15 best places to visit in the USA

To list all interesting places in the United States of America is a difficult task. In this article, we will talk about the best places for retirement in the US. Museums and exhibitions, religious buildings and historical sites — read on and you will find out where to go sightseeing in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Washington, the business capital of America

It is worth visiting the capital of the United States of America not only for the Capitol, the Pentagon, the National Mall, the US Presidents Memorial and the White House. Of course, the best places to retire in the US are worth attention. However, the greatest treasure of Washington is its museums:

• National Museum of Natural History;
• Newseum — Museum of Journalism and News;
• National Museum of the American Indian;
• International Spy Museum;
• National Air and Space Museum;
• Museum of Asian Art «Arthur Sackler Gallery»;
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden;
• National Museum of African American History and Culture;
• National Museum of Women in the Arts;
• National Law Enforcement Museum;
• The Kreeger Museum.

Rich unique expositions are as impressive as the buildings in which they are stored. In addition, we strongly recommend that architecture lovers take time to visit the old Post Office, the Cathedral, the Anderson mansion, the Christian Heurich House Museum and the FBI headquarters (also known as the Edgar Hoover building). Nature lovers will appreciate the Great Falls of the Potomac River, which is 25 kilometers from Washington. Hoh Rainforest is an interesting place to see what the forests were like in dinosaur times.

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Los Angeles, City of Angels

Los Angeles is one of the best tourist attractions in the USA. People go to Los Angeles to have a glance at the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the «Hollywood» sign on the hills slopes, walk along the endless beaches of Beverly Hills, and also see the places of cult films and TV series shooting. While walking around the City of Angels, take the time to visit:

• Griffith Park and its observatory, where the famous Tesla coil is stored;
• The Watts Towers, made of glass pipes, scrap metal, tiles and shells;
• Tropical bar Tiki-Ti, which popularity has not faded since the swinging 60s;
• Phantasma Gloria glass sculpture park, by artist Randy Lawrence, made of metal and colorful bottles;
• The Angels Flight Railway cable car which is one of the oldest operating funiculars;
• the Valley Relic Museum, that stores bizarre samples of commercial archeology that tell the story of California's image formation;
• The installation of antique street lamps, «City Light», located outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, close to the Miracle Mile;
• Bob Baker Marionette Theater is the oldest and most respected puppet show in the US;
• Museum of the History of Psychiatry, exposing the extremely ugly side of this field of medicine;
• Japanese Cultural Village — an open-air museum created by designer Peter Lai;
• The Holy Land Exhibition collected by the person who was the prototype of Indiana Jones;
• the Petersen Automotive Vault, which features over 150 vintage cars;
• the Hollywood History Museum, where you can learn about the emergence of American cinema;
• Workshop of special effects of the company «Global Effects, Inc.»;
• the Rabbit Museum, which includes 30 thousand exhibits and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest museum in the world;
• The old «Warner Brothers» film studio, located in the jewelry exchange building;
• Nethercutt Collection and Museum of Retro Cars;
• Metropolitan Pit Stop Exposition of retro-futuristic cars;
• The Bradbury Mansion, the architecture of the Mansion and its interiors were inspired by the utopian novel «Looking Backward».

The streets of Los Angeles are also of interest for tourists: Sunset Boulevard, Mulholland Drive, Hollywood Boulevard — these names are familiar to everyone. Not far from Los Angeles, you can see the glass beach in Fort Bragg — a protected coast covered with pieces of colorful glass sharpened by the sea.

California also has many national parks:

• Yosemite Valley is a picturesque area and one of the most beautiful nature reserves, which is called the box of wildlife treasures. The valley in the park is equipped for tourists to visit, here you can have a look at the almost kilometer-long granite rock of El Capitan, massive rocky mountains, roaring waterfalls, winding rivers, lush wooded valleys and grassy meadows inhabited by animals.
• Death Valley Park is located in the hottest point on the planet, these are multi-colored rocks, salt fields, moving stones, amazingly beautiful canyons, gorges and rock formations.
• Sequoia Park is the kingdom of giant relic trees.

New York is a big apple

Want to see the best tourist attractions in the USA? Go to New York! Legendary skyscrapers, vivid advertising-filled Times Square, the green island of Central Park, exotic Chinatown, Fifth Avenue and Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Broadway — people come here from all over the world to see them.

Tourists are also attracted by numerous galleries, museums, theaters and entertainment venues. Even New York shops are among the most popular tourist destinations in the United States as this city is the world capital of art and fashion. In search of inspiration you can go to:

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art and its branches;
• Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan;
• the Guggenheim Museum;
• Digital Museum of Fine Arts «Hall of Light»;
• Portion Gallery;
• Museum of poster art «Poster house»;
• Onassis Cultural Center;
• Artehouse Exhibition Center (Artechouse NYC);
• Leslie Loman Museum;
• Branch of the Swedish Museum of Photography in New York, «Fotografiska»;
• World Trade Center Westfield;
• Shopping malls «Macy», «Brookfield», «Hudson Yards», «Bloomingdale».

