After having written several articles about what to see on the West Coast (such as the Grand Canyon, California from north to south or Yosemite National Park) I have seen that many readers who go on a trip to the US ask me for a more comprehensive guide with all the places to see in the United States in a month or fifteen days. To try to resolve this question in a single article, I have decided to create this article with the essential places in the United States to visit from coast to coast.

What to see in the United States: travel to the United States from coast to coast

America is gigantic, massive. To explain with hair and ink everything to see in the United States, an article of 10,000 words would be necessary, that is, something infumable. Therefore, this guide to travel to the United States is going to be as practical as possible. First, I will indicate on a map of the United States the essential places to visit, pointing out the natural spaces, the scenic routes, the cities…

Map of the United States what to visit in the territory

This is the map of the United States with the places to visit that I consider most important.

The easiest way to show places to visit on a trip to the US is by distributing by travel blocks from coast to coast. I will start with everything to see on the coast to gradually move west.

What to see in the United States : East Coast

Every trip to the US has an object of desire. On the east coast there are several points that fall into that category, among which New York City stands out.

What to see in the United States on its east coast

There are many essential places to see in the United States on its eastern side: Florida with its Miami, Orlando and Disney World, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls. That without forgetting the capital of the country, Washington DC and, of course, New York, the great desired.

New York

New York is the most desired destination for most travelers to the United States. Tourist icons such as Time Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Fifth Avenue are places of desire (imbued in our lives thanks to movies or music) for all visitors to the Big Apple.

In this article I tell you everything to see in New York in 5 days and in this I talk about the museums of New York .

Washington

The capital of the United States is another of the emblematic and essential places to visit in the USA. Places as emblematic as the Capitol, the White House, the Abraham Lincoln Monument or the Washington Monument (the gigantic obelisk that appears in movies like Forrest Gump) make this city a stopping point on any route along the East Coast. In this city are also the majority of museums linked to the Smithsonian Research Institute.

Boston

To the north of the east coast is another of the emblematic cities of the United States, Boston. Over there

Florida: Miami, Orlando, NASA and Disney World

The Florida peninsula is one of the best beach areas in the country. In it are the cities of Miami and Orlando and one of the ideal places to travel to the United States with children: Disney World. Another of the most attractive places to see in Florida are the NASA facilities, such as the John F. Kennedy Space Center and the facilities at Cape Canaveral.

Niagara Falls

The first of the United States wonders in this article is the well-known Niagara Falls. It is a waterfall of the Niagara River on the border between the United States and Canada. They do not stand out so much for their height (51 meters) but for their width (945 meters at its maximum stretch).

Chicago and the Great Lakes

Another essential of the United States to visit is the city of Chicago and the Great Lakes Region. This is a huge body of fresh water (containing 21% of the fresh water on the planet) divided into 5 lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario) which are located on the border between Canada and the United States. Around them is located the so-called Megalopolis of the Great Lakes, a group of metropolitan areas in North America, among which are the aforementioned Chicago, Detroit, Cincinati, Columbus, Milwaukee or the Canadian Toronto.

Ruta 61 o The Blues Highway

Lovers of traditional North American music have an essential itinerary to travel: Route 61 or The Blues Highway. US Route 61 is a federal route in the United States that connects Minnesota with New Orleans following the path of the Mississippi River for 2,300 km. It is known as The Blues Highway (blues music highway) since its route runs through emblematic places of American music (soul, gospel, R&B, rock&roll…) such as Memphis, Tennessee and Louisiana.

Route 66

One of the mythical plans that is in the head of all those who want to visit the United States is to travel Route 66. This itinerary was forged in the 19th century as the main route of emigrants who went west from Chicago to Los Angeles to Along almost 4000 in search of the coveted gold during the so-called «gold rush». Due to the improvement of the road system in the United States, Route 66 was officially removed from the country’s road network in 1985, although, thanks to the boom in tourism in search of this route, various sections can be found marked as Historic Route 66 .

What to visit in the United States: central zone

The central United States, although less popular with foreign visitors (most travelers focus on the east and west coasts), has several interesting places to visit.

