Lake Oroville State Recreation Area
Sacramento & the Central Valley
This artificial lake was formed by the USA's tallest earth-filled dam, rising 770ft above the Feather River. There are boat-in, floating campsites…
Must-see attractions in North America
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
The world's tallest building upon completion in 1913 (it was only surpassed in height by the Chrysler Building in 1930), Cass Gilbert’s 60-story, 792ft…
Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Area
West Texas
Ghost lights, mystery lights…call them what you want, but the Marfa Lights, flickering beneath the Chinati Mountains, have been capturing travelers’…
West Maui
A short walk behind Olowalu general store leads to 200–300-year-old petroglyphs (ancient Hawaiian stone carvings). Park just beyond the water tower at the…
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum
Everglades National Park
If you want to learn about Florida’s Native Americans, come to the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum, 17 miles north of I-75. All of the excellent…
Walt Disney World
Though the theming as a Jetsons-inspired peek into the future falls flat, Tomorrowland holds a few wildly popular Disney highlights. Come first thing or…
Washington, DC
The regional headquarters of the Scottish Rite Freemasons, also known as the House of the Temple, is one of the most eye-catching buildings in the…
Haleakalā National Park
This windswept native cloud forest supports one of the rarest ecosystems on earth. Managed by the Nature Conservancy, the 8951-acre preserve provides the…
Harlem & Upper Manhattan
Founded in Lower Manhattan in 1754 as King’s College, the oldest university in New York is now one of the world’s premier research institutions. In 1897…
Museum of the City of New York
Upper East Side
Situated in a Georgian Colonial Revival–style building at the top end of Museum Mile, this local museum focuses solely on New York City’s past, present…
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
Macabre exhibits galore pack this Department of Defense–run museum. The stomach-shaped hairball leaves a lasting impression (a 12-year-old girl ate THAT?)…
Tennessee
This vast park is located just north of the Mississippi border near the town of Crump, TN, and is best seen by car. Sights include the Shiloh National…
Coastal Georgia
A fully reconstructed version of Georgia's first fort, and British outpost dating back to 1721, overlooks a vast estuary and is surrounded by mossy oaks…
Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area
Kailua-Kona
Visitors often overlook this quiet park, located a mile from downtown. It's a grand spot for picnicking, jogging and fishing. The beach area is studded…
Québec City
Consecrated in 1804, this handsome church was the first Anglican cathedral built outside the British Isles. Designed by two officers from the British army…
Los Angeles
Newly housed in the former National Guard Armory, this under-the-radar museum stands out for its vast, yet niche collection. German for 'turning point',…
Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument
Washington, DC
This brick house, only steps from the US Capitol, may not look like much, but throughout the 20th century it was ground zero for women fighting for their…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
It might be pricey and unapologetically pretentious, but no trip to LA would be complete without a saunter along Rodeo Dr, the famous three-block ribbon…
Templo y Convento de la Santa Cruz
Querétaro
One of the city's most interesting sights, this convent was built between 1654 and about 1815 on the site of a battle in which a miraculous appearance of…
Morelia
Housed in a dozen rooms of a renovated late-18th-century baroque palace, this museum contains an impressive array of pre-Hispanic artifacts, including a…
Central Coast
A study in geological drama, this park's craggy monoliths, sheer-walled canyons and twisting caves are the result of millions of years of erosion. In…
Riviera Maya
Paamul, 87km south of Cancún, is a de facto private beach on a sheltered bay. Like many other spots along the Caribbean coast, it has signs prohibiting…
Big Sur
The tortuously winding 40-mile stretch of Hwy 1 south of Lucia to Hearst Castle is sparsely populated, rugged and remote, mostly running through national…
Georgetown
This 24-acre, obelisk-studded cemetery contains winding walks and 19th-century gravestones set into the hillsides of Rock Creek. It’s a fantastic spot for…
Old St Mary's Cathedral & Square
North Beach & Chinatown
California's first cathedral was started in 1853 by an Irish entrepreneur determined to give wayward San Francisco some religion – despite the cathedral's…
DuSable Museum of African American History
Chicago
This was the first independent museum in the country dedicated to African American art, history and culture. The collection features African American…
Cape Cod
The barrier beach at Sandy Neck extends 6.5 miles along Cape Cod Bay, backed the entire way by undulating dunes and a scenic salt marsh. It's a…
MacKenzie State Recreation Area
Puna
A moody, windswept grove of ironwood trees edge sheer cliffs towering above the ocean. The raw beauty of this powerful landscape makes an unforgettable…
Kailua-Kona
Completed in 1836, this church is a handsome building with walls of lava rock held together by sand and coral-lime mortar. The posts and beams, hewn with…
North Beach & Chinatown
What's that – your hometown doesn’t have a street named after an African American Catholic-Jewish-voodoo anarchist street poet? Revered in France as the…
Midtown
It's a case of 'thin is in' with the arrival of this 1396ft-tall, $1.3-billion residential tower by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly. Its clean, white,…
Brickell Avenue Bridge & Brickell Key
Downtown Miami
Crossing the Miami River, the lovely Brickell Avenue Bridge between SE 4th St and SE 5th St was made wider and higher several years ago, which was…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
'Dot-com' was coined in mid-’90s San Francisco, when venture capitalists and tattooed cyberpunks plotted website launches in South Park cafes. But…
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley
'Cal' is one of the country's top universities, California's oldest university (1866), and home to 40,000 diverse, politically conscious students. Next to…
Southeastern New Mexico
The remote Three Rivers Petroglyph Site showcases over 21,000 petroglyphs, incised six centuries ago by the Jornada Mogollon people onto the flat surfaces…
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
Washington, DC
Escaped slave, abolitionist, author and statesman Frederick Douglass occupied this beautifully sited hilltop house from 1878 until his death in 1895…
Panhandle Plains
Boredom rather than combat doomed this 1851 fort along the clear fork of the Brazos River. Fort Phantom Hill was among the outposts constructed to protect…
Coastal Orange County
This child-friendly educational center encompasses four separate ocean-centric ‘adventures.’ It is mostly reserved for school groups on weekdays, so it's…
Kapaʻa
From the highway, you’d think that Kapaʻa is beachless. But along the coast is a low-key, mile-long ribbon of golden sand. While the whole area is…
Chiapas
Plunging into the sheer Río La Venta canyon, El Aguacero is a gorgeous series of frothy stairsteps that tumble and spray. You'll descend over 700 steps to…
