16 of the most beautiful places to visit in the US

Any trip to Hawaii is sure to show off plenty of the prettiest places in the U.S., but perhaps none like Kauai’s Na Pali Coast—which you can see on our Hawaii: Oahu & Kauai tour. The lush, 17-mile stretch of the island’s north shore is easily recognizable by its razor-sharp ridges, towering cathedral cliffs, and golden beaches. Aerial tours are the best way to fully take in the magnitude of the area, while boat tours—like our Na Pali Coast Boat Cruise excursion—allow visitors to get a closer look at hidden sea caves and remote, unspoiled beaches. Fun fact: You’ll recognize the scenery as an iconic filming location from “Jurassic Park.”

Longing to take in Hawaii’s verdant scenery? Be sure to review our Hawaii Travel Guide before you take off!

Part of the Northern Appalachian Mountains, the White Mountains cover about a quarter of New Hampshire and hold some of the most beautiful places to visit in the U.S. A popular vacation destination for hikers, campers, golfers, snowboarders, and everyone in between, the area delights travelers year-round. The scenic drive from Lincoln to Conway along the Kancamagus Highway is a must for road trippers, and leaf peepers won’t want to miss riding the Mount Washington Cog Railway to the top of the region’s highest peak for colorful views on our Fall Foliage Tour: Vermont to Massachusetts.

Sprawled across nearly 92,000 acres in Arizona and Utah, the Navajo Nation’s Monument Valley Tribal Park—Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii in the Navajo language—is a spectacular desert landscape studded with sandstone formations that rise 400 to 1,000 feet high. This spot is one of the most photographed in the U.S., and it’s no wonder why. Throughout the day, movement of the sun and clouds creates a constantly changing display of light and shadows that make the park one of the most scenic destinations in America. Jeep excursions on our U.S. National Parks: The Grand Canyon to Zion tour are a fun way to take it all in.

If you’re seeking out breathtaking places in the U.S., a trip to Alaska just might be for you—and no journey would be complete without a visit to Denali National Park. The sprawling, six-million-acre park offers Alpine scenery, unique wildlife-spotting opportunities (one of our favorite reasons to visit Denali), and mesmerizing views of North America’s tallest peak: Denali. Take our Alaska Northern Lights: Anchorage to Fairbanks and you’ll feel as though you’ve journeyed halfway across the globe as you explore this winter wonderland alongside a local guide. Heading out at night to seek out one of nature’s most majestic sights (the northern lights) is a travel memory that’ll last a lifetime.

Visiting Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park is like stepping back in time. There, visitors can see ancient, petrified trees, plus Native American petroglyphs that date back nearly 3,000 years. See it solo on our U.S. National Parks for Solo Travelers: The Grand Canyon to Zion tour (one of our top U.S. trips for solo travelers), or savor the scenic railway route on our America’s National Parks by Train: Rocky Mountains, Arches & Zion tour.

A hike along the 40,000-acre park’s trails will take visitors past naturally formed sandstone arches, through a sea of multicolored rock formations, and into narrow slot canyons carved out over time by flash floods and rainfall. Adrenaline junkies won’t want to miss out on rock climbing or rappelling during free time.

Situated in southwestern Utah, Zion National Park is one of the most beautiful places to visit in the U.S. thanks to the steep, red cliffs of its crowning jewel, Zion Canyon. When you take our America’s National Parks by Train: Rocky Mountains, Arches & Zion tour, you’ll get to explore these luscious landscapes from an open-air tram alongside a local guide.

Among other can’t-miss spots to visit in Zion National Park is Angels Landing, one of the world’s most renowned hiking trails thanks to its tricky terrain and Zion Canyon views. The Virgin River flows to the Emerald Pools, where visitors will find waterfalls and a hanging garden. Whatever adventurous explorers want—backpacking, canyoneering, stargazing—they’ll find it here during free time. Plus, wildlife enthusiasts may even spot deer, goats, and sheep when visiting the park on our U.S. National Parks: The Grand Canyon to Yellowstone tour.

Lake Powell may be man-made, but it’s plenty worthy of a spot on our list of the most beautiful places to visit in the U.S. A reservoir on the Colorado River, it straddles the Utah-Arizona border and is a popular spot for water sports—especially boating, paddle boarding, and jet-skiing. There’s plenty for landlubbers here, too, like hiking, stargazing, and visiting the Navajo Village Heritage Center on our U.S. National Parks: A Week in the Southwest tour. Up for a nearby excursion? Check out Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon, and be sure to bring your camera.

