End User

I'm planning a trip from Down Under (Australia) up to the US possibly in the middle of next year. But the USA is such a big place, with so much to see and do. Does anyone have any suggestions on some of the 'Must See' attractions? I'm looking at possibly spending 3-4 weeks up there.
Also, does anyone know the approximate pricing on airfares between states? eg. A one way domestic flight from L.A to say, Colorado??
Unfortunately, I also have to start budgeting (and saving up!)

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Zeld2.0

Domestic flights are pretty damn cheap - theres still a ton of anxiety for flying and stuff.

"Must see" places? Well, depends on what you like.

If you're into gambling of course Vegas is the place. Amusement parks / theme parks the best is of course LA because its got pretty much everything - i guess orlando, florida would work too.

Weatherwise LA is probably the best bet.

If you're into history or museums or perhaps just older cities, the east coast is pretty much where.

West coast wise only major cities probably worth looking at are LA and San Francisco. Chicago is cool to go to too. NY is always fun.

Honestly though its up to what you like.

Alz

I took a trip to washington dc a couple years back and thought it was a great experience, lots of stuff to see and learn about US's past.

bermuDa

i'd avoid DC in the summertime, the heat and humidity aren't a good combination.

Definitely check out Yellowstone if you're into the great outdoors, San Francisco and Berkeley if you like people-watching, and Sacramento if you want to be bored (guess where I'm from ).

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Magpie0001

Dude, they got this restaurant over there, Its called Mack Donalds, Aparently you can get the smallest hamburger in the world for like 29, what is it Ruubles or Sheckles & its served in 0.69 of a second! Now that Id love to see.








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Rodney

Rather than see the whole Yewnited States -- how well could you see all AussieLand in three weeks -- concentrate on one part. Since I know the west coast best, that's what I'd suggest. Start in San Diego to see how the States and Mexican culture are mixing, work your way north to LA for every cliche you've ever heard about California, then up the Central Coast for some camping in Big Sur/Monterey Bay area and maybe a day at the Pinnacles (giant extinct volcano) and some time in the Redwoods. On to the Sf Bay Area/Oakland Berkeley for the people-watching and the scenery (the SF Bay is one of the most beautiful urban settings there is). Get drunk in the Napa Valley Wine Country, then up to Oregon where retired hippies and non-retired Mormons live in harmony, along with some killer coastline, the amazing Crater Lake, and the culturally hip cities that are Ashland, Eugene, and Portland. Then onto Seattle, where I could spent three weeks alone.

It'd be only one part of America, but you'd sure understand the Left Coast when you were done.

crow_daw

If you're into really beautiful rural areas, then go to the South. It doesn't get much prettier than it is down here, seriously. But if you're wanting the big city thing, or gambling, etc, then yeah, I'd probably go west coast.

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erion

Bah. The East Coast has NYC, Washington, Gambling in New Jersey, Mountains, Beautiful scenery, Disney World, Universal Studios, and all that other stuff he mentioned on the west coast, but it's probably cheaper for you to get here now than it will be when the whole "I'm afraid of the Olive-Skinned man with the moustache in the fifth row" crisis blows over.

Phaenx

If you go to Vegas don't forget to poke a homeless person with a stick. It's family fun for everyone.

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clifclav

Gotta agree with Rodney. Just pick one smaller area and concentrate more on that than the whole shebang. (Would you try to visit Perth, Darwin, Sydney, & Adelaide in three weeks?)

California would be cool.
Texas is large but between Austin, Dallas, San Antonio you get a wide spread and some cool sights.
Florida in the middle of the year (July??) is unbearably humid but still some cool sights in a relatively compact area.
D.C. (my hometown) is very interesting and definately worth seeing but also very humid and hot.
New York is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life.
My personal opinion is that the prettiest area of the USA is the Bluegrass of Kentucky and that is compounded with some of the nicest people in the States.

Whatever you choose have fun and let us know how the planning is coming.

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Lebell

To answer the question that hasn't been asked,

round trip from say LA to Denver Colorado varies from around $260 to $360, depending on the deal you can cut.

I agree about focusing, since I'm looking at the exact opposite trip from Denver to Oz.

I will say that if you can swing a trip to the Grand Canyon in there, I would do it if I were you. The entire American Southwest is fascinating (time on the Navajo reservation with a tour of the sites, such as Monument Valley is cool).

The San Francisco area (central California) is full of things to see and do too, as is the area from Portland Oregon through Seattle Washington up into Vancouver, British Columbia.

