Places to go.

Florida and Georgia have the most places so far. For anywhere else, start with the national parks list, which has all 63.

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Across the country

Cross-state guides to the places worth the trip.

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The United States National Parks

All 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.

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Best Beaches in the US

Twenty-six US beaches, five of them in Hawaii, picked mostly for having nothing built behind the sand. Siesta Key, Coronado, Ka'anapali and Cape May are the town beaches we kept anyway.

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The Blue Ridge Mountains

Pick one end. Nobody drives the Parkway fast, so the Virginia stretch and the North Carolina mountains make two trips.

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The Rocky Mountains

A summer list, mostly. Several of the high roads here close for the winter. July and August are the safe bet for driving all of them.

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America's Best Caves

The Park Service runs eight of these 22 caves, and most of the rest are commercial show caves at $23 to $36 an adult. If you only pay for one, make it Ruby Falls: you ride an elevator 26 stories down inside Lookout Mountain and walk to a 145-foot waterfall.

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15 places

Best Waterfalls in the US

Yosemite Falls is the tallest in North America, and by August it can be dry. Most of these run on snowmelt and are fullest in spring. By late summer, irrigation upstream can take Shoshone down to a trickle. Burney and Havasu are spring-fed, so the month doesn't matter there.

15 places

Best Dark Sky Stargazing in the US

Where to go when you want the Milky Way instead of a glow on the horizon. Time it for a new moon: a full one washes out the sky even at the darkest of these.

15 places

Best Slot Canyons and Red Rock in the US

Antelope, Buckskin Gulch, the Narrows and Peek-a-boo with Spooky are the true slots here; the rest are the red-rock parks around them. From July into September the monsoon can flood a slot under a clear sky, so go after it's over.

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437 places

Lakes & rivers

Everglades National Park

Homestead, FL · The Everglades$

Three entrances lead into Everglades National Park, and they don't connect inside it: Homestead, Shark Valley on US 41, and Everglades City on the Gulf Coast. Each is at least an…

Lakes & rivers

Dry Tortugas National Park

Key West, FL · Florida Keys$

Less than 1 percent of Dry Tortugas National Park is dry land: seven small islands in about 100 square miles of water, nearly 70 miles west of Key West. Fort Jefferson on Garden…

Springs

Ginnie Springs

High Springs, FL · North Central Florida$$

At Ginnie Springs, about 8 miles from High Springs, tubes go into the Santa Fe River at Beaver's Landing and float about an hour to the Twin Spring exit. Wear water shoes for the…

Springs

Ichetucknee Springs State Park

Fort White, FL · North Central Florida

Nine springs feed the 6-mile Ichetucknee River near Fort White, and the water holds 72 degrees all year. Manatees show up in winter. Tubing runs year-round from Dampier's Landing…

Springs

Rainbow Springs State Park

Dunnellon, FL · North Central Florida

At Rainbow Springs near Dunnellon you swim in a cordoned-off area by the headsprings, where the Rainbow River begins. Everyone coming in at the headsprings entrance needs a…

Springs

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

Spring Hill, FL · Nature Coast

Mermaids have performed underwater at Weeki Wachee Springs in Spring Hill since 1947, and you watch the daily shows through windows below the spring's surface. Newton Perry, who…

Springs

Three Sisters Springs

Crystal River, FL · Nature Coast$$

A 1,300-foot boardwalk circles Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, where in winter you look down on some of the 600-plus manatees that come into Kings Bay. You get to the…

Springs

Silver Springs State Park

Ocala, FL · North Central Florida$

In the late 1870s Hullam Jones and Phillip Morrell fixed glass to the bottom of a rowboat at Silver Springs in Ocala, and glass bottom boats have run ever since. The half-hour…

Springs

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

Wakulla Springs, FL · Big Bend$

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park near Tallahassee guards one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs on Earth, a sapphire pool 185 feet deep that feeds a wild, jungly…

Springs

Blue Spring State Park

Orange City, FL · Central Florida$

Manatees come in from the St. Johns River to Blue Spring in Orange City for its 72-degree water, and on one January day in 2024 the count reached 932. In 1970 it was 14. They're…

Beaches

Clearwater Beach

Clearwater, FL · Tampa Bay

Clearwater's white quartz sand runs right up to a strip of cafes, so you can park once and leave the car until dark. Every evening the free Sunsets at Pier 60 festival fills the…

Beaches

Siesta Key Beach

Sarasota, FL · Tampa Bay

Ninety-nine percent of the sand on Siesta Key Beach, off Sarasota, is quartz, and the beach is at its widest around the public pavilion. Parking in the big county lot is free. If…

