With summer just around the corner in the USA, you’re likely already dreaming of where to spend your vacation.
And you won’t be alone. The months of June to August form the US’s busiest travel season. The warm days mean events such as music and food festivals are in full swing, national parks are fully open for the season, and there are more opportunities for outdoor activities. Kids are out of school, and you could face big crowds and higher prices wherever you go.
Whether you want to see some of the most incredible and well-known places or you're aiming to get a bit off the beaten path, here is our guide to where to go for a summer vacation in the United States.
The island of Hawai’i (most often referred to as “the Big Island”) is the largest of the state’s chain of islands, and it’s full of scenic beauty, miles of volcanic rock formations, breathtaking peaks and valleys, waterfalls, trails and rugged beaches (including the Papakōlea green-sand beach). With eight of the world’s 13 climate zones, the island of Hawai’i is ecologically diverse to an astounding degree, with thousands of unique species of plants and animals.
A car is a must with so much to see, but the roads are rarely crowded (save for rush-hour traffic around Kona and Hilo). Dive with manta rays in Captain Cook, ride horses in Waimea, stargaze near the summit of Mauna Kea, swim at Mahaiʻula Beach and most definitely take a hike in stunning Volcanoes National Park. Better yet, plan to shack up at the historic Volcano House inside the park, where Mark Twain once stayed. 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.
Want to see more of Hawaii? Here are the top places to go
From either Mackinaw City or St Ignace, you can catch a ferry to Mackinac Island, Michigan. The island’s location in the straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron made it a prized port in the North American fur trade, and a site the British and Americans battled over many times. The most important date on this 3.8-sq-mile island was 1898 – the year cars were banned in order to encourage tourism. Today, all travel is by horse or bicycle; even the police use bikes to patrol the town. Eighty percent of Mackinac Island is state parkland.
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 clears out the day-trippers, Mackinac’s real charm emerges as you drift back into another, slower era.
Explore more of Michigan in these top places to visit
Few places on earth are as magnificent and pristine as Glacier National Park.
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Private clubs such as Soho House, Zero Bond and Casa Cipriani cemented a long-held Manhattan tradition of the city’s elite clamoring for exclusive spaces. Of course, there will always be the old vanguard — like the Yale Club, Harvard Club and New York Yacht Club — but freshly unwrapped Centurion New York towers over many high-end hideaways from its lavish perch on the 55th floor of the One Vanderbilt building.
A majority of American adults (82%) plan to take at least one vacation this summer, according to The Vacationer’s recent travel survey. With that in mind, here’s a sampling of unique and unexpected summer escapes at you can find at centers and lodgings from the Pacific to Provence: creative and luxurious experiences to help you beat the heat and lean into the season. These may inspire you to find others to suit your summer interests—and go.
In October 2023, as the races at the Mexico City Grand Prix electrified track-side spectators, a quieter but no less meaningful moment unfolded at the city's Gota de Leche School. Associates of The Ritz-Carlton, Mexico City and members of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team came together to create a bright, cheery, and well-stocked arts and crafts room for its students, with a view to improving the quality of arts programming as well as creating capacity for creative enrichment. As another gift to the students, the volunteers also packed school bags filled with new art supplies, including a handwritten letter from each of them.
The popularity of zero-alcohol cocktails has significantly increased in recent years in Dubai, even as the city’s dining and nightlife scene shows no signs of slowing down. Whether it’s a result of most of the local population’s culture or shifting lifestyle preferences, there’s never been a better time to browse the non-alcoholic drinks sections of menus around town.
OTIS Harbor Springs is the inaugural σhotel project for Israel Hernandez and Ty Humpert, with Daniel Caudill, former Creative Director of Shinola, tapped to lead brand design.
If you're the sort of music fan who is happier watching the Coachella livestream on your couch than navigating the crowds, then you may be wondering how to enjoy the magic of live music without quite so many people.
It’s always a good idea to focus on experiences over material things, especially for a big milestone birthday. Why not cash in your vacation days and revel in gratitude for another trip around the sun by hopping on an airplane, with passport in hand? It doesn’t matter if you go somewhere new or well loved, or if you travel with family and friends or solo.
The long-awaited third season of Netflix’s hit romance period drama Bridgerton is unveiled today (May 16), and fans of the series can now not only binge on the bodice-ripping romantic intrigues, opulent outfits, glamorous balls and lavish sets of the Regency era but also plan a trip to discover the locations around Britain where the smash-hit series was filmed.
The sun-drenched sepia photograph shows a dapper European, handkerchief in pocket, cigarette in hand, sitting among a row of men dressed in bisht and keffiyeh. The moment was captured during Jacques Cartier's first visit to the Persian Gulf in 1911, on his way back to London from Delhi—part of a sales trip encouraged by his father, Alfred, then the head of Cartier. The decline of the Ottoman Empire and the 1905 Persian Constitutional Revolution had flooded Europe's artistic centers with new influences, forging an aesthetic then known as “the Muslim arts.” Eager to learn more, Jacques spent four months traveling throughout Asia and the Middle East, rifling through bazaars and emporiums and mixing with high society.
Padua, in northern Italy's Veneto region, is the site of one of the world’s greatest art treasures that should be on every art lover’s bucket list. The Scrovegni Chapel houses the extraordinary 14th-century fresco cycle by Giotto that covers all the walls and ceilings. Despite having such a masterpiece and being a lovely small city, filled with history, culture and culinary delights, Padua is far less touristy than other Italian other art cities like Florence, Rome or nearby Venice. It’s a real hidden gem. And, at just 25 miles from Venice and easy to reach from Marco Polo airport, Padua is an easy day trip or addition to a Venice itinerary.