Those who come to New York in search of something extraordinary should visit the Socrates Sculpture Park, the Video Game Museum, The Robotic Church, an exhibition of pneumatic sculptures, The Evolution Store, and Tanner's Magic Shop, the Ghostbusters House, and the City Hall subway station.

Chicago, Windy City

The tourist facade of the second business capital is represented by sky-scrapers recognizable throughout the world, reflected in the chrome-plated mirror of the Cloud Gate, the bizarre Flamingo sculpture, the Great Lakes and the wall of Niagara Falls. Apart from that , Chicago attracts with such iconic locations as:

• The Chicago Riverwalk,Chicago Loop downtown, and drawbridges — an opportunity to admire Chicago architecture from the water, and then walk along the embankment and the parks laid out along it;
• The Tiffany Dome at the Chicago Cultural Center can be considered the largest piece of jewelry in the world;
• Sky Theater in the Adler Planetarium — a journey through the universe under the dome of an ancient building can be combined with a walk on the border of the Earth and the sky on the Chicago City Skyline embankment;
• Violet Hour, a speakeasy bar that takes guests back to the Prohibition era;
• «Sky Chapel», located on the upper floors of the Gothic skyscraper;
• Jazz Club «Green Mill» — a place where Charlie Chaplin and Al Capone liked to spend time;
• Narcissa Thorne's miniature rooms measuring 2.5cm by 30 cm at the Chicago Museum of Art amaze even the way they are cleaned: it’s done with tiny vacuum cleaners and brushes to remove dust;
• DNA Research Center at the Field’s Museum of Natural History. is a great way to learn everything about genetics;
• Pharmacy Merz (Merz Apothecary), that has been operating in the city since 1875: since then it has not changed a bit;
• The Antique working elevator and the observation deck in the Coyote Building;
• Chicago theater and Victorian mansions on Terra Cotta Row.

If you decide to come to Chicago, do not miss the chance to look at the sculptures of Lucent, Nuclear Energy, Picasso, The Light of Truth, Dialogue, Man with a Fish. And most importantly — do not forget to taste the legendary Chicago hot dog.

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New Orleans, Crescent City

New Orleans is an interesting place to visit in the USA. The city charms worshippers of the dark and the beyond. New Orleans is best known for jazz, exotic Creole cuisine and voodoo culture. To feel the spirit of the city, go for a walk in places of cult:

• Voodoo Museum;
• Cemetery of Lafayette and Saint Louis;
• Museum of Death;
• Voodoo House and Marie Laveau's Tomb;
• Chapel Saint-Roch;
• The old absinthe House by Jean Lafitte;
• Entrance to the underworld «Gate of Guinea» (Gates of Guinee);
• Delaport family mansion;
• Madame LaLaurie's House (LaLaurie Mansion);
• Singing Oak and Tree of Life;
• Tomb of an unknown slave;
• American Cocktail Museum;
• Shop of horror «Dark Matter Oddities»;
• Museum of Unnatural History at Bywater;
• Broglie's house and his collection of dollhouses.

Those who missed the legendary Mardi Gras festival can visit the Backstreet Cultural Museum of Masquerade Traditions and the House of Dance and Feathers.

No trip to New Orleans is complete without tasting Sno-Bliz snowy desserts, which were first made in this city! Also find time to visit Fitzgerald's house and Ann Rice's Rosegate mansion.

San Francisco is a Pacific paradise

The city of famous fortune cookies, psychedelics and queer culture is an interesting place in the USA. Victorian mansions adjoin cozy cafes, and rattling retro trams drive along the roads.

When planning your visit to the city of San Francisco, allocate time for:

• Wave organ is an engineering creation the ocean plays at high tide;
• Magowan's endless mirror maze in the catacombs;
• the Institute of Illegal Images, which contains works of art created under the influence of LSD;
• Museum of vintage vibrators «Good Vibrations»;
• the carnivorous plants greenhouse in Golden Gate Park, the world's largest building made of wood and glass;
• Cinema «Peephole», where the old silent movies are watched, peeping through the door peephole;
• House from the series «Full House» («The Full House» House);
• Victorian columbarium or Neptune Society columbarium;
• Long Term Thinking Museum and Long Now Orrery clock;
• The Vertigo Hotel, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's cult movie;
• Eye Museum, where visitors are invited to learn incredible facts about eyesight;
• the Beat Museum, which houses items and artifacts from Kerouac, Bukowski, and Salinger;
• Vintage press center «The Box SF», where you can view and buy samples of vintage printing.

Encountering the sculpture of Venus by Lawrence Argent, riding an old tram, walking along Lombard Street and the Golden Gate Bridge are also on the list of the best places to retire in the US.

