14 top summer vacation spots in the USA

If you’re perpetually dreaming of where to spend your hard-earned time off this summer, the USA has almost endless options for a getaway during the peak warm-weather months.

Indeed, the window from June to August forms the USA’s busiest travel season. Delightful weather and long days mean events such as music and food festivals are in full swing. National parks are fully open for the season. Opportunities for outdoor activities abound. With the kids out of school, the country is yours to discover – though you will likely face big crowds and higher prices wherever you go.

Whether you want to see tried-and-true favorites or are aiming to get off the beaten path, here is our guide to the best spots for a summer vacation in the US.

1. Hawai‘i Island (the Big Island)

Best for adventurers

Hawai‘i Island is the largest in the state’s archipelago, and its scenic beauty extends across miles of volcanic rock formations, breathtaking peaks and valleys, waterfalls, hiking trails and rugged beaches, including the green sand Papakōlea Beach. Eight of the world’s 13 climate zones are represented on Hawaiʻi Island, an astounding degree of ecological diversity encompassing thousands of unique species of plants and animals.

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With so much to see, a car is a must for getting around, yet the roads are rarely crowded (save for rush hour around Kona and Hilo). What awaits at the end of a road trip? The chance to dive with manta rays in Captain Cook, ride horses in Waimea, stargaze near the summit of Maunakea, swim at Mahaiʻula Beach and most definitely trek through the stunning Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Better yet, plan to shack up at the historic Volcano House inside the park. Start the day by sipping a hot cup of Kona coffee at 4000ft, and wrap it up with a sunset mai tai aboard a catamaran, followed by a delicious dinner at Moon and Turtle in Hilo.

Planning tip: The North American summer (June to August) is low season on Hawai‘i Island, making it the best time to visit for discounted hotel and rental car rates.

2. Mackinac Island, Michigan

Best for cycling

From either Mackinaw City or St Ignace, you can catch a ferry to Mackinac Island, one of Michigan’s most delightful destinations. The island’s location in the straits between Lakes Michigan and Huron historically made it a prized port in the North American fur trade and a site the British and Americans battled over many times. Yet the most important date on this 3.8-sq-mile island is 1898: the year cars were banned to encourage tourism.

Today, all travel on Mackinac Island is by horse or bicycle – even the police use bikes to patrol the town – and 80% of the island is state parkland. Loop around M 185, the only state highway in the country that doesn’t allow cars, on two wheels to get the lay of the land. The 8-mile trip takes roughly 1 hour without stops, but you'll definitely want to stop and explore along the way.

Planning tip: The crowds of tourists – called Fudgies by the islanders – can be crushing at times, particularly during summer weekends. But when the last ferry leaves in the evening and the day-trippers clear out, Mackinac’s real charm emerges as you drift back to a slower era.

3. The Ozarks in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma

Best for canoeing and inner tubing

Even though flashy Branson, Missouri, receives the lion’s share of tourists (nowhere else in the USA will you find more family-friendly entertainment, with huge, hokey musicals in abundance), hiking and river floating are the two best reasons to visit the Ozarks. Indeed, beyond Branson, nature rules this mountain range, which straddles Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The Ozarks’ true charms can be found in its rolling hills and deep clefts, where wild spring-fed rivers carry legions of happy people floating downstream. The Ozark National Scenic Riverways – the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers – boast 134 miles of splendid canoeing and inner tubing. Back on land, you never know when you’ll stumble onto another tiny village or a hiking trail you won’t soon forget.

Planning tip: For beauty of the carefully constructed, not natural, variety, head to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the complex consists of pavilions nestled in 120 acres of woods, each connected by bridges that span natural streams – and all within walking distance of downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. There are frequent concerts held here, and the museum's permanent collection spans the breadth of American art.

4. Boston, Massachusetts

Best for art and music

Boston’s history recalls revolution and transformation, and you can hardly walk a step over the cobblestone streets without running into the city's historic sites. Yet Boston has not been relegated to the past. The city of today is among the country’s most forward-thinking and barrier-breaking places, and a long tradition of cultural patronage means that the art and music scenes continue to charm and challenge contemporary audiences. Cutting-edge urban-planning projects are reshaping the city even now, as neighborhoods are revived and reinvigorated. Well-regarded universities and colleges attract scientists, philosophers and writers who shape the city’s evolving culture.

Planning tip: Although summers in Boston are hot and humid, the city is noticeably quieter after the many college students depart in May and June, and Bostonians head out of town for summer vacations in July and August. When you need to beat the heat, join them on the irresistible North Shore or the beaches of Cape Cod.

