The U.S. drew 72.4 million international arrivals in 2024 (UN Tourism), the third-highest of any country, spread across a country too large for one route to cover more than a fraction of it. This list splits national parks from cities, since combining both in one trip usually means picking one region rather than touring the country.
National parks
- Grand Canyon National Park — Ranked the top U.S. destination for 2026 by U.S. News.
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park — The most-visited U.S. national park by a wide margin (12+ million visits a year), spanning the Appalachians across Tennessee and North Carolina.
- Glacier National Park — Montana’s alpine park, best visited when Going-to-the-Sun Road is fully open (typically July through September).
- Zion National Park — Utah’s canyon park; among the parks now requiring a timed-entry reservation during peak season.
- Yosemite National Park — California’s Sierra Nevada park, also on the timed-entry system for peak months.
- Yellowstone & Grand Teton — Wyoming’s paired parks, usually visited together given their shared entrances and proximity.
- Rocky Mountain National Park — About 65 miles from Denver, with over 350 miles of trail and a required timed-entry permit during peak season (late May–mid October).
- Olympic National Park — Washington state’s rainforest-to-alpine range, covering nearly 1 million acres across the Hoh Rain Forest, Hurricane Ridge, and Lake Crescent.
Cities
- New York City — Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, and Broadway; the default U.S. city stop for first-time international visitors.
- Washington, D.C. and Chicago — D.C. for the free Smithsonian museums and national monuments; Chicago for its lakefront, architecture river tours, and dining scene.
Also real: Savannah and New Orleans for Southern history and cuisine, Santa Fe for high-desert adobe architecture and galleries, and San Francisco/Seattle for West Coast city bases.
Planning note
Several of the parks above (Zion, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain) require a timed-entry reservation during peak season, released on Recreation.gov on fixed windows — booking the moment a window opens is standard advice from park-focused travel guides, not an exaggeration. Build the reservation date into the trip plan before anything else, since it can force the rest of the itinerary’s dates.
Sources
- U.S. News & World Report — Best USA Vacations for 2026
- U.S. News & World Report — Best National Parks in the USA for 2026
- UN Tourism — International tourism recovers pre-pandemic levels in 2024
Read the Top 10 Countries to Visit in 2026 roundup for how the U.S. compares globally.