USA

A trip to the USA is hard to plan in a single evening. The country is big, the distances between stops are long, and tickets for parks and museums often have to be bought in advance. You have already picked the destination and are now working out how many days New York needs, whether a week is enough for the Utah parks and which month to go to Florida. Those are the questions people bring here.

The largest part of this section is about cities. For New York there is a rundown of typical first-trip mistakes, a one-day plan, a month-by-month weather overview and a selection of places to eat. Separate pieces cover the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial, the Manhattan Bridge and a comparison of the MoMA and the Met. For Las Vegas, Miami, Washington and Chicago there are lists of the main sights, and for Miami a beach overview as well.

The second major block: national parks and road trip routes. We cover the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Everglades, Glacier, Olympic, Mesa Verde, Haleakalā on Maui and Jenny Lake in Grand Teton. Routes are grouped by region: California by car, the Utah parks, the Florida Keys from Miami to Key West, the drive from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. There are individual sights too: Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls, Lake Powell.

The third block covers seasons and practical matters. That means a fall foliage calendar by region, Indian summer in New England, hurricane season and the Yosemite firefall, which is visible only for a short time in February. Practical topics include getting to the USA from Europe, airline ticket refunds, traveling with a dog and medical insurance. On insurance and documents we show what to look for in the terms, and we recommend checking the rules with official sources. Hotels are few so far: the section has a review of a boutique hotel in Laguna Beach and a selection of hotels near the main sights of Las Vegas.

Every article opens with a short answer to the main question. Practical sections follow: how to get there, what to buy in advance, how much time to allow, where lines form. We check prices and opening hours against the official websites of parks, museums and carriers, and state the source and the date of the check next to the figure. We are direct about the downsides. If a place takes a long time to reach or gets crowded in season, the text says so.

This section suits people who plan their trip themselves and want to understand the order of steps. It is useful for a first trip and for a return visit, when the cities are already familiar and the parks are what you need. It will not help anyone looking for a ready-made escorted tour: we do not organize trips and we do not sell anything. Coverage of the country is still uneven. New York, California, Florida and the parks of the West are described in detail, many states not yet.

It is best to start with the season. First read the pieces on weather, hurricanes and fall foliage to choose a month. Then open the route for your region and estimate how many days it takes. After that, move on to the individual parks and sights along your way: they tell you which tickets are needed in advance. Practical topics such as insurance and ticket refunds are convenient to read last.

"USA" is part of the "North America" section, which belongs to "Destinations". Next to it are the sections "Canada", "Mexico", "Cuba" and "Dominican Republic". The neighbors come in handy if you combine countries in one trip. For example, the article on Niagara Falls compares the views from the two banks, and the second bank belongs to Canada.

We update the articles. Park entrance fees, airline rules and timetables change, so we go back to the texts and check the data against official sources again. New cities and states are added gradually. Before you travel, still check the key details on the website of the park or museum itself: the date of the check in the article tells you how fresh the information is.