North America

The only national park in all of New England, Acadia offers unrivaled coastal beauty and activities for both leisurely hikers and adrenaline junkies. Most people spend about three days here, which is just enough to take in the park highlights. But you could easily spend a week, taking in mountaintop hikes, bike rides, scenic drives and shoreline strolls, as well as leaving time to relax on the shores of Echo Lake or Sand Beach.

The park, which incorporates both coastline and mountains, protects a remarkably diverse landscape. You can spend the morning checking out tidal pools and watching the sea crash against the cliffs down by the waterfront, then head into the interior for a walk through dense forest up past a boulder-filled ridgeline with osprey and the occasional bald eagle soaring overhead. There are scenic lakes and ponds to discover too, plus plenty of fine picnic spots.

Acadia National Park

Acapulco, Mexico’s original party town, has a stunning topography of soaring cliffs curling into a series of wide bays and intimate coves, fringed with sandy beaches and backed by jungle-green hills. It was dubbed the ‘Pearl of the Pacific’ during its heyday as a playground for the rich and famous, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. Acapulco remains gorgeous, though overdeveloped. The city’s reputation has been tarnished by years of violent battles in Mexico’s ongoing drug wars. Despite frightening homicide statistics, the violence is largely confined to gang disputes. International tourism has plummeted, but the city remains comparatively safe to visit. It still offers atmosphere and charm, with romantic cliffside restaurants, an impressive 17th-century fort, a world-class botanical garden, cliff divers and the old town’s shady zócalo. When you tire of the crowds, secluded beaches such as Pie de la Cuesta are a short trip away.

Acapulco

The state of Aguascalientes is one of Mexico's smallest and its focus is squarely on the city of the same name. According to local legend, a kiss planted on the lips of dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna by the wife of a prominent local politician brought about the creation of a separate Aguascalientes state from neighboring Zacatecas.

Beyond the museum-rich capital city formal tourist sites are few, but it's a pleasant-enough drive en route to or from Zacatecas, through fertile lands of corn, beans, chilies, fruit and grain. The state's ranches produce beef cattle as well as bulls that are sacrificed at bullfights countrywide.

Aguascalientes State

Still famous for its beautiful beach and large, swimmable lagoon, Akumal (Place of the Turtles) does attract turtles, though in far fewer numbers than before due to the massive development that has encroached on nearly all of their nesting grounds. This is one of the Yucatán Peninsula’s oldest resort areas and consists primarily of pricey hotels, condominiums and residential developments (occupied mostly by Americans and Canadians) on nearly 5km of wide beach bordering four consecutive bays, and it's difficult to access any of the beach (they even wall off the few places where the ocean would otherwise be visible). If you're looking to speak English and hang out with expats, Akumal won't disappoint, and the bars and food are above average. Most sights and facilities are reached by taking the first turnoff, Playa Akumal, as you come south on the highway. It’s about 500m from the highway to the entrance.

Akumal

History suffuses Alabama, a description that could be true of many states. But there are few places where the perception of said history is so emotionally fraught. The Mississippian Native American culture built great mound cities here, and Mobile is dotted with Franco-Caribbean architecture. But for many, the word Alabama is synonymous with the American Civil Rights movement.

Perhaps such a struggle, and all of the nobility and desperation it entailed, was bound for a state like this, with its Gothic plantations, hardscrabble farmland and fiercely local sense of place. From the smallest hunting town to river-bound cities, Alabama is a place all its own, and its character is hard to forget. Some visitors have a hard time looking beyond the state's past, but the troubling elements of that narrative are tied up in a passion that constantly manifests in Alabama's arts, food and culture.

Alabama

Alameda Central

Bears larger than bison, national parks the size of nations, and glaciers bigger than other US states. The word ‘epic’ barely does Alaska justice.

The Call of the Wild

Pure, raw, unforgiving and humongous in scale, Alaska is a place that arouses basic instincts and ignites what Jack London termed the 'call of the wild.' Yet, unlike London and his gutsy, gold-rush companions, visitors today will have a far easier time penetrating the region's vast, feral wilderness. Indeed, one of the beauties of the 49th state is its accessibility. Few other places in the US allow you to scale an unclimbed mountain, walk where – quite possibly – no human foot has trodden before, or sally forth into a national park that gets fewer annual visitors than the International Space Station.

