1. The Wave, Arizona
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-May, Sept-Dec
Cost: $
- Sandstone rock formation located in Arizona, near its northern border with Utah
- The formation is well-known among hikers and photographers for its colorful, undulating forms
- Due to the fragile nature of the formation and the large number of people wishing to visit it, a daily lottery system is used to dispense permits
Featured in The Best of Arizona
#13 in Most Surreal Attractions in the World
#32 in Best Attractions in the USA
2. Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Park whose major feature is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters
- Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks
Featured in The Best of Utah
#6 in Best Attractions in the USA
#13 in Best National Parks in the USA
#19 in Most Surreal Attractions in the World
3. Antelope Canyon, Arizona
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: late March-early Aug
Cost: $
- Navajo Upper Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest, on Navajo land east of Lechee
- The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means 'the place where water runs through the (Slot Canyon) rocks'
- Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí, or 'spiral rock arches'
- They are accessible by Navajo guided tour only
Featured in The Best of Arizona
#1 in Most Surreal Attractions in the World
#24 in Best Attractions in the USA
4. Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: late April-May, Sept-early Oct
Cost: $
- Largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world, after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica
- Grand Prismatic Spring was noted by geologists working in 1871, and named by them for its striking coloration
- Its colors match most of those seen in the rainbow dispersion of white light by an optical prism: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#2 in Best Attractions in the USA
#2 in Best National Parks in the USA
#8 in Best National Parks in the World
#11 in Best Attractions in the World
#15 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#46 in Best Landmarks in the World
5. Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- National park that protects the landscape of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States
- The area around Stronghold Table was originally Sioux territory, and is revered as a ceremonial sacred site rather than a place to live
Featured in The Best of South Dakota
#31 in Best National Parks in the USA
#37 in Best Attractions in the USA
6. The Zion Narrows Riverside Walk, Zion National Park, Utah
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: April-Nov
Cost: $
- Park located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions
- The park features a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity
- There are four life zones in the park: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest
- Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches
Featured in The Best of Utah
#7 in Best Attractions in the USA
#8 in Best National Parks in the USA
7. Horseshoe Bend Trail, Arizona
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- Horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page
- The land south of the Bend's parking area, trail, and overlook are on the Navajo Nation territory.
- Horseshoe Bend is popular just before sunset, as large groups of tourists make the 1/2 mile long hike down to the over look point
- The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (1,000 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop
Featured in The Best of Arizona
#64 in Best Attractions in the USA
8. Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake, Oregon
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Garfield Peak is a mountain peak on the south end of Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
- The top of the peak reaches 7,976 feet (2,431 m) above sea level
- The peak has a 1,000 feet (305 m) elevation trail to the summit from the Crater Lake lodge, one of the most popular hiking sites surrounding the lake
9. Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Washington
Best time to visit: April-May
Cost: $
- Festival located in Skagit Valley held annually in the spring, April 1 to April 30
- The event has grown to a month-long event and coincides with street fairs, art shows and sporting events
Featured in The Best of Washington
10. Fly Ranch Geyser, Nevada
Best time to visit: April-May, Oct-Nov
Cost: $
- Fly Geyser, also known as Fly Ranch Geyser, is a small geothermal geyser located on private land in Washoe County
- The geyser is located near the edge of Fly Reservoir in the Hualapai Geothermal Flats and is approximately 5 feet (1.5 m) high
Featured in The Best of Nevada
#4 in Most Surreal Attractions in the World
#81 in Best Attractions in the USA
11. Devils Tower Trail, Wyoming
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May, Sept
Cost: $
- Devils Tower is a butte, possibly laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Black Hills
- It rises to 867 feet (264 m) from summit to base
- Devils Tower was the first United States national monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#100 in Best Attractions in the USA
12. Northern Lights, Fairbanks, Alaska
Best time to visit: Aug-Sept
Cost: $$$
- An aurora is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic)
- Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky
- Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind
- Most of the planets in the Solar System, some natural satellites, brown dwarfs, and even comets also host auroras
Featured in The Best of Alaska
13. Captain Cook Trail and Thor's Well, Oregon
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Cape Perpetua Scenic Area and the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center were built in the 1960s to highlight the unique beauty of the central Oregon Coast
- The scenic area includes old growth spruce, Douglas fir, and western hemloc
- Camping, picnicking, hiking, sightseeing, whale watching, and a visitor center with daily programs are all available within the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area
Featured in The Best of Oregon
14. Indian, Finger Lakes, and Gorge Trail Loop, Watkins Glen State Park, New York
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: mid May-early June, Sept-late Oct
Cost: $
- Watkins Glen State Park is in New York's Finger Lakes region, and it was opened to the public in 1863, was privately run as a tourist resort until 1906, when it was purchased by New York State
- The centerpiece of the park is a 400-foot-deep (120 m) narrow gorge cut through rock by Glen Creek, a stream that was left hanging when glaciers of the Ice age deepened the Seneca valley, increasing the tributary stream gradient to create rapids and waterfalls wherever there were layers of hard rock
Featured in The Best of New York
15. Mirror Lake via Valley Loop Trail, Yosemite Valley, California
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains