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BentNotTwisted

Some here have said you should try and concentrate on a single area of the US. If you plan on making regular visits to the states it makes sense. Personally, I disagree. If I were in your shoes and I were going to visit Australia I know I wouldn't be back for a looong time. I would want to make the best of the time I had and see as much as I could see.
If you're into natural sights I would recommend Yosemite Nat. Park in California, The Grand Canyon in Arizona, and definitely Yellowstone in western Wyoming. The central US is pretty flat and is interesting if you want to know about the westward expansion of the original settlers. If not, you can keep on moving. If you hit the eastern US there are the Smoky Mountains in in Tennessee and North Carolina and the Adirondacks in New York state.
I'm afraid I don't know much about the southeast US.
Unfortunately your travel options are limited. The national rail service Amtrak is nearly bankrupt and has a spotty safety record. Automobile travel is alright but you waste a lot of time on the road. Air travel is fast, convenient and reasonably priced. You have to book ahead though as the airlines will absolulely gouge you if you book a flight at the last minute. One more option is to work with an American travel agent and look into bus tours. You ride on a large comfortable bus with reclining seats and it's own WC. The tours stop at lots of interesting places and have reasonable lodging.
Best of luck and I hope you have an absolutely great time while you're here.

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Donkeypuncher

Agreed on the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone; from there, it's a short hop to South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. All stunning sights.

You want a good cross-section? I'd probably hit some of the natural wonders and bigger cities - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia and whatever else you think you can fit in.

Realize, of course, you could easily spend three weeks in any one of those places and not soak it all up.

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greytone

Don't try and see too much, you will get frustrated.
Air fares can vary based on a number of things, primarily if there is a budget airline on the route. Last minute airfares can be 3-4 times what you would pay on-line with a two or three week advance purchace on many routes, so plan ahead.

What to see depends on your interests. There are natural attractions throughout the states, but the most dramatic are in the West. Consider the Grand Canyon, Yosemite in Northarn California, and Yellowstone. I would strongly encourage you to drive Highway 1 from LA to San Fran and then check out the wine country north of San Fran. Then head into Yosemite and cut down to Las Vegas. Then consider the Grand Canyon.

You might also want to consider seeing British Columbia if you would consider going north to Canada.

In the East, New York and Boston and Philly, and Washington are all full of must see historical sites.

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ozzie3legs

To make things more frustrating, I suggest New Orleans. It's got old world charm, mixed with a bit of new world sleaze. Portland, OR, Seattle, and Vancouver (although technically in Canada) are all neat places to visit, too. The Rocky Mountains would be neat, as would be the Grand Canyon. Mesa Verde in SW Colorado is a great place to see ancient ruins. Texas, anyplace, is a great visit.

Enjoy your trip!

End User

Thanks to everyone for the info so far. I realise I've got alot of research to do. The Grand Canyon and Las Vegas were already on my itinerary. A possibly change in plan means the trip may be brought forward to Feb/March which is just at the end of winter over there I think. As far as renting a car goes, I have my reservations, as you guys drive on the other side of the road....Hows the public transport like over there? Do you have trains that go from the airport to the City Centres? I guess it depends on the city right?

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Zeld2.0

Yeah depends on the city pretty much.

Don't even bother with trains in say Los Angeles - they practically don't exist anymore.

Public transport... eh i'd try to stay off it as well. Thats mainly city wise.

I know they do have private shuttles between cities and what not you can check out. Amtrack and stuff is good for long distance between cities mainly IMO.

Its pretty nice going on a train from say LA to SF and what not.

You can always try to get a tour to like yellowstone or what not.

A Feb/March trip though may have a few problems. Most Nat'l Parks (Yosemite, Yellowstone, etc.) may still be closed - in fact IIRC many of them are til april/may due to the snow.

Hell i went to Bryce Canyon / Zion in Utah early April and i went into a friggin blizzard!

At that time NYC and WashDC are pretty nice. Personally I like the cold and snow so I went christmas and last year was like the first year NYC was snowing on christmas night! And the next day NYC had clear skies and it was awesome with all the snow and lights and stuff.

Las Vegas to Grand Canyon I know for sure has tours and trips and stuff you can go to. It depends if you like that stuff.

Nat'l Park wise Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone are all great sees on the West Coast/Midwest. Bryce Canyon also, Mt. Rushmore worht it too.

Swing by Chicago maybe if you're heading east, and the big cities in the East are all worth it too IMO.

Just going from DC to Philly to NYC to Boston then finally Niagra Falls took a good 5 days and that was pretty rushed. Its not that it took 5 days to drive, hell one day could do it easily, but just to see the better sites around / must-sees it was already pretty rushed.

