A country you cross in a week. Book it in the right order.
Which observation deck to pay for in New York. Whether the Grand Canyon West day out of Las Vegas is worth nine hours on a bus. What a Circle Island day on Oahu really costs. Reviews of the tours and tickets Americans and visitors actually book.
Four American days that carry a whole trip.
A skyline, a canyon, a river and an island. What each one costs, how long it takes, and what the people who booked it say.
01The first eveningSUMMIT One Vanderbilt TicketsManhattan from 1,200 feet, with the mirrored stairwell and the glass ledge. Take a slot an hour before sunset and stay for the lights.- 02The day from VegasGrand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and SkywalkThe Hualapai West Rim with a Hoover Dam stop on the way. Long day, one lifetime view, and the Skywalk if you want it.
03The Chicago hourChicago Architecture River CruiseNinety minutes up the river with an architect talking. The best value sightseeing in any American city.
04The Oahu loopOahu Grand Circle Island and Haleiwa Tour: 9-Hr Deluxe ExperienceRound the island past the North Shore and the windward coast. One long day covers what a hire car takes three to see.
The most-booked days out in America.
Every American tour we have reviewed →More travellers take these than anything else in the country, and each one earns the slot for a different reason.
1
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Tickets
Review of SUMMIT One Vanderbilt in NYC, with mirror rooms, glass skyboxes, skyline views, timing tips, prices, and practical advice.
From · $47
Read our review →
2
9/11 Memorial & Museum Timed-Entry Ticket
from $25
3
Empire State Building Tickets – Observatory & Museum
from $47
4
Empire State Building Observation Deck Tickets
from $48
5
Edge Observation Deck Admission Ticket
from $39
6
Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and Skywalk
from $109
7
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with Ferry
from $19
8
Oahu Grand Circle Island and Haleiwa Tour: 9-Hr Deluxe Experience
from $140
River cruise, harbour run or a whale-watching morning.
Three completely different days, all of them on water. What it costs to board each one, and which coast it happens on.
Six American cities, and the day out that defines each one.
A skyline you look down on, a desert strip with a canyon attached, a volcanic island, a French Quarter, a bay full of fog and a coastline of turquoise. Start with the place, then pick the day.
New York: pick one deck, one boat, one museum.
Everything in New York →
Four observation decks compete for the same ninety minutes, the harbour ferries run all day, and the museums are worth a morning each. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the city.
Summit, Edge, Empire or Rock
Summit is the mirrored one, Edge is the outdoor ledge, the Empire State is the building everyone pictures and Top of the Rock is the only deck with the Empire State in the photo. Pick by the view you want to keep.
The museums worth the morning
Natural History for the dioramas and the whale, MoMA for the fifth floor, the Met for everything else. Timed tickets keep you out of the sidewalk queue in July.
Liberty Island by ferry or by cruise
The Statue and Ellis Island ferry is the classic and the slowest. A harbour cruise skips the landings and shows you the same skyline from the water in half the time.
Half of America is easier to see from a boat.
The Chicago River between the towers, the harbour run past Liberty Island, a Mississippi steamboat with a jazz band on the deck, humpbacks off Maui in February. The water gets you the angle the sidewalk cannot.
What an American day out actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Plenty of the best days in the country cost less than dinner and a cab home.
Deck tickets, museum entries, river cruises and the walking tours that make a whole afternoon.
The full-day standards: Grand Canyon coaches, island loops, airboats and the harbour cruises with dinner.
Helicopters, small-group canyon days and the private guides worth paying once for.
The best American cities are walked, not driven.
Boston has the Freedom Trail, Savannah has the squares, New Orleans has the Quarter and Salem has the trials. Two hours behind a good guide beats a day behind a windscreen.
Las Vegas is four hours from three of the great American views.
The Strip is the base camp. Hoover Dam is forty minutes out, the Hualapai West Rim about four hours, and the slot canyons around Page a night away. Everything runs on an early coach and a hard return time.
Every Las Vegas day out →
Three landscapes that exist nowhere else on earth.
Every country has a river and a cathedral. A mile-deep gorge with a glass floor over it, a sandstone corridor lit by a single beam, and a saw-grass river you cross at forty miles an hour are American originals.
