Rachel

I am a 19 year old Aussie looking to travel to America in October. I am leaning towards Washington, New York, L.A. and Florida all for ten days in each. Is my itinerary a little off balance?

ldsant

No, that's very doable (assuming you mean Washington, D.C. and not the state of Washington). You can take the shuttle train between Washington and New York and then get JetBlue between New York and FLA and then Southwest Airlines between FLA and Los Angeles (although 10 days in SoCAL is pushing it in my opinion - I would suggest 5 days in Southern CA, 5 days in Northern CA (incredible scenery, beautiful part of the country!). Hope this helps. Welcome to our country! Have a great trip.

travellyn

While you have chosen some great places, The National Parks in the USA are truly oustanding. You may want to spend a little more time outside of the cities.

xxx

Just my opinion, but I would choose San Francisco over LA... Also IMO, 10 days in DC is a long time; you might consider a day or two in Philadelphia which is only a two hour drive from DC.

I just returned from a trip to Chicago and it's a GREAT city. Since a lot of airlines have a hub in Chicago, you could easily fit a few days (or longer) in Chicago into your itinary.

pat

If you are in Calif, you might want to spend a few days at Lake Tahoe. What a beautiful place! October should be very pleasant.

Prue

Rachel,
I would also recommend including a visit to Chicago if it is possible - we visited there last September for the first time and thought it was a wonderful city. There is lots to do and see, and we felt it was more unique than the other cities you mention.

Philip

If you can arrange it, I would suggest trying to come to New York in the later part of October. The leaves on the trees are brilliant colors and worth seeing. You may want to hike in the Catskill Mountains. Also if you can arrange to be in New York City on October 31, you can celebrate Halloween with us. We have one of the best Halloween parades in the country.

ldsant

You'll get a lot of different opinions here, but I don't think 10 days in the Washington D.C. area is too much at all. I'd recommend seeing all of the monuments (the Vietnam Wall is incredible), the Smithsonian can take at least 3 days! Then go to Williamsburg for a day or two, go to the Baltimore Harbor for a day, you can see that it really adds up quickly. You may want to make sure that you time your trip so that you aren't visiting Washington during the congressional recess - some things are closed at that time I believe. I also think that 10 days in NYC could be spent by just being in the city itself or by taking a sidetrip to other places. Is this your first visit to the states though?

S.

Williamsburg and Philadelphia would all both be good day trips from DC... I've never been to Williamsburg, so I can't offer advice from personal experience about there. It sounds very interesting, though. Philadelphia is one of my favorite cities, especially if you like art. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is wonderful and not far from Philly (in Marion, PA I think) is the Barnes Foundation which has an incredible collection. There's many historical attractions as well. A lot of young people hang out on South Street and there's some weird stuff down there, tatoo parlors, fetish shops and such. I don't like it, but maybe you would. Why don't you tell us some of your interests so that we can offer you some more informed advice?

S.

Just wanted to add that Florida is a good choice, where would you go--- Disney World and Miami??? Keep in mind that Disney World can be very expensive, though; I'm not sure what kind of budget you're travelling on.

Rachel

Thanks to everyone for your advice. It is my first trip to the states and I am having so much difficulty deciding on the cities I most want to see-you have so much on offer! Whilst I want to see the normal tourist sites, I also want to get a feel for all of the places I visit by relaxing and doing everyday things. Everything from visiting D.C. museums to cruising down the mississippi on a paddle steamer to seeing Disneyland interests me. I have to see the major cities but I would also like to see the south aswell. What are the five best cities for a 19 year old to see and what attractions do they have to offer?

Beth2

Since you mention Disney, I'd suggest you go to Disney World in Florida. There are four parks, as opposed to two in California, plus 2 at Universal (movie themed), and 2 at Sea World (inc. Discovery Cove). You could easily spend 10 days in the Orlando area and never run out of amusements!
As mentioned above, San Francisco might be the better California choice. New Mexico would be another interesting area for it's fascinating landscapes and native American culture.
If you are planning to come in October, please consider New England. For 10 days you could see quite a bit. Start with spectacular foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire (including Woodstock and Queechee, VT and Warner and Lincoln, NH) featuring quaint villages, shopping, natural beauty of rolling hills, and such. The coast of Maine is really picturesque: Kennebunkport and Ogunquit come to mind for fresh lobsters and seafood, cliffwalks, etc. Salem, MA with its witch trial history does a BIG Halloween extravaganza through-out the month. And Boston is a wonderful historic city with tons of museums, site-seeing, and theatre. If time allowed you could take in Newport, RI and see the gorgeous mansions that were "summer cottages" in the Gatsby days!
I'd start with the west coast, then do New England, and finish in Florida! Good luck..It sounds like a wonderful trip!

