Canyon rim to Times Square.
Which Grand Canyon day leaves early enough. What a Manhattan helicopter really costs. Whether the airboat is worth the drive out of Miami. Every bookable US tour, reviewed and ranked.
Manhattan, the Strip, the Quarter, the Canyon.
Six places carry more first-time American itineraries than everywhere else put together. Here is what each of them is actually worth booking ahead.
The tours that fill up first across America.
Every review →More travellers book these than anything else on the site — and here is what each one actually delivers for the money.
1
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Tickets
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt puts you 1,063 ft up for mirror art, glass skyboxes, and day or Air at Night views from every floor.
From · $47
Read our review →
2
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Experience Ticket
from $48
3
Empire State Building Tickets – Observatory & Museum
from $47
4
Empire State Building Observation Deck Tickets
from $48
5
Edge Observation Deck Admission Ticket
from $39
6
Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and Skywalk
from $109
7
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with Ferry
from $19
8
Oahu Grand Circle Island and Haleiwa Tour: 9-Hr Deluxe Experience
from $140
New York needs more days than you booked.
The harbour boat that passes Liberty Island at golden hour, the museum you could lose a whole wet afternoon in, the helicopter that costs a night in a hotel and is worth it. Manhattan sells the good slots out weeks ahead.
Grand Canyon, Antelope, Monument Valley: pick your canyon day.
All Grand Canyon tours →
Vegas coaches, Sedona small-groups, helicopters off the West Rim. These three carry the most travellers; the full list splits the rest by which rim you want and how far you are willing to drive before breakfast.
West Rim by helicopter, floor landing optional
Out over Lake Mead, down between the walls, and for some runs a landing on the canyon floor with the river a hundred metres away. Short, loud, unforgettable.
Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend together
The slot canyon in the late-morning light beam, then the mile-and-a-half walk out to the overlook where the Colorado turns back on itself. Most runs pair them because the drive only makes sense once.
Navajo guides, roads the tour buses cannot use
The mittens and the buttes from inside the tribal park, on tracks closed to self-drivers, with a guide whose family has lived under them for generations.
The Southwest loop, reviewed stop by stop.
Horseshoe Bend
Antelope Canyon
Monument Valley
ZionThe French Quarter is only the first six blocks.
Chargrilled oysters on Bourbon, a steamboat with a live band on the river, live oaks and cast iron in the Garden District, and an hour out of town the bayou starts. New Orleans rewards a traveller who leaves the Quarter at least once.
Savannah, Charleston and Salem after the streetlights come on.
All ghost walks →
Savannah History and Haunts Candlelit Ghost Walking Tour
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Haunted Evening Horse and Carriage Tour of Charleston
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History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour
Read our review →Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island: four islands, four different trips.
Oahu does the full-island loop and the history. Maui does the Hana road and the winter whales. Kauai does the Na Pali cliffs from the water. The Big Island does lava country by day and manta rays after dark. Island-hopping is a flight, not a drive — plan it that way.
- 1Oahu Grand Circle Island and Haleiwa Tour: 9-Hr Deluxe Experiencefrom $140
- 2Grand Tour Around Island 16 Locations plus Snorkelingfrom $109
- 3Parasailing Experience in Waikiki, HIfrom $44
An airboat, a manta ray, a studio backlot.
Boat trips and bus tours exist everywhere. Three American days out have no real equivalent anywhere on earth.
The Airboat
A flat-bottomed hull, an aircraft propeller in a cage and no draught to speak of, so it runs over sawgrass that would strand any other boat. Captains cut the engine in the shallows and the swamp gets very loud. Ear defenders are handed out and you will want them. Morning runs see more alligators; afternoon runs see more birds.
- 1Everglades Airboat, Wildlife Show & Bus Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 8,622 reviews
- 2Everglades National Park Airboat Tour & Wildlife Show★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 7,296 reviews
- 3New Orleans Swamp and Bayou Boat Tour with Transportation★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,399 reviews
The Manta Ray Night Snorkel
Boats moor off the Kona coast at dusk and shine lights down into the water. Plankton gather in the beam, and manta rays with four-metre wingspans come up to feed, barrel-rolling within inches of the floats. Nobody touches them and nobody needs to. It runs year round and it is the single strangest hour in Hawaii.
- 1Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,656 reviews
- 2Big Island: Kona Manta Ray Snorkel Tour in Keauhou Harbor★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,465 reviews
- 3KONA Manta Ray Night Snorkel – FREE re-ride if no Sightings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,212 reviews
The Studio Backlot
Working studios in Los Angeles run tram tours through their own lots between shoots: standing New York streets, prop warehouses, sound stages still dressed from last week. What you see changes with the production schedule, which is the point — no two runs are the same, and nobody else in the world can offer it.
- 1Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 7,191 reviews
- 2Full-Day Iconic Sights of LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Beaches and More★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,147 reviews
- 3Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,246 reviews
$19 ferries, $299 helicopters, and everything in between.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it costs. A great American day out starts at the price of two coffees and a subway ride.
Ferries, walking tours, ghost walks, entry tickets and the trolley loops that show you a whole city.
The full days: airboats with transfers, harbour cruises with dinner, food tours, snorkel boats, canyon coaches.
Helicopters, small-group island days, private guides and the one splurge a trip can carry.
Alcatraz, Antelope Canyon, Pearl Harbor: gone before you land.
Most of America can be booked from the hotel the night before. These cannot. They run on ferry manifests, tribal permits and ticket releases that do not care what time your flight gets in.
- 01Alcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided AppThe ferry is the only way onto the island and the sailings sell out weeks ahead through the summer.
- 02Lower Antelope Canyon Entry and Navajo Guided TourThe slot canyons are on Navajo Nation land. Entry is by authorised guide only, in timed groups, and the midday light slots go first.
- 03Salute to Pearl Harbor Including USS ArizonaTickets for the USS Arizona Memorial programme are released ahead of the date and are claimed within minutes.
- 04Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with FerryCrown access is released months out. Pedestal and ferry-only tickets last longer, but not through July.
When Florida rains and Phoenix hits 110°F.
Gulf-coast afternoons wash out without warning from June, and the desert cities spend a whole season indoors by choice. The answers are some of the best hours on any American itinerary: a dark aquarium tunnel, a natural-history hall with a blue whale hanging over it, a glass floor ninety-four storeys above a lake.
By city — where are you landing?
New York City215 tours
Las Vegas137 tours
New Orleans109 tours
Miami76 tours
Chicago54 tours
San Francisco58 tours
Oahu84 tours- All 66 places →
By day out — what does the day look like?
Freshly reviewed across the states.
All recent →
City Cruises Salem High Speed Ferry to/from Boston
Read our review →
New Orleans True Murder Tour: Sinister Criminal Intentions
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BEST! Hell’s Revenge U-Drive 4X4 Tour in Moab +Dinosaur Tracks!
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The Escape Game Orlando: Epic 60-Minute Adventures on I-Drive
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Half Day Scenic Float on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River
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Entire Freedom Trail Walking Tour: Includes Bunker Hill and USS Constitution
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Arlington National Cemetery Hop-On Hop-Off Tour
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Bikes, Bites & Views: Chicago’s Signature Dishes Bike Tour-Adults
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Emerald Cave Kayak Tour with Lunch & Las Vegas Shuttle Option
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Tribute to Pearl Harbor Arizona Memorial and Honolulu City Tour
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Philadelphia and Amish Country, 1-Day Tour from NYC
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