5. Glacier National Park, Montana

Best for mountains

Few places on earth are as magnificent and pristine as Glacier National Park. Protected in 1910 during the first flowering of the American conservationist movement, Glacier ranks with Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon among the most astounding natural wonders in the US.

The glacially carved remnants of an ancient thrust fault left a brilliant landscape of towering snowcapped pinnacles laced with plunging waterfalls and glassy turquoise lakes. The mountains are surrounded by dense forests, which host an ecosystem that has barely changed in centuries. Grizzly bears still roam in abundance, and smart park management has kept the place accessible and authentically wild.

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Planning tip: Although the park remains open year-round, most services are closed between October and mid-May – making a summer visit the best (if not the only) time to enjoy the park in full. Going-to-the-Sun Rd, which crosses the park, opens when crews finish plowing the snow, which could be as late as July. (Drivers need to reserve a timed entry.)

6. South Walton, Florida

Best for beach towns

Sandwiched between Destin and Panama City along Scenic Hwy 30A in the Florida Panhandle are 16 unincorporated communities collectively known as South Walton. Each town has its own identity; most are planned resort towns with architecture following a theme. If you only make two stops, we recommend delightful Grayton Beach, which feels as though it was settled by old-school hippies who came into money (stay a night here if you can), and the meticulously manicured village of Seaside, which is so well planned that The Truman Show was filmed here. Other points of interest include the whimsically named community of WaterColor, Moroccan-styled Alys Beach and the Dutch-inspired hamlet of Rosemary Beach.

Planning tip: Summer (June through August) is high season on the Panhandle, though tourist numbers are lower elsewhere in the state, given the torrid temperatures and high humidity.

7. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Best for geysers

Yellowstone National Park is nature at its showiest and wildest. Few can resist finding its showstopping geysers and hot springs – the park’s top crowd-pleasers – at every turn. This land of fire and brimstone breathes, belches and bubbles like a giant kettle on the boil. The park’s highways traverse around these geysers, through meadows and forests, past roadside herds of bison and campsites aromatic with pine needles and family campfires. In between, the country’s largest collection of elk and the continent’s oldest and largest wild bison herds graze in a pristine wilderness roamed by wolves, grizzlies, moose and antelope.

Planning tip: June to August is the busiest time to visit Yellowstone – more than half of the park's visitors arrive in those two months. However, the full range of visitor services is available, and all accommodations and entrances to the park are open. Hotel rates peak at gateway towns, and park campgrounds fill by lunchtime – reservations are essential.

8. Chicago, Illinois

Best for architecture

Steely skyscrapers, top chefs, rocking festivals – Chicago will blow you away with its low-key, cultured awesomeness.

High-flying architecture is everywhere, from the stratospheric, glass-floored Willis Tower to Frank Gehry’s swooping silver Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park to Frank Lloyd Wright’s stained-glass-filled Robie House. Whimsical public art studs the streets; you might be walking along and...boom, there’s an abstract Picasso statue that’s not only cool to look at but climbable too. For art museums, take your pick: impressionist masterpieces at the massive Art Institute of Chicago, psychedelic paintings at the midsize National Museum of Mexican Art or outsider drawings at the small Intuit gallery.

Planning tip: Chicago’s peak visitor season is June through August. Summertime festivals rock the city’s neighborhoods almost every weekend, and Millennium Park hosts many concerts. Fireflies glow everywhere. It can be hot and humid, but who cares?

9. Lewes, Delaware

Best for a coastal break

Known as the First Town in the First State, this darling dot on the coast becomes a summer wonderland each year. The main attraction in Lewes is its gorgeous, wheelchair-accessible beach, part of the 5000-acre Cape Henlopen State Park, which also contains a nature reserve with excellent programming – bird walk, anyone? Yet the entire town will draw you in with its historic Victorian-style homes, treasure-filled antique shops and beachy boutiques, and the not-to-be-missed King’s Homemade Ice Cream.

Explore the Saturday farmers market, then make your way to Eggcellent for a divine breakfast spread. Take a seat at an outdoor table at The Station on Kings, a knockout cafe, restaurant, and home and garden store that begs to be photographed – as does the adjacent Marigold Creamery ice cream truck. Reserve a table at Heirloom, or pop into Striper Bites for a scrumptious dinner and drinks. Be sure to get out on the water too: we love the Cape Water Tours dolphin-watching cruise.

Planning tip: Most businesses and services are open year-round. Should you come back to the Delaware coast during the offseason (outside of June to August), price bargains abound.