Monte Rushmore

In the north of the United States, in the state of South Dakota, is one of the icons of American culture and history, Mount Rushmore. Here is the huge sculpture carved into the side of a mountain with the effigies of four US presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

State of Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio)

The state of Texas, in the south of the United States, is one of the states most linked to the culture and image of the country. In it are cities of interest such as Houston (where the NASA Johnson Space Center is located  ), Dallas or Austin (where the South by Southwest, one of the most famous music festivals in the world, is held).

United States what to visit on the West Coast

With Route 66 as a common thread, we go from the East Coast, the Mideast and the Central United States to the West and Midwest of the map.

What to see in the United States on its west coast

Along with New York, the other great point of interest to see in the United States is the West Coast. In this part of the country the accumulation of places of interest is so great that it is difficult to count them in a summarized way. Here are cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco (in the state of California), Las Vegas (in Nevada) or Seattle (in the state of Washington); highway routes such as the final stretch of Route 66 or California Route 1; National Parks that are authentic natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, Death Valley, Yellowstone, Monument Valley or Antelope Canyon.

In this article I tell everything to see on the west coast of the USA .

California

As was the case on the east coast and its New York, Florida or Chicago and the Great Lakes, the west coast of the United States has areas that are well worth dedicating an exclusive trip to. One such area is the state of California. In it are:

• Two of the essential cities in the United States to visit during the trip: San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• 8 National Parks and 3 of the most important natural spaces in the country: Yosemite National Park, Death Valley National Park or Death Valley and Sequoia National Park.
• One of the most spectacular scenic highway routes in the United States, California Route 1 or Big Sur
• The best beaches for surfing in the United States

In this article I tell you everything to see in California in a week .

San Francisco

San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities and one of the essential places to see in the US. Icons such as the Golden Gate, Alcatraz prison or its streets with impossible slopes have made the city of eternal decadence an icon that has appeared hundreds of times in movies, books and video games. San Francisco is a magnet for lovers of literature (the Beat Generation had one of its epicenters here), music, cinema…

The Angels

Los Angeles is another must-see in the United States to visit during a trip to the West Coast . In Los Angeles there are some of the best beaches in the country (for example, Santa Monica), the Hollywood area, the epicenter of American cinema (with the Warner and Universal studios and the Walk of Fame) or places linked to sports like the Staples Center of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is   one of  America’s must-see natural wonders. It is a gigantic glacial valley impregnated with waterfalls (some of nearly 1000 meters), forests, hiking trails and climbing areas.

In this article I tell you everything to see in Yosemite, what to do, how to get there and where to sleep.

Sequoia National Park

Sequoias National Park, located south of the Sierra Nevada and next to King’s Canyon National Park, is another of the National Parks in the United States that generates the most visits and curiosity. Among countless canyons, caves and ancient glacial valleys grow the world’s queens of flora: the sequoias. Proof of this is the General Sherman sequoia, the largest single-stemmed living tree on the planet and whose age ranges between 2,200 and 2,700 years.

Death Valley National Park or Death Valley

Death Valley National Park is one of the hottest places on the planet. Its desert landscape contains panoramic views of great beauty that contrast with other points such as the fertile Yosemite (which is accessed from Death Valley through the Tioga Pass).

Las Vegas

Las Vegas is one of the most perplexing places in America. This metropolis of light and sound stands in the middle of the Nevada desert like a paradoxical entity. For those who like artificial nightscapes, Las Vegas is, without a doubt, one of the must-sees in the United States.

In this article I tell how to get from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon , and all the excursions and tours from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon and surroundings .

Colorado Grand Canyon National Park

If I had to say one essential thing to see in the United States, the Grand Canyon of Colorado would be one of my possible choices. This enormous terraqueous pit produced by the Colorado River as it passes through Arizona is another of the natural wonders of the USA.