The Grand Canyon West Rim
The West Rim belongs to the Hualapai, not the National Park Service, which is why it has a glass Skywalk cantilevered out over the drop and why it is the rim you can reach and return from in a day out of Las Vegas. It is narrower and lower than the South Rim, and it is the one with an eagle-shaped rock formation everybody photographs.
- 1Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and Skywalk★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 19,535 reviews
- 2Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop, Breakfast, Lunch & Skywalk★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,194 reviews
- 3Grand Canyon West Bus Tour with Hoover Dam and Optional Skywalk★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 7,224 reviews
Antelope Canyon
A flash-flood channel carved into Navajo sandstone outside Page, wide enough for one person at the bottom and lit for about two hours a day when the sun clears the rim. You cannot walk in alone: entry is by permit with a Navajo guide, upper canyon for the light beams, lower for the ladders and the corkscrew walls.
- 1Lower Antelope Canyon Entry and Navajo Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 7,801 reviews
- 2Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend Day Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,764 reviews
- 3Lower Antelope Canyon Hiking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,216 reviews
The Everglades by airboat
It is not a swamp, it is a river sixty miles wide and six inches deep moving south at the speed of a slow walk. A flat-bottomed boat with an aircraft propeller on the back is the only sensible way across the saw grass, and the alligators are genuinely everywhere from an hour outside Miami.
- 1Everglades Airboat, Wildlife Show & Bus Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 8,622 reviews
- 2Everglades National Park Airboat Tour & Wildlife Show★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 7,296 reviews
- 3New Orleans Airboat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,891 reviews
Four American tickets that run out before you land.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before from a hotel lobby. These four run on permits, allocations and timed slots that were released weeks ago.
- 01Lower Antelope Canyon Entry and Navajo Guided TourThe canyon is on Navajo land and there is no independent entry. Every visit is a permitted, timed tour with a guide, and the midday light slots go first.
- 02SUMMIT One Vanderbilt TicketsEntry is timed to the half hour with a cap on each slot. The hour before sunset sells out days ahead all summer.
- 03Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with FerryFerry sailings are timed and the pedestal and crown allocations are released months out. Same-day tickets mean the boat, not the statue.
- 04Salute to Pearl Harbor Including USS ArizonaThe USS Arizona Memorial programme runs on a small number of timed boat departures a day. When they are gone the memorial is a view from the shore.
New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston are best walked after dark.
The oldest street grids in the country are small, flat and full of stories, which is why the guided walk beats the bus here. Cemeteries, carriage lanes, cast-iron balconies, and a ghost tour on almost every corner in October.
- 1New Orleans Premier Ghost, Voodoo and Vampire Walking Tourfrom $27
- 2New Orleans Steamboat Natchez Jazz Cruise with Dinner Optionfrom $58
- 3Adults-Only New Orleans Ghost, Crime, Voodoo, and Vampire Tourfrom $37
The American summer has an indoor answer.
Phoenix and Las Vegas run past a hundred degrees from June, and the eastern cities turn humid enough that walking a grid becomes work. The move is the same everywhere: something early, then a cool room. Galleries, high decks with the air on, a boat with shade over the deck, a long lunch.
By place — coast, city and island
By kind of day — deck, deck chair, canyon or kitchen
New York to San Francisco: the run most first trips take.
Washington DCThe newest American tour reviews.
More new reviews →
1000 Islands: 10, 20, 30, or 60-Min Scenic Helicopter Tour
Read our review →
New Orleans City and Cemetery Tour with Garden District Stroll
Read our review →
New Orleans Small-Group Garden District Walking Tour
Read our review →
The Escape Game Cincinnati: 60-Minute Adventures at The Banks
Read our review →
East Zion Crimson Canyon Hike & UTV Adventure
Read our review →
Peekaboo Slot Canyon UTV and Hiking Adventure
Read our review →
Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon Tour UTV Adventure (Private)
Read our review →
East Zion 4 Hour Slot Canyon Canyoneering UTV Tour
Read our review →
Small-Group Wine Country Tour from San Francisco with Tastings
Read our review →
The Escape Game Pigeon Forge: 60-Minute Adventures on The Island
Read our review →