Beaches

Caladesi Island State Park

Dunedin, FL · Tampa Bay

Caladesi Island is a 20-minute ferry ride from Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, and the boats run on a schedule built around a four-hour stay. You pay to park at Honeymoon…

Lakes & rivers

Myakka River State Park

Sarasota, FL · Tampa Bay$

From the 74-foot tower on the canopy walkway at Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, you look down on the tops of the live oaks and sabal palms. Fourteen miles of the Myakka run…

Lakes & rivers

Tallulah Gorge State Park

Tallulah Falls, GA · Northeast Georgia$

A hike on the floor of Tallulah Gorge, at Tallulah Falls in Rabun County, takes one of 100 free permits handed out each day. You pick one up at the Interpretive Center on the day…

Lakes & rivers

Amicalola Falls State Park

Dawsonville, GA · North Georgia Mountains$

Amicalola Falls, the third-highest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi, drops 729 feet near Dawsonville, and its Cherokee name means tumbling waters. The staircase beside…

Volcanoes

Yellowstone National Park

Mammoth Hot Springs, WY · Greater Yellowstone$

More than half of the world's active geysers, about 500 of them, are in Yellowstone, where Wyoming meets Montana and Idaho. At least 150 are in one square mile of the Upper…

Mountains

Yosemite National Park

Mariposa, CA · Sierra Nevada$

Tunnel View, at the east end of the Wawona Tunnel, looks into Yosemite Valley with El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall in front and Half Dome behind. Valley parking is usually full…

Canyons & deserts

Grand Canyon National Park

Tusayan, AZ · Grand Canyon$

The Grand Canyon's South Rim, 81 miles from Flagstaff, Arizona, is open 24 hours a day all year. The North Rim, 215 miles away by road, lost its lodge to the Dragon Bravo Fire in…

Canyons & deserts

Zion National Park

Springdale, UT · Southern Utah$

Private cars can't drive Zion Canyon's Scenic Drive in Utah from March through November, and a free shuttle carries everyone up the canyon instead. A second free one, the…

Mountains

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Gatlinburg, TN · Great Smoky Mountains$

About 1,900 black bears live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the Tennessee and North Carolina line, roughly two for every square mile. Getting within 50 yards of one…

Beaches

Acadia National Park

Bar Harbor, ME · Down East Maine$

From October 7 to March 6, the sun reaches Cadillac Mountain, in Acadia National Park on Maine's Mount Desert Island, before anywhere else in the country. In season the summit…

Mountains

Rocky Mountain National Park

Estes Park, CO · Rocky Mountains$

Rocky Mountain National Park, in northern Colorado, has 77 named peaks over 12,000 feet. Trail Ridge Road crosses it for 48 miles between Estes Park and Grand Lake, eleven of…

Canyons & deserts

Arches National Park

Moab, UT · Southern Utah$

From the Wolfe Ranch lot in Arches National Park, outside Moab, the walk to Delicate Arch is 3 miles round trip and climbs 480 feet. You pass the Wolfe Ranch cabin and a wall of…

Mountains

Glacier National Park

West Glacier, MT · Rocky Mountains$

Glacier National Park in Montana had more than 100 glaciers when it was established in 1910. In 2015, 26 named ones were still big enough to count. Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses…

Mountains

Olympic National Park

Port Angeles, WA · Olympic Peninsula$

From Port Angeles, Washington, Hurricane Ridge is 17 miles and 45 minutes uphill, and the Hoh Rain Forest is 91 miles and 2 hours 15 minutes away. One or two areas a day is…

Mountains

Shenandoah National Park

Front Royal, VA · Blue Ridge Mountains$

Shenandoah National Park is about 75 miles from Washington, D.C., and its one public road, Skyline Drive, runs 105 miles south from Front Royal, Virginia. End to end it takes…

Mountains

Grand Teton National Park

Jackson, WY · Rocky Mountains$

Moose and beavers turn up at Oxbow Bend in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, and bison and pronghorn graze around Mormon Row from spring into fall. Give bears and wolves 100…

Mountains

Blue Ridge Parkway

Asheville, NC · Blue Ridge MountainsFree

Milepost 0 of the Blue Ridge Parkway is in Virginia at Shenandoah National Park, and the road ends 469 miles later at the Smokies in North Carolina. Its lowest point is 649 feet…

Mountains

Grandfather Mountain

Linville, NC · Blue Ridge Mountains$$

At Linville Peak, two miles up the road from Grandfather Mountain's gate on US 221 in Linville, the Mile High Swinging Bridge crosses an 80-foot chasm. Book an entry time online…