- The valley is surrounded by high granite summits, and densely forested with pines
- Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America and is a big attraction especially in the spring, when the water flow is at its peak
- The valley is often regarded as the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park
Featured in The Best of California
16. Laurel Falls Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Nov
Cost: $
- Historic trail that ascends Cove Mountain, leading past Laurel Falls, one of the most popular waterfalls in the national park, en route to the summit of Cove Mountain
- Landmarks include the falls, old-growth forest, and the Cove Mountain lookout tower
- The tower used to be a fire tower, and is only one of four remaining former fire towers in the park
Featured in The Best of Tennessee
#7 in Best National Parks in the USA
#9 in Best Attractions in the USA
#30 in Best Attractions in the World
#32 in Best Landmarks in the USA
17. Fire Wave Trail, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- State park that derives its name from red sandstone formations, the Aztec Sandstone, which formed from shifting sand dunes 150 million years ago
- These features, which are the centerpiece of the park's attractions, often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun's rays
- It is Nevada's oldest state park
Featured in The Best of Nevada
18. Glass Beach, California
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- Beach near Fort Bragg, named from a time when it was abundant with sea glass created from years of dumping garbage into an area of coastline near the northern part of the town
- The pounding waves broke down the glass and pottery and tumbled those pieces into the small, smooth, colored pieces that often become jewelry-quality, which cover Glass Beach
Featured in The Best of California
19. Bisti Badlands Trail, Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Wilderness area located in San Juan County, established in 1984
- The Wilderness is a desolate area of steeply eroded badlands, except three parcels of private Navajo land within its boundaries
- Petroglyphs of cranes have been found south of the Wilderness
Featured in The Best of New Mexico
20. Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California
Best time to visit: Jan-June, Sept-Dec
Cost: $
- Scenic dry lake feature with "sailing stones" that inscribe linear "racetrack" imprints, located in Death Valley National Park
- The sailing stones are a geological phenomenon found in the Racetrack
- Rocks move when ice sheets just a few millimeters thick start to melt during periods of light wind
- These thin floating ice panels create an ice shove that moves the rocks at up to five meters (16') per minute
Featured in The Best of California
#16 in Best National Parks in the USA
#25 in Best Attractions in the USA
21. Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
Best time to visit: Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County
- A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake
- It is known for land speed records at the Bonneville Speedway
- The salt flats are estimated to hold 147 million tons of salt, approximately 90% of which is common table salt
Featured in The Best of Utah
22. Synchronous Fireflies Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Best time to visit: late May-early June
Cost: $
- From late May to early June, the Elkmont area of the park hosts the peak display period for synchronous fireflies, one of at least 19 species of fireflies that live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- They are the only species in America whose individuals can synchronize their flashing light patterns
Featured in The Best of Tennessee
23. Hall of Mosses Trail, Hoh Rain Forest, Washington
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: July-Aug
Cost: $
- One of the largest temperate rainforests in the U.S., located on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington
- It includes 24 miles (39 km) of low elevation forest along the Hoh River
- The Hoh River valley was formed thousands of years ago by glaciers.
- Between the park boundary and the Pacific Ocean, much of the forest has been logged within the last century, although many pockets of forest remain
Featured in The Best of Washington
24. South Tufa Loop Trail, Mono Lake, California
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- Saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin
- The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alkaline
- The desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp, which thrive in its waters
- Provides critical habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and alkali flies
Featured in The Best of California
25. Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, California
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Granite dome rock formation in Sequoia National Park
- A stairway, designed by the National Park Service and built in 1931, is cut into and poured onto the rock, so that visitors can hike to the top
- The view from the rock encompasses much of the Park, including the Great Western Divide
Featured in The Best of California
#17 in Best National Parks in the USA
#66 in Best Attractions in the USA
26. Cascade Canyon Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: mid May-late Sept
Cost: $
- National park that includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the valley known as Jackson Hole
- Along with surrounding national forests, the park constitutes part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#5 in Best National Parks in the USA
#15 in Best Attractions in the USA
27. Bonaventure Cemetery, Georgia
Best time to visit: March-July
Cost: $
- Rural cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River
- The cemetery's prominence grew when it was featured in the 1994 novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, and in the subsequent movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, based on the book
- Immediately inside the gates is the large and ornate tomb of William Gaston, a prominent Savannahian merchant
Featured in The Best of Georgia
28. Saratoga Spa State Park, Adirondack Mountains, New York
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- State park that has grounds which contain mineral springs, classical bath and spa houses, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
- Saratoga's "spouters" spring up due to the pressure of pockets of carbonic gas trapped beneath deep layers of shale
- The famous mineral springs arise from fissures in the Saratoga Fault, which runs 65 miles (105 km)
Featured in The Best of New York
29. Lake Waiau via Mauna Kea-Humu'ula Trail, Hawaii
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Dormant volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi, its peak is 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft) above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaiʻi and second-highest peak of an island on Earth