In these articles I tell

• What to see in the Grand Canyon
• How to visit the Grand Canyon in one day
• How to fly over the Grand Canyon by helicopter
• All about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, map and zones

Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon y Horseshoe Bend

To the east of the Grand Canyon of Colorado there are three other essential natural spaces in the United States to visit during the route: Monument Valley and its rock formations made famous by western movies; the Antelope Canyon, a canyon carved by the rains in the desert sand; and Horseshoe Bend, the famous bend in the Colorado River located near Page, Arizona.

In this article I tell how to visit Antelope canyon and Horseshoe bend.

Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon National Parks

Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon National Parks are two of Utah’s most important wilderness areas. Located inland on the west coast, both are ideal for hiking through the rocky bowels of the Mormon state.

In this article I tell how to visit Bryce Canyon National Park in one day .

yellowstone national park

Another of the natural wonders to see in the United States is Yellowstone Park. Located for the most part in the state of Wyoming (midwest of the country), it is a super volcano, one of the largest dormant volcanoes on the planet, whose caldera extends over an area of ​​55 x 72 km².

In this article I tell everything to see in Yellowstone and in this other how to get to Yellowstone.

Seattle

The city of Seattle, on the north west coast of the United States, is one of the most vibrant cities in the United States. It is another of the musical epicenters to visit in the US since grunge music (also known as the Seattle sound) emerged there and it was the birthplace of musicians like Jimi Hendrix.

And for dessert… two pearls of the United States to visit outside the continent

Alaska

Alaska is one of the most coveted destinations for adventure lovers. This territory of the United States, located between Canada and the Bering Strait, is endless forests, mountains, valleys and wild reserves where nature is the one that dominates the human being

Hawai

Finally, there is the paradise of the United States: the Hawaiian Islands. This archipelago located in Polynesia, in the north of the Pacific Ocean, is a place of reference for multiple types of tourists: those seeking relaxation and pleasure, those seeking surfing, those seeking ocean culture, those seeking nature (here is the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park).

Requirements to travel to the United States from Spain

To enter the United States, a non-immigrant visa is required, except for those countries that belong to the Visa Waiver Program . Among them is Spain. That is why, for those tourist or business trips that do not last more than 90 consecutive days, the document required to enter the United States is the ESTA. However, there are various exceptions and cases in which this document is not enough. I tell everything in this article about the requirements to travel to the United States from Spain (and also from outside Spain).

United States travel insurance

Before I talked about requirements to travel to the United States. Among them, travel insurance is not included as mandatory but, of course, I suggest that it go in the suitcase yes or yes. The United States is one of the countries with the most expensive health care:

• A routine consultation costs around 100 USD (if you add some analysis, it goes up to 300-400 USD)
• A consultation with a specialist can amount to 400 dollars
• The ambulance transfer, from 700 USD
• A minor surgery that requires a minimum hospital admission (such as appendicitis), can amount to 40,000-50,000 dollars.

In other words, travel insurance becomes essential if, for whatever reason, we get injured. For this, I tell you the following:

Discountin your travel insurance for USA:

I have been traveling with insurance for a long time, but for places like the United States it becomes a ESSENTIAL . Not because it is dangerous, but because any health care , no matter how small , costs a lot (a sprain, gastroenteritis…).

Besides, due to Covid-19 , many countries are requesting compulsory travel insurance to enter the country (USA one of them).

Therefore, I tell you that, through my blog you can have the following discount with the Mondo company 👇

Characteristics and coverage of Mondo insurance

• Coverage : from 500,000 euros (up to 5,000,000 in Premium coverage).
• Covid coverage , which includes:
  • Medical expenses, health transfer and repatriation due to Covid-19 disease .
  • Travel PCR test : expenses derived from the test if it has been prescribed by a doctor.
  • Expenses derived from extension of stay due to medical quarantine .
  • Discount previous PCR test .
• Travel assistance app , which has:
  • 24h medical chat
  • Free assistance call through the App.
  • Management of incidents.

In addition, Mondo has the option of adding cancellation insurance , which seems essential to me today due to the instability that exists due to Covid (in recent months I have had to cancel up to 6 trips…)

If you want to take a look at the conditions and calculate the price you can do so by clicking this link .