Hi,

I am planning a 16 day trip from Western Australia to Vegas New York City and Washington DC for my 50th Birthday in December..

My initial thoughts are to start in Las Vegas for 3 days (Husbands choice), then go to New York for 7 days and do Washington DC for 3 days.

I have also wanted to go to Nashville and Memphis (country music fan here), could I squeeze these in and maybe just do a day trip to Washington or maybe i should leave them for another trip in Summer perhaps?

My Big Birthday will fall during the New York part of the trip and as we haven't been there before I am looking looking for something amazing to add to the itinerary for that day. let me know your thoughts and potential highlights and hidden gems. I am not a massive shopper (although I do expect we will do some xmas shopping in New York), more interested in sights, history, theatre, music and culture and places of interest.

Welcome, Macnatt. I might take a day from NYC and give it to DC but that depends on your interests. What are your interests? That will make it easier to make suggestions. Also, are you flying in to Vegas and leaving from DC? Flying to NYC from Vegas? You'll lose at least a half day each time you change cities so I don't see how you can squeeze in Nashville.

in terms of what to do first, you should have a bit less jet lag during the trip going to Vegas first, of course going from the east coast home might be the mother of all jet lags when getting home.

For your special event, look for s Broadway show and get tickets arrange for a nice dinner either before or after it.
At least one of the Vegas days, ride out through Valley of Fire state park and loop back with a visit to Hoover Dam.

Since you'll be in Las Vegas for three days you might want to rent a car and drive 2.5 hours to Zion National Park, one of the premiere national parks in America. You could knock off a couple of days from New York and go to Nashville to hear country music. It's going to be cold in NYC and Washington, so bring winter clothes.

Maybe redistrbute days and possibly even skip one city? If (after Las Vegas) you did not include Washington DC, and shortened up NYC to 5 days, you'd have 5 days for seeing Nashville and/or Memphis. Just a little different suggestion.

My suggested route using Amtrak trains: Fly to Las Vegas. (2 days) Fly to BWI (Baltimore Washington International). Take a Northeast Regional train from the BWI Amtrak station to New York Penn station (NYP). Spend your time in New York (happy birthday)! Leave New York on a Northeast Regional from NYP to WAS. Washington Union station is within walking distance of Capitol Hill and is above a big Metro station.
Leave WAS on the Capitol Limited (overnight trip to Chicago). Spend a few hours in Chicago. Take the City of New Orleans out at about 8PM overnight to Memphis. The Memphis Amtrak station is across Main Street from the Arcade Restaurant which was an Elvis hangout. Rent a car in Memphis if you want to visit Nashville. Fly back to Las Vegas and spend a night there before flying back toward home.

Nashville is country. Memphis is rock n' roll.

Were you thinking nightclubs, pools, shows as well or just something low-key?

DO NOT miss spending time in Washington. In my opinion it is often disregarded as a destination when it is an incredible city with sights and things to do not available ANYwhere else..
Take a day off of Vegas, stop in Nashville for a day (and whatever it takes to make connections), go on to either NYC or Washington. Take a day or so off of NYC to compensate
Enjoy and bring layers of clothes.

My #1 tip for DC is to see the monuments at night. FDR, WWII, Korean War Memorials are all spectacular at night (especially FDR). Same thing for Air Force Memorial and Iwo Jima, use Uber for any of these. Also, day or night, any park ranger can give you an impromptu tour of the monument. Just ask a question, they are very knowledgeable.

Have you started looking at hotels yet? NYC in December is expensive.

Las Vegas, NYC, Washington DC, Memphis, Nashville are all worthy destinations for different reasons... but flying all the way from Australia and only having 14 days on the ground in the US, that is simply too many places.

Suze is 100% correct. Flying around from place to place is going to eat up too much time.

When we lived in Western Australia and traveled to the US, we found Las Vegas the perfect first stop. Our body clocks were off for days and it was nice to be able to find a coffee or a meal in the wee hours of the morning when we woke up bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and starving. Nothing like a 24 hour city to help one overcome jet lag

You're making the same mistake most Americans do when traveling to Australia, you're trying to fit way too much into two few days. Imagine spending three days in Alice Springs, then flying to Cairns for seven days, then flying to Bundaberg for three.

Don’t see your exact dates. If during Christmas, be sure to have dinner reservations somewhere.