On the surface the United States appears to be a single culture across the entire country. I can fly to any large city in the country and I will see the same chain stores and restaurants but in reality the United States has many regional cultures, additionally some states and cities have multiple cultures within them.

The United States is a large country that comprises a large variety of sub-cultures and ecosystems. Being a lifelong citizen of the United States has allowed me to know more about the United States than I do about other places that I have visited.

I think the appropriate place to start is at the capital city of the country. Washington D.C. is a destination that all Americans should experience. There are a seemingly never-ending number of places to visit in Washington D.C. My experience in visiting Washington D.C. was that it made me feel much better about the country and it gave me a more pride in being an American than I had before my visit.

Must See Attractions

Trying to list the must see attractions for a country as large as the United States is difficult because there are too many sites to see and they are too spread out. To realistically define the “must see” attractions in the United States, it is best to divide the states into similar cultural and geographical regions.

My list of must see attractions in the United States are shown by region and can be seen by going to the regional page linked at the bottom of this page.

The top two categories of attractions to visiting the United States are that the United States is a country of large cities with very distinctive cultures and histories and that the United States is a country of beautiful nature.

Major Cities

One of the top attractions of the United States are its major cities. The United States has some amazing cities that are very different from each other. Many U.S. cities have a very distinctive culture that has been developed from the local history, the people that settled the area and the geography of the location.

When you visit these cities you will experience cities that have lots of site seeing attractions but they also have a culture within the city. Many of these cities are known for historical events, unique architecture, specialty foods and their own brand of music.

The major cities in the United States that I feel have a distinctive culture of their own are listed in the graphic on the right.

Make sure to experience the culture of the city by learning about its history, seeing its architecture, eating the local specialty food and listening to the local brand of music!

Nature and Natural Wonders

The other side of visiting the United States is to experience the amazing beauty of the natural wonders in the country. The United States has some of the most beautiful sites in nature. From the white powered sand beaches of Florida to the white snowcapped mountains of Washington there are so many beautiful places to see that it seem impossible to name them all. There’s something for everyone when it comes to experiencing nature.

There really is no way to name all of the amazing natural wonders in the United States so the following are examples of some of the many different types of nature that can be experienced in the United States:

The above types of nature is just a brief list of the many nature experiences that are available in the United States. The national parks in America are the most famous places for a reason, they are all truly beautiful but there are also hundreds state parks and other sites that are also amazing places to visit.

When it comes to the beauty of nature, the United States really is “America the beautiful”.

The major cities and natural wonders that I have briefly pointed out are just a few of the places that can be experienced in the United States.

Each region of the United States has a many “must see” attractions and my list of must see attractions for each region is provided on the regional page that is linked to the regional photo below.

Places To See

My suggestion for visiting the United States is that it should be done in small regions due to the large area of the United States. It also makes sense because each regions has its own culture and an abundance of things to see. Even when segmenting The United States by region it will take multiple trips to see everything in a region. The regional divisions that make sense to me are:

(Click on the photo below for more information on each region in the United States.)

I have been to all of these regions and I have been to 34 of the 50 states in the United States. Many of these states I have been to multiple times. I have seen many of the famous tourist sites and many places that are not commonly known to most tourist but there are many more things that I still want to see.

The posts about the United States in this blog will feature many of the interesting sites within the United States and as many of the unique wildlife species that that can be seen when visiting the United States. I hope that you will join me as I reveal all of the wonderful things that The United States has to offer.