263 Best Sights in USA

The assortment of talks by national park rangers are a great way to hear about wildlife, geology, and archaeology.

What ultimately amounts to a photo op (albeit a very intense one) begins with a guide offering the members of your group safety instructions prior to entering the paddock, where a life-size velociraptor resides. Once inside the paddock, the guide coaxes Blue (the dinosaur) into view, which sets the stage for souvenir photos. But with your back turned and a row of razor-sharp teeth directly behind you, the snapshots are usually framed with a look of fear. It can be a very interesting, and very intense, experience that easily frightens kids—and usually scares adults. If you can handle it, the souvenir picture might be worth the brief flash of fear.

At an elevation of 2,100 feet, this impressive vista point with interpretive signs and picnic tables is a nice spot along picturesque Bald Hills Road to break for a meal. It can get foggy up here, so check weather conditions beforehand.

This covered pavilion just inside the park entrance near Riley Creek is accessible year-round and has a couple of bathrooms nearby. Be careful near the creek—the river is beautiful and shallow, but it flows very quickly much of the year depending on snowmelt and precipitation.

About a half-dozen picnic-area turnouts encircle the lake; all have good views, but they can get very windy. Most have pit toilets, and a few have fire grills, but none have running water.

The herbarium focuses on Rocky Mountain plants, but also includes other examples of flora from the Northern Hemisphere. But don't expect any living plants here. This is a working dry plant research facility, and features 1.3 million specimens mounted on paper. Visitors are welcome to take a tour.

This colorful, creative aquatic playground gives kids plenty to discover through a wide range of toys and activities that'll keep them busy and entertained. There are shallow wading areas, low-pitched slides (that probably seem stupendously huge from their perspective), spray guns, bubbling geysers, and dump cups. For people with disabilities: Guests in wheelchairs can transfer into the wading areas.

Exhibits on Apache history and culture are displayed at the San Carlos Apache Cultural Center, along with explanations of cultural traditions, such as the Changing Women Ceremony, a girls' puberty rite. Crafts are sold here as well.

Designed for thrill seekers and nature buffs alike, the dune rides are a popular activity and many claim your visit is not complete until you have viewed the region from a towering sand dune. Included in a 40-minute ride along rolling dunes on Lake Michigan, seated in a 20-passenger customized schooner, are historical facts about the region. To protect yourself from flying sand, be sure to wear closed-toe shoes and sunglasses. Plenty of stops along the way provide photo opportunities.

Located at mile 15, the Savage River stop is where the concrete ends and private vehicles must turn around. Near the river are a couple of uncovered picnic tables and seasonally available bathroom facilities. Two trailheads start from the picnic area. One of these, the Savage Alpine Trail, connects with the Mountain Vista picnic spot, while the Savage Canyon Trail runs along the river. Like the picnic area at Mountain Vista, it can get windy here. Access is dependent on weather conditions from fall through spring.

Tucked away behind the Hula campus, Burlington's unofficial tech and co-working headquarters, Vermont-based SAVU has set up two of its high-end Scandi-inspired saunas right on the shore of Lake Champlain; they're ideally placed for an after-work sweat and a cold plunge, but offer a relaxing break if you're on vacation, too.

A replica of the tall ships that once traveled along Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay during the 1800s, Schooner Manitou is 114 feet tall and one of the largest tall ships currently operating on the Great Lakes. Activities on the 59-passenger ship include daily two-hour sails (at noon, and in the afternoon and evening) and a unique, floating, bed-and-breakfast concept with room for 24 guests (in 12 cabins) and including a full breakfast. The evening sail includes a picnic dinner. During September, multiday windjammer sails are offered.

Between Bass Harbor and Manset at the bottom of Mount Desert Island, this 14-site picnic area, open year-round, has restrooms. Tables are perched along the shoreline with water views. The park’s Seawall Campground is across the road.   A portion of Route 102A (Seawall Road) was temporarily closed after 2024's winter storms. While repairs should be complete, if the loop road is closed, access it from its southern terminus with Route 102 in Bass Harbor, not its northern terminus in Manset. Watch for signs.

This entertainment complex, once just a quirky shopping destination and a survivor from Florida's roadside-attraction era, now offers eateries; an arcade; bumper boats; miniature golf; the Soaring Eagle zip line; and a mining sluice where kids can pan for shells, fossils, and gemstones. Strolling the grounds, which have abundant exhibits and displays, is free, but some activities cost extra. A separate admission is also required to enter the Nature Park, which has the feel of a small zoo and is home to llamas; a petting farm with sheep, pigs, and goats; a walk-through aviary; an EcoLab; a touch center; and a gator slough. The Shell Factory also hosts family-friendly events throughout the year, such as January's Gumbo Fest.

Because of the nearby petroglyphs, this is the park's most popular picnic site. Its many picnic tables, sprinkled around paloverde and mesquite trees, can accommodate large groups.

