USA Travel Guide

As you might expect from the biggest economy, this is a part of the world where everything is big. Even the landscape somehow manages to seem to go on forever! If you want to ski, lie on a beach, shop for your country, fish, golf, relax or jump out of a plane, you can do it here - all year round. The countries may be new and cities even newer but the natural beauty and splendour of North America easily makes up for lack of historical monuments. For any kind of outdoor activity and sport the USA is the place to do it.

Arizona

The state has much to recommend it but lets not beat around the sage brush here, the reason to visit Arizona is to see the Grand Canyon.

California

California is the state of choices. Choose your lifestyle, be who you want to be. Choose your scenery, are you a mountain person, a desert person, a forest person or a coast person. Perhaps a little bit of all four. How do you like your cities? Glamorous, shiny and fast? Or perhaps stately and laid back? Maybe you don't like cities perhaps a one street town, a stop off on the wide, open road is more your style. California has it all.

Colorado

Colorado is a Rocky Mountain state. The mountains loom large over every aspect of the life, past and present. The mountains produced the gold that first attracted people in significant numbers to the State and the mountains have continued to yield mineral wealth to the present day. The resort towns of Aspen and Vail are amongst the worlds best ski resorts and the mountains are a year round attraction for tourists.

Connecticut

Despite its proximity to New York - commuting distance across the Long Island Sound - Connecticut retains an aura that is essentially New England. Due partly to its location and partly to the success of its industry Connecticut, though small is densely populated. Yet, it does still have wide-open spaces to enjoy.

Florida

The aptly named Sunshine State is in effect a huge resort packed with things to see and do. Its position between the Caribbean and the rest of the US gives the population a unique flavour. There are Cubans seeking a better life, retired Americans looking to ease aching bones in the sun and tourists lured by beaches and theme parks. Yet Florida is a state that has so much more to offer.

Georgia

Named for George II this was one of the original British colonies and acted as a buffer zone between the other colonies and Spanish Florida. With the exception of Atlanta, Georgia is a sleepy, rural place.

Hawaii

Hawaii is officially known as the 'Aloha' State. Aloha, in the native language, means welcome and with some of the friendliest people in the world that is just right. Hawaii is a handful of lovely islands set in an azure ocean. For many, this place where Polynesian, Asian and Western cultures mingle freely, is the stuff that dreams are made of. Famed for its tropical beaches it also has lush green jungles, snowy mountain peaks, active volcanoes and exotic wildlife.

Illinois

After customary wrangling between the British and the French in its earliest years Illinois became an officially recognised 'territory' in 1809 and a state in 1818. Both these events caused a surge in immigration of farmers into the area. Inevitably, this influx of farmers created tension with the Native American population equally inevitably this led to the expulsion of the indigenous people to lands further west.

Louisiana

Geographically Louisiana is a logical part of the US, yet from a cultural point of view it is very much out on a limb. The rest of the States may consider that their forebears came over on the Mayflower but in Louisiana, the view is very different.

Maine

Maine is massive, the same size as the other states in New England combined and yet with a small population. Most of the state is very sparsely peopled with the densest areas of settlement gathered on the southern coast. This adds up to huge tracts of countryside with hardly any civilisation at all. The state is 90% covered in trees; it has 3500 miles of coastline, mountains, lakes, and rivers and for goodness sakes a small desert.

Massachusetts

If the USA has a historic heart then it beats as loudly in Massachusetts as anywhere. The state was at the centre of the revolution against the British and was the site of many of the first settlements in the States.

Nevada

Lets not beat around the sagebrush, although it has some stunning scenery no one goes to Nevada for that. There are Ghost Towns, the Hoover Dam and the wide-open vistas we imagine of the American west, but no one comes here to look at these. People come to Nevada for one reason only. They come to gamble.

New York

One of the worlds great cities. New York may not have the largest population but it does have the biggest personality. This city is the benchmark for all others in the western world. Love it or hate it you cannot escape the importance of this metropolis, this heaving mass of humanity in all its wondrous forms.

Pennsylvania

If the United States can be said to have a 'birthplace' then Pennsylvania is probably it. As the engine room of the American industrial revolution Pennsylvania helped to further define the USA as the global economic power it has become. This was due to the coal and iron ore, which led to the State, becoming a major producer of steel.

Rhode Island

In surface area, the smallest state of the union (1214 sq. miles) but featuring slightly higher up the population league table (just over 1 million). It sits on the Atlantic seaboard just north of New York.

South Carolina

One of the smallest states in the Union, South Carolina has nonetheless played a central role in many of the turning points of the nation.

Tennessee

Flanked to the west by the mighty Mississippi and to the east by the Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee is a flat oblong shaped state more than twice as wide as it is from north to south. Whilst not a state without scenic 'outdoorsy' appeal its attraction as a tourist destination lies in its rich history and cultural significance. Don't let the phrase 'cultural significance' put you off what that is referring to is the fact that the state spawned Rock and Roll.

Texas

The very mention of the word Texas conjures up all kinds of images. Texas is a big place, second only in size to Alaska and in population to California. Subsequently the geography and the people are diverse. In the south along the border with Mexico, there is a heavy Hispanic influence, this contrasts with the German and Czech settlers of the central Hill Country.

Washington DC

The nations capital lies at the heart of 'The Capital Region'. This comprises the States of Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. For any visitor keen on tracing the early years of American history then the Capital Region is the place to be.