Mountains

Mount Mitchell State Park

Burnsville, NC · Blue Ridge MountainsFree

Elisha Mitchell, who measured this mountain in 1835, is buried on top of it, the highest point east of the Mississippi River, 30 miles northeast of Asheville. The Blue Ridge…

Mountains

Maroon Bells

Aspen, CO · Rocky Mountains$

Maroon Peak (14,163 feet) and North Maroon Peak (14,019) stand over Maroon Lake, about 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Their color comes from Maroon Formation mudstone, a weak rock…

Canyons & deserts

Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, CO · Rocky MountainsFree

In 1909 Charles Elliott Perkins' children deeded 480 acres of Garden of the Gods to Colorado Springs as "a free and public park forever," and it's still free. The paved Perkins…

Beaches

Hanalei Bay

Hanalei, HI · Kauai

About two miles of white sand run between the Hanalei and Waipa rivers at Hanalei Bay on Kauai's north shore, with the 1892 pier at the end of Weke Road. Swim in summer over the…

Beaches

Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach, OR · Oregon Coast

Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Oregon, is 235 feet tall. The tide pools around its base are best on a low tide of 0.0 feet or lower. Get there about an hour before the low to…

Beaches

Coronado Beach

San Diego, CA · San Diego

Coronado's Central Beach, with the Hotel del Coronado behind it, is flat enough for skimboarding and runs about a mile and a half. Sewage from the Tijuana River can close the…

Beaches

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Buxton, NC · Outer BanksFree

More than 70 miles of the Outer Banks are national seashore, from Nags Head south to Ocracoke, on three barrier islands with a lighthouse on each. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in…

Canyons & deserts

Badlands National Park

Interior, SD · High Plains$

About an inch a year wears off the buttes of Badlands National Park, 75 miles east of Rapid City, South Dakota. The park estimates they have another 500,000 to a million years…

Canyons & deserts

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon City, UT · Southern Utah$

Bryce Canyon's amphitheater viewpoints are all on the first 3 miles of the park road off Utah 12, and a free shuttle stops at them from April into October. For a first hike down…

Canyons & deserts

Canyonlands National Park

Moab, UT · Southern Utah$

Driving from one district of Canyonlands National Park, outside Moab, to another takes two to six hours, since no road joins them directly. The park has no gas or food, and cell…

Canyons & deserts

Capitol Reef National Park

Torrey, UT · Southern Utah$

The Gifford House, a 1908 homestead in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, sells locally baked fruit pies from Pi Day, March 14, to late November. It stands in Fruita, settled by…

Caves

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Carlsbad, NM · Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert$

There's an elevator into Carlsbad Caverns, south of Carlsbad, New Mexico, but walk down through the Natural Entrance if you can. The trail drops about 750 feet in 1.25 miles and…

Lakes & rivers

Crater Lake National Park

Klamath Falls, OR · Cascade Range, Southern Oregon$

Crater Lake, 1,943 feet deep, fills the caldera of Mount Mazama, an Oregon volcano that stood some 12,000 feet until eruptions about 7,700 years ago collapsed it. Native…

Canyons & deserts

Death Valley National Park

Furnace Creek, CA · Mojave Desert$

The salt crystals at Devils Golf Course, on Badwater Road in Death Valley, make tiny popping sounds as they expand and contract in the heat. Badwater Basin is 17 miles south of…

Mountains

Denali National Park

Denali Park, AK · Interior Alaska$

Denali stands 20,310 feet, the highest peak in North America. It does not always come out of the clouds. Your best odds of seeing it are between mid-May and early September…

Canyons & deserts

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Mosca, CO · San Luis Valley, Colorado$

Medano Creek runs across the foot of Great Sand Dunes only in spring and early summer, when snowmelt spreads it into a wide, beachy stream people wade in. Behind it are the…

Volcanoes

Haleakala National Park

Pukalani, HI · Maui, Hawaii$

Any car entering Haleakala National Park's Summit District on Maui from 3 to 7 a.m. needs a sunrise reservation, and none are issued at the gate. Book on Recreation.gov up to 60…

Volcanoes

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Volcano, HI · Big Island, Hawaii$

Since December 2024, Kilauea has erupted more than 50 times on the Big Island, for hours or days each time, with days or weeks of quiet between. The eruption area at Halemaumau…

Places to go.

Across the country

The United States National Parks

Best Beaches in the US

The Blue Ridge Mountains

The Rocky Mountains

America's Best Caves

Best Waterfalls in the US

Best Dark Sky Stargazing in the US

Best Slot Canyons and Red Rock in the US

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