Frustrated after a losing streak in the casinos? This Town Square spot offers a “rage room” (in which customers pay to smash stuff to smithereens), axe-throwing, and splatter-paint experiences. Talk about a way to work out a bit of aggression. You can smash for as few as 20 or as many as 30 minutes, or you can organize smash parties for four, six, or more; there even are Date Nights because "the couple that smashes together stays together." Axe-throwing sessions run from 30 minutes to 2 hours (no experience necessary, and there are specials on Throwdown Tuesdays!). Up to six people can splatter-paint canvases in two sizes, so you get a souvenir to take home. Team-building events and birthday parties also are available.

Preteens might want to spend most of their time on the T-bar drop, Cool Runners slides, and Snow Falls downhill body slide. In addition, there's a chance to take on the Thin Ice Training Course, a wide-open area where kids can jump from one slippery mogul to the next. The moguls really look more like bobbing baby icebergs, and kids don't mind when they miss a berg and plop into the pool. For people with disabilities: Guests using water-appropriate wheelchairs can enjoy wading areas here. The optimum time to come is early in the day or after a thunderstorm, when crowds thin out. That said, lines are often short at the zipline drop and the iceberg obstacle course.

Check out a bit of surviving Americana at this dusty drive-in, where you can watch the latest Hollywood flicks among the Joshua trees and starry night sky. Keep in mind the old-time speakers are no more; sound is tuned in via car radio.

For a visit to the wild and weird side, particularly fun for children, head to this "castle" about 45 minutes east of Bradenton through orange groves and cattle farms. Artist and Renaissance man Howard Solomon began building the 12,000-square-foot always-in-progress work out of thousands of aluminum offset printing plates. Inside, you'll find tons of intrigues—everything from a knight assembled with Volkswagen parts to a chair fashioned out of 86 beer cans to an elephant made from seven oil drums. A restaurant serves sit-down lunches in a full-scale model of a Spanish galleon.

Built in 1912, this large, white, barnlike structure just south of the Hammer Slough is the headquarters of an organization devoted to keeping alive the traditions and culture of Norway. Petersburg's Norwegian roots date back to 1897, when Peter Buschmann arrived and founded the Icy Strait Packing Company cannery. As his business and family flourished, others arrived to join them, many of Norwegian descent. By 1920, they and the area's Tlingit residents had established a year-round community of 600 residents. The hall, its red shutters decorated with colorful Norwegian rosemaling designs, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Outside sits a replica of a Viking ship that is a featured attraction in the annual Little Norway Festival each May. On the building's south side is a bronze tribute to deceased local fishermen.

Feel free to use unoccupied camping sites for picnicking. There are tables, fire grates, and bathrooms.

Possibly the most photographed site in Key West (even though the actual geographic southernmost point in the continental United States lies across the bay on a naval base, where you see a satellite dish), this is a must-see. Have your picture taken next to the big striped buoy that's been marking the southernmost point in the continental United States since 1983. A plaque next to it honors Cubans who lost their lives trying to escape to America, and other signs tell Key West history.

With 27 tables and 16 pedestal grills, this alfresco dining spot is open year-round, with flush toilets in the summer and vault toilets the rest of the year.

Along the oceanfront, to the north of the Cliff House, lie the ruins of the once-grand glass-roof Sutro Baths. Today visitors can explore this evocative historical site and listen to the pounding surf. Adolph Sutro, eccentric onetime San Francisco mayor, built the bath complex in 1896 so that everyday folks could enjoy the benefits of swimming. Six enormous baths—freshwater and seawater—and more than 500 dressing rooms plus several restaurants covered 3 acres and accommodated 25,000 bathers. Likened to Roman baths in a European glass palace, the baths were for decades a favorite destination of San Franciscans. The complex fell into disuse after World War II, was closed in 1952, and burned down (under questionable circumstances) during demolition in 1966. To get here, park in the main Lands End parking lot and walk down toward the ruins by the ocean.

Originally opened in 1955, this is one of only five drive-in movie theaters operating in Georgia. You can take in a movie under the stars and fill up on corn dogs, onion rings, funnel cakes, and popcorn from the concession stand.

Inspired by the classic novel by Johann Wyss about the adventures of the Robinson family, who were shipwrecked en route to America, this attraction shows what you can do with a big faux tree and a lot of imagination. Disney detail abounds: the kitchen sink is a giant clamshell; the boys' room, strewn with clothing, has two hammocks instead of beds; and an ingenious system of rain barrels and bamboo pipes provides running water in every room. As you clamber around the narrow wooden steps and rope bridges that connect the rooms in this split-level dwelling, notice the Spanish moss. It's real, but the tree itself—some 90 feet in diameter, with more than 1,000 branches—was constructed by the props department. The 300,000 leaves are vinyl. Toddlers unsteady on their feet might have trouble with the stairs. For people with disabilities: With its 100 steps and lack of narration, this attraction gets low ratings among those with mobility and visual impairments. If you're with children 4 to 12 who like to explore, plan to climb while you're already in Adventureland.

In 2018, the Tennessee State Museum relocated from Downtown to its own building in Germantown, right next to the popular Nashville Farmers' Market. Visitors to the museum will find thousands of artifacts and pieces of art in the museum's permanent collection, as well as periodic rotating exhibitions, all telling the story of Tennessee and its people. Admission to the museum is always free.