10. Portland, Oregon

Best for coffee and craft beer

Best-in-class coffee, so many food trucks, top craft breweries, that world-famous quirkiness – Portland is a city of indie-spirited superlatives and humble, offbeat charms. Along with all that comes an almost unfair abundance of natural beauty: perfect parks, leafy trees, vibrantly flowering shrubs lining pretty neighborhood streets, the Willamette River meandering through town and Mt Hood on the horizon. Long-awaited wildflowers reach their peak bloom in early summer.

Planning tip: Summer in Portland sees festivals galore, including the Portland Rose Festival. Portland Pride in mid-July attracts around 60,000 people. Later in the month, the Oregon Brewers Festival whoops it up on the banks of the Willamette River.

11. Aspen, Colorado

Best for hiking and festivals

Aspen is one of the world’s most famous mountain destinations, but that doesn’t mean it’s just for winter skiing. Aspen takes on new shades and personalities with the seasons. In fall, the hills are set afire with the fluttering of a million golden aspen leaves. In winter, the slopes come to life, and the party hits maximum velocity. Come springtime, the flowers start to bud near the mirrored alpine lakes. And finally, in summer – ah, summer in Aspen! – everything comes together, with festivals, arts, miles upon miles of hiking trails and perfect days under the bluebird-hued Colorado sky.

Excellent restaurants fill the corners of the historic downtown. An understated chic touches nearly everything to do, eat, see and experience here. It has the makings of maybe the best mountain vacation ever.

Planning tip: The Jazz Aspen Snowmass June Experience spreads more than 40 performances of jazz, blues and funk across a dozen venues, while the Aspen Ideas Festival attracts leaders and thinkers from around the globe. At the Food & Wine Classic, cooking demos, more than 70 celebrity chefs and a couple hundred exhibitors across the specialty food and beverage industry will keep you quite content.

12. Outer Banks, North Carolina

Best for a beach road trip

These fragile ribbons of sand tracing North Carolina’s Atlantic coastline for more than 100 miles are separated from the mainland by sounds and waterways. Broken up by villages, the long strip of Cape Hatteras National Seashore is home to several noteworthy lighthouses. A meandering drive down Hwy 12, which connects much of the Outer Banks and makes up part of the Outer Banks National Scenic Byway (and its 21 coastal villages), is one of the truly great American road trips.

The quaint waterfront area of Manteo is a pleasant base from which to explore the Outer Banks. Near the harbor is the Roanoke Island Festival Park, where visitors can learn about the first English colonies on North American soil. In summer, be sure to catch an atmospheric amphitheater performance by Lost Colony Outdoor Drama, which portrays the story of the colonists who arrived in Manteo in the 1580s (before the European settlers arrived at Plymouth Rock) – and then disappeared.

Planning tip: If you’re driving on some beaches in the Outer Banks or within Cape Hatteras National Seashore, you’ll need an off-road vehicle permit (US$50; valid for 10 days).

13. San Diego, California

Best for perfect weather

San Diego calls itself America’s Finest City, which embodies the breezy confidence and sunny California cheer that filters down to folks you encounter every day on the street. The city may feel like a collection of villages, each with its own personality, yet San Diego is the USA’s eighth-largest city. And even with its huge size, there’s probably nowhere more laid-back on earth.

What’s not to love? San Diego bursts with world-famous attractions for the entire family, including the zoo and the museums of Balboa Park. And that’s not to mention the excellent seafood, great shopping, buzzing downtown and beautiful hikes, plus more than 60 beaches and perhaps the USA’s most perfect weather.

Planning tip: June in San Diego often sees the cloudy skies referred to by Californians as "June Gloom." While July and August are hot, dry months, they are also the busiest and the most expensive months to visit; kids are on summer break, crowds are dense, and hotels fill up.

14. Grand Canyon, Arizona

Best for natural beauty

No matter how much you read about the Grand Canyon or how many photographs you’ve seen, nothing really prepares you for the sight of it: it’s so startlingly familiar and iconic and awe-inspiring that you can’t take your eyes off it. The canyon’s immensity, the sheer intensity of light and shadow at sunrise or sunset, even its very age scream for superlatives. The Grand Canyon embodies the scale and splendor of the American West through its dramatic vistas, dusty trails and stories of exploration, preservation and exploitation.

Planning tip: Most visitors head to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, but the summer months are the best time to visit the North Rim, which is open only from mid-May to mid-October. The North Rim is Grand Canyon plus. Here, the elevation is a little higher, the temperatures are a little cooler, the trails are a little steeper, and the views? Yeah, they’re a little bigger too. Since this side gets more rain and snow, erosion has chewed deeper into the North Rim, creating mazes of side canyons while leaving sky islands and temples towering above the Colorado River.