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Must-include attractions sorted by popularity
Most popular attractions in United States
1. Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon Village
Quick facts: Towering, multicolored cliffs reveal nearly two billion years of Earth’s story, the layered bands shifting from pale rose to deep ochre as light slides across them. Spring snowmelt can push the river above 10,000 cubic feet per second, and the resulting flows and windstorms keep carving fresh side canyons and smoothing river rocks.
Highlights: At first light a honeyed glow floods the ravines, and photographers stake out narrow overlooks to catch a short 10 to 20 minute window when colors go electric. Packers still rely on mule trains to haul heavy loads about 4,000 feet down to the river, each animal commonly carrying 200 to 300 pounds, a living link to older supply traditions you can actually hear in the creak of harnesses.
2. Statue of Liberty
New York
Quick facts: Visitors often marvel at the statue's copper skin that has turned a striking green due to natural weathering. Standing over 300 feet tall, the statue's torch once lit the way as a beacon of hope and freedom.
Highlights: The statue's copper skin, originally a shiny brown, has turned into a unique green patina that protects the metal beneath while giving it its famous color. Every year on July 4th, the statue lights up with exactly 204 LED fixtures, creating a spectacular glow that symbolizes freedom and hope.
3. Yellowstone National Park
West Yellowstone
Quick facts: A supervolcanic hotspot beneath the area powers over 10,000 thermal features, including more than 500 geysers that make the ground bubble, steam, and sing. People often end up within 25 yards of grazing bison because animals wander onto roads, and whole lanes can be blocked while drivers wait quietly.
Highlights: A famous geyser predictably erupts about every 91 minutes, hurling scalding water up to 180 feet while a warm, mineral-scented mist wraps viewers in a brief, otherworldly spray. The 1988 fires scorched roughly 793,880 acres, and the surprising aftermath created open burn mosaics where wolves reintroduced in 1995 shifted elk patterns, allowing willows and aspen to rebound into bright green corridors.
Book a FREE walking tour in United States
The best way to experience a city with a local tour guide.
Tip: We strongly recommend a free walking tour on your first day to get to know the city with a local guide. They usually cover all main attractions and you can ask for personal recommendations based on your interests for the next days. Book early as spaces fill up fast!
4. Times Square
New York
Quick facts: Lights from massive billboards paint the night sky in vivid colors, creating a sensory overload that never seems to fade. Crowds from all over the world gather here to witness the chaos and charm that define the energy of this iconic crossroads.
Highlights: Every year on New Year's Eve, over a million people cram into the streets to watch a 12-foot-diameter crystal ball drop, a tradition that started in 1907 and has featured more than 32,000 crystals made by Waterford. The area is also known for its massive LED billboards that use over 400,000 watts of electricity, lighting up the night sky and creating a dazzling, constantly changing urban rainbow.
5. Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco
Quick facts: The main span stretches 4,200 feet across the channel, with towers rising 746 feet above the water. A coat called International Orange helps the silhouette pop against sea fog, and crews protect more than a million rivets and steel parts from the salty air.
Highlights: Thick fog often swallows the lower deck, leaving the red-orange tower tips floating above a white sea while salt spray and the low rumble of traffic fill the air. A safety net once saved 19 workers, who formed the 'Halfway to Hell Club,' a quirky construction-era story that still gives the place an unexpectedly human scale.
6. Walt Disney World Resort
Orlando
Quick facts: Roughly 25,000 acres make up Walt Disney World Resort, encompassing four major theme parks, two water parks, and over 25 resort hotels, so visitors can switch from thrill rides to a lazy pool day in minutes. Annual attendance commonly exceeds 50 million visitors, making the resort busier than many entire countries' tourist draws.
Highlights: More than 70,000 cast members keep the resort's magic running behind the scenes, so guests hear friendly accents from around the world and smell manicured citrus blossoms on warm afternoons. Backstage choreography uses color-coded radios and timed cues to make fireworks, parades, and costumed characters appear like clockwork, a secretly precise system that keeps the illusion alive.
7. Space Needle
Seattle
Quick facts: Rises 605 feet above the skyline, with the top-level observation deck sitting around 520 feet to deliver a sweeping 360-degree panorama. High-speed elevators whisk visitors to the top in about 41 seconds, so you reach the skyline before you've finished a coffee.