Savannah is the oldest city in the United States

It is located in the state of Georgia and is interesting for its unique landscapes, picturesque buildings of the 19th century, an old fort, and the dwellings of real pirates. But its main attraction is the hundred-year-old trees covered with lashes of thick gray moss, creating an atmosphere of mystery of the American South in the spirit of «The Key to All Doors» movie. Guests of the city can experience it fully both on streets or in parks, and at the Bonaventure cemetery.

Spyscape headquarters

The activity of the educational brand is aimed at revealing a human mind's potential. Visitors to its New York headquarters can test their abilities in interactive zones dedicated to the legendary Enigma cipher machine and World War II spy gadgets, the FBI's hunt for a KGB mole, hacking geniuses, and the work of the secret services during the Cuban crisis.

Detroit is a ghost town

The metropolis that used to be America’s richest and most prestigious city, today looks more like a ghost town. Numerous abandoned buildings of huge factories, luxurious theaters, hotels attract industrial tourists. Detroit is also home to the local Museum of Art, the Motown Music Museum and, most importantly, the grand Henry Ford museum, which includes an open-air museum and several buildings with thematic expositions.

Mirror room of fireflies

The Phoenix Museum of Art, Arizona, has a unique piece of art, the Fireflies Mirror Room. The creation of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is a room with mirrored walls, black granite floors and a Plexiglas ceiling. There are 250 LEDs suspended in the room that change color. Multi-colored lights are reflected in the mirrors and immerse visitors in a fairy tale of a magic night.

Salem, the town of witches

The town in Massachusetts became a world famous and an interesting place in the USA thanks to the legendary witch trials. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year to join the history of this place, look at the Old City and the Witch's House, which once belonged to the inquisitor Jonathan Corwin. The gloomy Gothic Cathedral-Museum of Witches and local cemeteries also attract visitors. The best time to visit Salem is late autumn. During Halloween, there are lots of themed events in the town.

Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle

The futuristic panorama of Seattle has long been its main visiting card. Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, decided to enhance the city's appeal and built a Pop Culture Museum here. Thus a bizarre building of multichrome shining metal appeared at the foot of the Space Needle Tower, which houses a collection of artifacts that belonged to Jimi Hendrix from Nirvana. In the museum you will see everything related to pop culture — the exhibits are devoted to music,movies, video games.

Route 66

The legendary highway called «America's Main Street» connects the east and the west. The best travel places in USA are strung on it as a thread:

• The windy city of Chicago, the birthplace of St. Louis ice cream cones, gambling Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the city of stars;
• One of the best viewing platforms for the Grand Canyon panorama;
• Ghost town of the Wild West — Calico;
• Colorful Albuquerque and the town of Santa Fe located next to it, which Americans call the Land of Endless Charm.

Traveling along the highway makes you feel the spirit of America, which is shown in the movies: roadside motels, gas stations and cafes with a retro aesthetic.

Mysterious caves, canyons and waterfalls

Cathedral Caves in Alabama — karst formations in underground halls resemble the architecture of Gothic cathedrals. The impressive mammoth caves in Kentucky are a grand underground labyrinth, striking your imagination with its size and whimsical beauty of numerous halls. The Mendenhall Ice Caves in Alaska are a unique chance to visit the inside part of a glacier before it melts due to global warming.

Starved Rock National Park in Illinois is home to 18 mesmerizing canyons with waterfalls which are best to be watched in the spring. Another popular tourist park, the Everglades, is located in Florida — the incredible nature of the subtropics, mangroves, prairies and Lake Okeechobee.

Lovers of wonderful landscapes can visit the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin. This archipelago on Lake Superior is famous for its fantastic coastline, rock arches, grottoes and a coastal formation called the Devil's Loupe.

Hawaii, paradise islands

Few people know, but Hawaii has 132 islands and only 8 of them are inhabited. Pearl Harbor, the famous American military base, is located here. Tourists are allowed to board the submarine Bowfin and the cruiser Missouri, and you can also visit the US Pacific Fleet Museum.

The beauty of the jungle and the beaches of the archipelago attracts film directors — the cult films «Jurassic Park», «Pirates of the Caribbean» (fourth part) were shot here.

Hawaii is an island that you would want to visit more than once. The hospitable inhabitants of one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world will put a flower necklace around your neck, treat you with exotic cuisine and surround you with fun.

During the trip, you will undoubtedly want to take pictures, share your impressions on social networks, call friends. You can always be in touch and use convenient mobile Internet thanks to Yesim. Check if your smartphone model is on the list of eSIM supported gadgets that support the innovative eSIM technology — a virtual SIM card. If yes, then install the Yesim app, choose the best tariff and use secure mobile Internet abroad.

Read also: What is eSIM: what is it for and how to use it

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