jason

Top Five US Destination Cities (IMO):
New York
San Francisco
Washington, DC
New Orleans
Miami

allan

Rachel,
I myself am from Australia and spent 6 days in new york in august of this year. I did a 3 day contiki tour of new york and highly recommend it. Accommodation is included and it really gives you a good introduction to the city itself. I spent 6 weeks away and one of the best days I had was the last day shopping around time square and 5th ave. As for other places,if you have the chance I would definitely put niagara falls on the list. If you would like any more advice from an aussie feel free to email me.

ldsant

As far as the south - I'd recommend the following:

Charleston and Savannah - very charming, very old South
Asheville NC (Vanderbilt home)
New Orleans - you will love it here! VERY fun city for a couple of days - Garden District, Jackson Square, great jazz and incredible food and drinking!
Then over to Austin TX for great music scene
That would be my suggestions for the southern part of the US. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Atlanta whatsoever and FL is OK - going to Disney alone isn't all that great or fun though and, it is very expensive to get into the parks.

Hope this helps.

Stephanie P.

Rachel:

I would recommend D.C., no hesitation. All the Smithsonians have FREE admission, which includes the zoo. In October you can get hotel deals there and there are some hotels very close to the Metro. I'd suggest Southern Florida also on the Atlantic Coast. I love the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area (lots of young people in Miami). Disneyworld is a little too crowded for my taste, but I believe alot of the hotels have shuttles to the theme park.

John

Hi Rachel, while in DC consider staying in the Dupont Circle area. It is more of a 24-hr neighborhood than many others in DC, also has a fairly young population, lots of restaurants, shopping etc.. has a subway (metro stop), safer than many DC areas & has many hotels & b&b's. (Radisson Barcelo, Westin Fairfax etc..) It is also in walking distance to Georgetown. If you stay "downtown" closer to the museums there is not much to do at night - you would have to take a taxi or metro to other destinations.
I also highly recommend San Fran over LA. You can walk around SF but would have to drive around LA. Also consider Chicago, Boston & I know this is the US forum but a trip across the border to Toronto Canada for a couple of days would be worthwile. Happy travels!!

Heather

You could divide your time--- half on the east coast between Boston, New York, Philadelphia and DC; there's a train that runs between those 4 cities then fly to the west coast via Chicago. Stay a few days in Chicago then head out to the west coast for the remainder of your visit. Start in San Francisco then after a week or so tour the beautiful California coast and see the Red Wood forest... Or drive all the way down to LA. Whatever you decide I hope you have fun and give us a trip report when you get back!!!

Sam

I used to go every year to Club Med Copper Mountain in Colorado for skiing in January. Obviously, you can't do this in October but in January there were sooo many Aussies on holiday. Every year, I am surprised that the Aussies, who take extended holidays compared to Americans, seem to go to the same places in January...NY, Washington and Disney/Florida (as well as Colorado). Since you are going in October, I don't think that you can go wrong by going with the flow to NY, Wash. and Fla.

As to the time balance, ten days in Washington is a long time. You can see much of what you want to see in Washington in a long weekend. Other than maybe a drive to Baltimore seaport, there really isn't much outside of the main area.

NY you can spend as much time as you want. NY, unlike Washington, is a world city (like London, Paris, etc.) and just being in the city is fun.

Florida is so built up with Disney and Universal you can spend a lot of time there as well.

LA, I won't comment on other than to say that I think it is a hole but I am biased. Do a layover in LA before going home.

If you can go in Jan, Colorado skiing is fun and, as I said, is common with Aussies.

traveller

10 days is about right for California - 2 for San Diego, 4 for SF, another 4 for LA.

10 days is also great for DC - you can cut off a day or two for Harpers Ferry (great hiking), Philly, and Baltimore.

There are great hostels in each of those cities - try hostels.com for some other suggestions.