Holy hoodoos! That might be your exclamation upon first seeing Bryce Canyon. Situated in southern Utah, this national park is home to the largest concentration of hoodoos, or hauntingly irregular columns of rock, in the world—which you can see on our America’s National Parks by Train: Rocky Mountains, Arches & Zion tour.

At the park’s visitor center, guests can check out museum exhibits (or hear from rangers) about the rocks’ formation and pink and red coloring. Out in the park, travelers can soak in stunning vistas from Sunrise, Sunset, Inspiration, and Bryce viewpoints, hike trails of all levels during free time, and go stargazing at night. In the wintertime, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are exciting ways to explore the park’s plateaus. Essentially, this spot is one of the most breathtaking places in the U.S. year-round.

Another Utah gem, Arches National Park gets its name from the 2,000 natural stone arches that are found within its boundaries. Add to the mix hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive rock fins, and giant balanced rocks, and you get an alien-like, red-rock landscape that’s truly unforgettable. Get your fill of photo ops and “wow” moments as you explore the park on our America’s National Parks by Train: Rocky Mountains, Arches & Zion tour. Highlights include enjoying the 19-mile Arches Scenic Drive, hiking the easy, mile-long Park Avenue Trail, and stopping to see Delicate Arch, the park’s main attraction (which you’ll see on the Utah license plate).

Simply put, visiting Yellowstone means diving into some of the most scenic places in the USA. Primarily located in Wyoming (it touches Montana and Idaho, too), the park is known for its steaming hot springs and gushing geysers, the most famous of which is Old Faithful. Another can’t-miss attraction is Grand Prismatic Spring—the largest hot spring in the U.S. and the third-largest in the world. The rainbow-colored thermal pool is 121 feet deep (that’s more than a 10-story building!) and covers more area than a football field. See it all on our National Parks: Canadian Rockies, Glacier & Yellowstone tour.

Home to more than 700 miles of trails, this pristine park is one of the best places to visit in the U.S. if you love hiking. Whether you choose to explore by hiking, camping, boating, or biking, you’ll be treated to views of soaring, snowcapped mountains and turquoise Alpine lakes that make this destination one of our favorite hidden gems in the United States. No visit to Glacier would be complete without a drive along Going-to-the-Sun Road, which connects the east and west sides of the park and is dotted with waterfalls and other points of interest that are worth pulling over to see. Sound cool? See it on our National Parks: Canadian Rockies, Glacier & Yellowstone tour.

One of the best places to visit in the U.S. for awesome ocean views is Big Sur, a wild, rugged stretch of central California’s coastline about 140 miles south of San Francisco. With blankets of wildflowers, swooping seabirds, and emerald mountains that slope toward the sea, it’s a playground for nature buffs and shutterbugs. Can’t-miss photo ops include Bixby Bridge and the Big Sur cliffs, which tower 5,000-plus feet over the Pacific at their highest points. While we don’t visit Big Sur on our guided tours (yet!), jet-setters drawn to places like Big Sur also adore exploring Hawaii’s lush shores on our Hawaii: Oahu, the Big Island & Maui tour.

For many Massachusetts residents, summertime is synonymous with Cape Cod. The peninsula, which is shaped like a hook—or a flexed arm, depending on who you ask—juts into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern part of the state and is chock-full of charming coastal villages, casual seafood shacks, photo-ready lighthouses, and wildlife-rich aquatic ecosystems. Nature buffs won’t want to miss a visit to the Cape Cod National Seashore, where they’ll find protected marshes, ponds, beaches, and lots more to explore. When you add the Boston extension to our New England: Vermont, Maine Coast & Massachusetts tour, you can use your free day to plan a visit to this stunning locale.

Though it may sound ominous, the name of this national park in South Dakota is also a geologic term used to describe the spectacular layered rock formations found there. Within its 244,000 acres, visitors can explore one of the world’s richest fossil beds, and watch paleontologists at work in the Fossil Preparation Lab. Animal lovers: Keep your eyes peeled for bison, bighorn sheep, and black-footed ferrets. At the White River Visitor Center, rangers are on hand to chat about the Badlands’ ties to Lakota heritage, the Indigenous tribe linked with the land for centuries.

Plan your visit on our Badlands & Mount Rushmore extension of our National Parks: Canadian Rockies, Glacier & Yellowstone tour in 2026 and beyond. When you go with us, you’ll have the chance to take in all the wondrous sights of the Badlands and then follow it up with an outing to Mount Rushmore.