Highlights: Step onto the observation level's Loupe, the world's first rotating glass floor, and feel your stomach drop as cars and pedestrians shrink beneath the spinning glass. On clear days you can pick out Mount Rainier's snowy peak, the shimmering Puget Sound, and the jagged Olympic and Cascade ranges, the light changing colors across the panorama as the sun moves.
8. National Mall
Washington, D.C.
Quick facts: Over 24 million people wander the grassy expanse each year, turning museums and memorials into a nonstop outdoor festival of cameras and conversations. A towering obelisk casts a long noon shadow across a mirror-like reflecting pool, and nearby galleries hold everything from dinosaur bones to lunar rocks.
Highlights: More than 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees burst into almond-scented pink each spring, and the petals carpet walkways so densely you can hear a soft rustle underfoot. Nighttime hosts a quirky ritual where photographers and couples line the west edge to time the glowing obelisk's reflection with the pool's ripples, often waiting 10 to 20 minutes for the perfect mirror image.
9. French Quarter
New Orleans
Quick facts: Wrought-iron balconies and narrow brick lanes create a stage for nightly trumpet riffs, clinking glasses and the warm scent of frying beignets. More than forty courtyards, dozens of jazz clubs and an ever-present street musician culture pack a few walkable blocks with constant surprises.
Highlights: At certain corners a brass band's sound can travel three blocks, trombones slicing through humid air while revelers dance the second line with handkerchiefs and parasols. Street vendors and cafés send out clouds of powdered sugar and chicory coffee that mingle with live music, and some local clubs still hand out signed, handwritten setlists after midnight.
10. The Alamo
San Antonio
Quick facts: A compact stone chapel sits at the heart of the site, where original adobe walls show pockmarks from musket and cannon fire that visitors can study up close. Annual visitor numbers top about 2.5 million, yet you can still find quiet corners where guide-led stories bring old letters and weathered timbers alive.
Highlights: Step close to the chapel wall and you can spot a round musketball indentation near shoulder height, a tactile trace of the 1836 siege that often surprises first-time visitors. On March 6 each year descendants and reenactors gather for a candlelit parade where drums, period uniforms, and the scent of cedar and gunpowder create a surprisingly vivid, cinematic atmosphere.
Additional popular things to do in United States
Curated tours, tickets, and activities recommended by travelers
Popular Cities in United States
Traditional Sweet Dishes
Apple pie
Often called 'as American as apple pie', it became a symbol of American home cooking and was popularized in the 19th century.
Chocolate chip cookie
Invented by Ruth Wakefield in Massachusetts in the 1930s, it quickly became America's favorite cookie and is now baked nationwide.
Brownies
Developed in the late 19th century, brownies are a fudgy or cakey chocolate bar often associated with American lunch boxes and bake sales.
Traditional Savory Dishes
Hamburger
While versions existed elsewhere, the modern hamburger was popularized in the United States and became a symbol of American fast food and backyard grilling.
Hot dog
Rooted in German sausages, the hot dog was embraced at American baseball games and street carts, and it is a staple at barbecues and Fourth of July celebrations.
Fried chicken
With deep roots in Southern cooking and African and Scottish influences, American fried chicken is known for its crispy seasoned coating and juicy meat.
Traditional Beverages
Coca-Cola
Created in Atlanta in 1886, Coca-Cola became a global icon of American soda culture and advertising.
Sweet iced tea
Particularly associated with the American South, sweet iced tea is a ubiquitous sugar-sweetened cold tea served year-round with meals.
Bourbon
A distinctively American whiskey, bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn and aged in new charred oak barrels, with Kentucky as its historic heartland.
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Getting there
Airports
Train stations
Amtrak Northeast Corridor, MARC, VRE
From Reagan use Metro or taxi; Dulles has an Express bus to downtown; BWI linked by shuttle and MARC train.
Click to get eSim for United States
The easiest and most affordable way to get mobile internet wherever you travel.
Visa & entry
Visa Waiver Program countries including EU Schengen states, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada
Citizens of countries not in the Visa Waiver Program, for example India, China, Nigeria, and many others
If eligible, apply for ESTA at least 72 hours before travel; otherwise check U.S. consulate visa rules.