- Mauna Kea is unusually topographically prominent for its height: from its underwater base, it is greater than Mount Everest's height above sea level of 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft), and some authorities have labelled Mauna Kea the tallest mountain in the world
- Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now thought to be dormant
Featured in The Best of Hawaii
30. Mist Falls, Kings Canyon National Park, California
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: May-June, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Kings Canyon is a rugged glacier-carved valley more than a mile (1,600 m) deep
- Other natural features include multiple 14,000-foot (4,300 m) peaks, high mountain meadows, swift-flowing rivers, and some of the world's largest stands of giant sequoia trees
Featured in The Best of California
31. Balboa Park Botanical Building, California
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Historic building located in San Diego's Balboa Park, built for the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition
Featured in The Best of California
32. Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch, California
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- Pitstop featuring many tree-shaped sculptures made from glass bottles & vintage items
Featured in The Best of California
33. Founders Grove Nature Trail, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- State park of California, containing Rockefeller Forest, the world's largest remaining contiguous old-growth forest of coast redwoods
- Established by the Save the Redwoods League in 1921 largely from lands purchased from the Pacific Lumber Company
- The park has grown to become the third-largest park in the California State Park system, through acquisitions and gifts to the state
Featured in The Best of California
34. Mammoth Terraces, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: late April-May, Sept-early Oct
Cost: $
- Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park
- It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution)
- Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
35. Green River Bluff, Echo River Springs, Sinkhole and Heritage Trail, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: April-Oct
Cost: $
- National park encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world
- The cave system has formally been known as the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System since 1972
- As of 2022, more than 426 miles (686 km) passageways had been surveyed, over 1.5 times longer than the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave
Featured in The Best of Kentucky
36. Lost Sea, Tennessee
Best time to visit: March-June, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Craighead Caverns is an extensive cave system best known for containing the United States' largest and the world's second largest non-subglacial underground lake, The Lost Sea
- In addition to the lake, the caverns contain an abundance of crystal clusters called anthodites, stalactites, stalagmites, and a waterfall
- In the 1970s, cave divers explored several rooms that are completely filled with water, without reaching the end of the cave
Featured in The Best of Tennessee
37. Wai Koa Loop Trail, Kilauea, Hawaii
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The Wai Koa Loop Trail is a hike of up to 8 km (5 mi) to the foundations of the bridge piers of the former railway
- Trail waiver forms are available that must be signed before the walk, as the trail leads through private property through a mahogany plantation and several smaller family businesses
Featured in The Best of Hawaii
38. Monument Valley, Utah
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $$$
- Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor
- The most famous butte formations are located in northeastern Arizona along the Utah–Arizona state line
- The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation, the Native American people of the area
- Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s and has signified the American West in American film
39. Wildcat Trail, Monument Valley, Arizona
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor
- It is located on the Utah-Arizona state line, near the Four Corners area
- The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation, the Native American people of the area
Featured in The Best of Arizona
40. Niagara Falls, New York
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States
- The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries
- Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York
Featured in The Best of New York
#5 in Best Attractions in the USA
#6 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#17 in Best Attractions in the World
#59 in Best Landmarks in the World
41. Savannah Historic District, Georgia
Best time to visit: March-July
Cost: $
- Large urban U.S. historic district that roughly corresponds to the pre-civil war city limits of Savannah
- It is one of the largest urban, community-wide historic preservation districts in the United States
- The Savannah Historic District attracts millions of visitors every year, who enjoy its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architecture and green spaces
Featured in The Best of Georgia
42. Cascade Falls Trail, Lake Tahoe, California
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada, it straddles the state line between California and Nevada
- Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America
- It is the second deepest lake in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon (1,949 ft or 594 m)
Featured in The Best of California
#58 in Best Attractions in the USA
43. Lost Mine Trail, Big Bend National Park, Texas
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Big Bend National Park is located in West Texas, bordering Mexico
- The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States
- The park protects more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals
- Additional park activities include scenic drives, programs led by Big Bend park rangers, and stargazing
Featured in The Best of Texas
44. Fort Jefferson Loop, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $$$
- National park located about 68 miles (109 km) west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico
- The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys
- The archipelago's coral reefs are the least disturbed of the Florida Keys reefs
Featured in The Best of Florida
#22 in Best National Parks in the USA
#77 in Best Attractions in the USA
45. Oneonta Gorge Trail, Oregon
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Scenic gorge located in the Columbia River Gorge area
- It has been designated as a botanical area because of the unique aquatic and woodland plants that grow there
- Exposed walls of 25-million-year-old (Miocene epoch) basalt are home to a wide variety of ferns, mosses, hepatics, and lichens, many of which grow only in the Columbia River Gorge
Featured in The Best of Oregon