40 Best Sights in USA

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this country inn, built in 1883, overlooks 4,500-acre Lake Dora and is Florida's oldest continuously operating hotel. A stroll around the grounds, where seaplane passengers board or disembark, makes you feel as if you've stepped into the pages of The Great Gatsby. You, too, can book a seaplane tour or a cruise; both leave from the inn's large dock. Three restaurants offer indoor and outdoor dining. There are 90 guest rooms if you have time in your schedule for an overnight stay.

A little strip of condominiums within the isthmus that links Central and West Maui, Maalaea is often overlooked, but it shouldn't be. This company has more than 100 one- and two-bedroom units at $100–$300 per night. The wind is usually strong here, but there's a nice beach, a harbor, and some good shopping and decent restaurants.

This Maui-based agency manages more than 200 condos. Most units are near the beach or golf courses, and are located in Kihei, Wailea, and West Maui. Studios to three-bedroom units run $100–$450 per night.

You don't have to stay here to enjoy the ambience of San Antonio's most historic lodging. After you visit the Alamo, stop by this stunning 1859 property next door that offers a history book full of "who's who" have slept here. Famous guests include Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and William Sherman, Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum (who had a studio at the hotel), playwright Oscar Wilde, and author O. Henry, who mentioned the hotel in several of his short stories. As legend has it, William Menger built the Victorian hotel to accommodate the many carousers who frequented his brewery, which stood on the same site. Step inside the very cool Menger Bar to see its mahogany bar, a precise replica of one from a pub in London's House of Lords. Here cattlemen closed deals with a handshake over three fingers of rye, and Teddy Roosevelt supposedly recruited his Rough Riders—hard-living cowboys fresh from the Chisholm Trail. Note that the Buckhorn Saloon & Museum also makes the same claim; either someone's been playing too much poker and can't stop bluffing, or Teddy had to go recruiting more than once. Throughout the spacious lobby, hallways, and public areas, check out the fascinating historical mini-exhibits. The on-site Colonial Restaurant is also open to the public.

For exceptional accommodations and service, this company has it all. It books huge, luxurious condominium villas and private beach houses, and provides customized services with attention to the smallest details. Rates start at $750 per night for a villa up to $16,500 per night for a home.

A Greek Revival--style farmhouse on Stanford Road, just minutes from the Towpath Trail, Stanford House was built by George Stanford, son of James Stanford who settled the property in 1806 and was one of the original surveyors of Boston Township. During the late 19th century and into the turn of the 20th, the Stanford family farmed wheat, hay, cattle, and sheep, as well as cultivating lumber. One of the best-known early settlers of the region, George and his wife Catherine had eight children though only one---George Carter---outlived his parents. George and his son were active in local politics, holding several positions in public office. When the Ohio & Erie Canal was built alongside the river in front of Stanford House in 1827, it connected the Stanfords to markets in Cleveland, Akron, and beyond, which ensured the continued prosperity of the family. Over time, George added several outlying structures including a barn, smokehouse, a springhouse, and granary.

The Summit County Huts Association has five backcountry cabins where skiers can spend the night (two are open for summer hikers). One popular touring route for backcountry skiing is the trip to Boreas Pass, just south of Breckenridge. The 6½-mile-long trail follows the route of a former railroad, with good views of distant peaks along the way.

Imagine a white-bearded Mark Twain relaxing in a rocking chair on one of the broad verandas of one of the park's first lodges, a whitewashed series of two-story buildings from the Victorian era. Plop down in one of the dozens of white Adirondack chairs on the sprawling lawn, and look across the road at the area's only golf course, one of the few links in the world that does not employ fertilizers or other chemicals.

Built in 1904 and barely established as the most sumptuous hotel in town before it was ravaged by fire following the 1906 earthquake, this grande-dame hotel designed by Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville reopened in 1907 with the addition of a luxurious Italian Renaissance–style residence designed to attract loyal clients from among the world's rich and powerful. The hotel's checkered past includes the ill-fated 1921 bash in the suite of the silent-film superstar Fatty Arbuckle, at which a woman became ill, leading to her death. Arbuckle endured three sensational trials for rape and murder before being acquitted, by which time his career was kaput. In 1975, Sara Jane Moore, standing among a crowd outside the hotel, attempted to shoot then-President Gerald Ford. Of course, the grand lobby contains no plaques commemorating these events.  Some visitors make the St. Francis a stop whenever they're in town, soaking up the lobby ambience or enjoying a cocktail at the bar or holiday tea at the Oak Room Restaurant.

The Chicago Sun-Times Building was torn down to make way for this 92-story tower, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and opened in 2008. A spire that elevates its height to a whopping 1,392 feet makes it the city's second-tallest building. The concrete-reinforced structure (the former Sears Tower and John Hancock Center are reinforced by steel) is a glassy, tiered monolith whose biggest attribute is an idyllic riverfront location. Although there's no viewing deck, the public can get picturesque views of downtown through the floor-to-ceiling windows of its 16th-floor restaurant, Sixteen, or the Terrace (open seasonally); Rebar, on the mezzanine level, provides lovely views of the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue Bridge.