All Creatures Great and Small

Who needs zoos when you can get close-up views of brown bears snatching leaping salmon out of angry waterfalls or see curious moose posing majestically on national-park roadsides? Alaska is a land for wilderness purists who desire to observe big fauna in its natural habitat. This is no place for the timid. Hiking in unguarded backcountry might sometimes feel like being a guest in a very big food chain, but keep your wits about you, and the musk oxen, gray wolves, bears, caribou and other creatures great and small will quietly accept you into their domain.

Life on the Frontier

Space might be the final frontier, but for those without billions of dollars and their own space rocket, Alaska can provide a pretty gritty alternative. With scant phone coverage and a dearth of anything that passes for urban sophistication, this is a region for ‘doing’ rather than hanging out in coffee bars. Get a skilled bush pilot to land you on a crevasse-riddled glacier, or hire a backcountry guiding company to take you on a bracing paddle down an almost-virgin river. Whether you go it alone with bear-spray, or place yourself in the hands of an experienced ’sourdough’ (Alaskan old-timer), the rewards are immeasurable.

Tales of the Unexpected

For savvy repeat visitors, the real joys of Alaska are the ones you least expect: ginormous vegetables, epic bus rides, half-forgotten Russian cemeteries, friendly, hassle-free airports, and dive bars where no one's rethought their hairstyle since 1984. Welcome to a state with as many offbeat attractions as off-the-beaten-track locations. Imagine a land where locals still go subsistence hunting, campers plan gold-panning expeditions in the wilderness and wi-fi is just a rumor. Pitch in with a quirky medley of contrarians, rat-race escapees, wanderers, dreamers, back-to-the-landers and Alaska Natives and discover what makes America's biggest state tick.

Alaska

Alberta does lakes and mountains like Rome does cathedrals and chapels, but without the penance. For proof head west to Jasper and Banff, two of the world’s oldest national parks; despite their wild and rugged terrain, they remain untrammeled and easily accessible. They're majestic, breathtaking, awesome. No one should leave without first laying eyes on Peyto Lake and the Columbia Icefield, nor before traveling east to the fossil-encrusted badlands around Drumheller, south to the Crypt Lake trail in Waterton Lakes National Park, and north to spot bison in the vast, empty northern parklands. In the center of the province, the wheat blows and the cattle and pronghorn roam; here you'll find historic ranches, sacred native sights and the eerie, martian landscape of the hoodoos. Calgary has become unexpectedly cool, with top museums and cocktail bars, while Edmonton’s fringe theater festival is the world’s second largest.

Alberta

A bustling desert crossroads, Albuquerque is just the right mix of urban and wild: the pink hues of the Sandia Mountains at sunset, the Rio Grande's cottonwood bosque, Route 66 diners and the hometown of Walter White and Saul Goodman. It's the largest city in the state, yet you can still hear the howls of coyotes when the sun goes down.

Often passed over by travelers on their way to Santa Fe, Albuquerque has plenty of understated appeal beneath its gritty urban facade. Good hiking and mountain-biking trails abound just outside of town, while the city's modern museums explore Pueblo culture, New Mexican art and space. Take the time to let your engine cool as you take a walk among the desert petroglyphs or order up a plate of red chile enchiladas and a local beer – and with so many great breweries here it could take awhile.

Albuquerque

If Alaska is primarily characterized by both beauty and hostility, the fiery rim of volcanic islands stretching into the Pacific is the prime example of this dichotomy. Where the Alaska Peninsula ends, the Aleutian Islands begin: a jagged 1100-mile arc that stretches across the north Pacific to within 500 miles of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. This is a barren, windswept and violent place, where over two dozen volcanoes are active or were active in the last 250 years.

Aleutian Islands

The charming town of Alexandria is 5 miles and 250 years away from Washington. Once a salty port, Alexandria – known as ‘Old Town’ to locals – is today a posh collection of red-brick homes, cobblestone streets, gas lamps and a waterfront promenade near the Potomac River. It's often described as one of the best-preserved historical districts in the nation. Boutiques, outdoor cafes and bars pack the main thoroughfare, making the town a fine afternoon or evening jaunt. Two miles north of Old Town, the residential Del Ray neighborhood is a pleasant place to stroll, especially along the eatery-lined Mt Vernon Ave. Alexandria is also a jumping-off spot for excursions to Mount Vernon.