone might catch your eye. Towering…

  • City Park, New Orleans

    City Park

    New Orleans

    Live oaks, Spanish moss and lazy bayous frame this masterpiece of urban planning. Three miles long and 1 mile wide, dotted with gardens, waterways and…

  • SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. 15th August, 2017: historic san francisco chinatown neighborhood

    Chinatown Alleyways

    North Beach & Chinatown

    If you look close today at the clinker-brick buildings lining these narrow backstreets, past the temple balconies jutting out over bakeries, acupuncture…

  • LAS VEGAS, USA AUGUST 14; Enormous Mandalay Bay Hotel Resort and Casino with beautifully landscaped entrance to modern architectural gold glass facade of building August 14, 2008, Las Vegas, USA

    Mandalay Bay

    Las Vegas

    Angular and glittering gold, massive Mandalay Bay flanks the far south end of the Strip. It's the first resort many visitors lay eyes on as they roll into…

  • SFER IK

    Tulum

    Wandering barefoot through the contemporary art museum at Azulik hotel, you feel like you’re in a giant cocoon. Nature surrounds you, inside and out:…

  • San Francisco, USA - Jun 24, 2015: Iconic Grace Cathedral stands on top of Nob Hill on a beautiful sunny, blue sky day; Shutterstock ID 1201473919; your: Meghan O'Dea; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI

    Grace Cathedral

    San Francisco

    Is there any church that better embodies San Francisco's resilience, inclusivity and activist streak? The Nob Hill gem has been rebuilt three times since…

  • Puerto Vallarta Botanical Garden.

    Jardín Botánico de Vallarta

    Puerto Vallarta

    For a change of scenery from the beach, head for the tropical highlands of the Sierra Madre mountains and wander the well-curated Jardín Botánico de…

  • Museo Maya de Cancún

    Cancún

    Surrounded by dense tropical forest, the contemporary Museo Maya de Cancún is a welcome respite from the beach and buffet lines of the neighboring high…

  • Shelburne Museum

    Burlington

    The extraordinary 45-acre Shelburne Museum, nine miles south of Burlington, showcases 100,000 priceless artifacts, from America and abroad.

  • National Gallery of Art on the National Mall during spring in Washington D.C.

    National Gallery of Art

    Washington, DC

    Two buildings. Hundreds of masterpieces. Infinite enjoyment. It's easy to spend a full day at the National Gallery of Art, which showcases a whole range…

  • Close-up detail of lichen encrusted stone flower found on tomb at Bonaventue Cemetery near Savannah, Georgia, USA.

    Bonaventure Cemetery

    Savannah

    Less than a 10-minute drive east of Savannah’s Historic District you’ll find one of the most peaceful, quiet, green escapes tucked away next to the…

  • Beach in Yelapa, Mexico.

    Yelapa

    Puerto Vallarta

    Home to a small fishing community, the picturesque beach of Yelapa hugs an emerald coastline backed by jungle-shrouded mountains. The remote coastal…

  • SAN FRANCISCO - SEPT 2, 2017: The Beat Generation lives on at City Lights bookstore in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco.

    City Lights Books

    North Beach & Chinatown

    No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…

  • The entrance to the American Museum of American History.

    American Museum of Natural History

    Upper West Side & Central Park

    Founded back in 1869, this venerable museum contains a veritable wonderland of more than 34 million objects, specimens and artifacts – including armies of…

  • Lover's Leap Waterfall, Lookout Mountain, Georgia, America

    Lookout Mountain

    Chattanooga

    Just ten minutes from downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, rising along the upper rim of the city, Lookout Mountain is rich in both Civil War history and…

  • Carpenters' Hall, Independence National Historical Park.

    Independence National Historical Park

    Philadelphia

    This L-shaped Philadelphia park, bound by 6th, 2nd, Walnut and Arch Sts, protects and honors the institutions that formed the foundation of the United…

  • The Henry Whitehead Cabin, at Cade's Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee.

    Cades Cove

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park

    In Appalachian parlance, a cove means a valley, but Cades Cove is far more than that. One of the most popular destinations in the Tennessee section of…

  • 500px Photo ID: 100166741 - Pre-dawn at the Lincoln Memorial. "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever."

    Lincoln Memorial

    Washington, DC

    Anchoring the National Mall's west end is the hallowed shrine to Abraham Lincoln, who gazes across the Reflecting Pool beneath his neoclassical, Doric…

  • Photo Taken In Italy, Roma

    Songbirds

    Chattanooga

    Myriad songbirds of the avian variety call Tennessee home, but Chattanooga's newly revamped Songbirds – an innovative interactive learning space devoted…

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