Theres just so much IMO and personally i'd say concentrate on one section of the US at a time lol.

gump

i dont know really how much time you'll have to see everything the usa has to offer but if i had a few extra days i would take a journey to the great smokey mountains. there are tons of things you can do right around the mountains. if you want to go to an amusement park theres dollywood or you could just go get lost in the woods. if you pln to visit the south i would definitely vist the east tennessee area. hope this helps

clavus

Mendocino Coast (Northern California).

For cheap and easy airfare with in the USA, goto www.southwest.com.

Right now I can go from Sacramento, CA to Portland, OR for $34 one way with one week notice.

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Slims

You need to drive across the country

Rent a car and go see everything.

You can drive down the california coast to tijuana, then back up and across the US to hit Big Bend, the Grand Canyon, Colorado, Washington D.C., New York, etc.

A road trip is really the best way to see the country. If you fly from place to place you won't get to see much.

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Cynthetiq

for air travel.... sometimes you can purchase a air pass to fly for several weeks from a particular carrier it's cheaper then buying individual tickets.. you'll fly standby usually but you can go from city to city, state to state... in theory you can just fly somewhere for the day or a couple of days...contact the airlines to find out more information.

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greydenn

All depends what you want to see. If you want nightlife and the urban scene, New York or San Fransisco is the way to go. If you want Outdoors check out Utah, Wyoming or Montana. Of course if you have kids you will probably want to check out Orlando for Disney/Universal Studios.

vinnyferrozzo

one word...Disneyland

wwcd101

If you want to see America, stay away from the attractions (that includes all things Disney, NYC, Wash D.C. etc.).

Go to Boston and Cape Ann.

Go see one of the great lakes. Check out Ohio or Michigan or Illinois.

Go see the Grand Canyon.

Go to California, but Sf not LA. Go to Napa and Tahoe and Reno.

That would be a good start. And, make sure you talk to as many people as possible.

Thanks for listening.



Go to Seattle/

koli70

I cant tell you what to see, but I can tell you dont come to Sotuh Dakota! It sucks. Nothing besides the Sturgis Rally that's goin on now and Mount Rushmore. And thats so over-rated.

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God of Thunder

Not much to see here in Michigan, but like WWCD101 said, it is a good place to see the Great Lakes.

The Henry Ford Museum is in Dearborn and the Kellogg's factory is in Battle Creek if your into the American industry type things. From here you are just a short road-trip away from the east coast. Just don't come up to Flint, everything moved away from here. Move along, nothing to see here.

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neoinoakleys

There ain't JACK to see here in Michigan. I live in the Detroit Area, and I think it is a PIT. I transferred here almost 8 years ago, and the automotive industry has sucked me in, and won't let me leave....:-(

Anyways, the kool part of Detroit, is that you can head over the border to Canada, and hangout in Totonto, or go west to Chicago, which are really kool cities, but don't bother with Michigan.

Oh, if you want to spend one or two days being thrilled, head over to Cedar Point in Sanduskey, Ohio. Check out Cedar Point and leave, there is not ANYTHING else to do or see there. But Cedar Point has a TON of world record-breaking roller coasters, when I say TON I mean "TON". I am not sure just how many coasters they have in their park, but I think around 15.

I would head south to Florida. Boca Raton area is Beautiful, and Orlando is fun with Walt Disney World and a TON of other theme parks.

Maybe head to Texas and check out the Austin area or South Padre Island, LOTS of naked chicks there.

Maybe head to the interior of the USA and do a little skiiing in Denver, Colorado.

How about heading to Las Vegas for gambling, prostitutes and shows?? That is always fun...:-)

Gotta check out Washington DC or Colonial Williamsburg, for the history factor.

To slow things down and spend time with nature, check into a chalet in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. You will be able to hike through the Smokey mountains. Or maybe head to the other side of the coutry to check out the Rockies. The Grand Teton area is beautiful, and of course Yellowstone National park is amazing.

I would also make it a point to drive up and down the California coast, it is beautiful, especially in a drop-top Mustang. I would suggest the San Fransisco and San Diego areas...

Yes, I have gotten around, but I think those are the highlights...

I would not even ATTEMPT to do all these things in one visit, but a couple of these things would be a good start, the US is BIG and has ALOT to offer. I have been in the US since I was 5 years old, and I travel ALOT, and still have not hit all the hotspots, I don't see how you will be able to do it in a couple weeks....

But by far, avoid Michigan, not much to see here...much more to see and do in other areas of the US.

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