United States

Top 10 Places in each region of the United States

I’ve been to the 58 places listed below in bold. Which ones have you been to? Are any of your top places missing? What are they?

Cinder cone fragments
Cinder cone fragments, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho

Northwest

Top 10’s of each state: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana

1. Glacier Bay and Wrangell–St. Elias National Parks & Preserves (a World Heritage Site)

2. Glacier National Park (a World Heritage Site)

3. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

4. Olympic National Park (a World Heritage Site)

5. Denali National Park & Preserve

6. Crater Lake National Park

7. Seattle

8. Mount Rainier National Park

9. Sawtooth National Recreation Area

10. Portland

Joshua Tree National Park
Hidden Valley, Joshua Tree National Park, California

Mid-Pacific

Top 10’s of each state/territory: California, Hawaii, American Samoa (U.S. Territory), Guam (U.S. Territory), and Northern Mariana Islands (U.S. Territory)

1. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park  (a World Heritage Site)

2. Yosemite National Park (a World Heritage Site)

3. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

4. Redwood National and State Parks (a World Heritage Site)

5. San Francisco (including Golden Gate National Recreation Area – part of the Central California Current [see Point Reyes for full details], which is on the World Heritage Tentative List)

6. Death Valley National Park and Preserve

7. Joshua Tree National Park

8. Channel Islands National Park

9. Los Angeles (including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)

10. National Park of American Samoa

Snake River, Grand Teton National Park
Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Rocky Mountains

Top 10’s of each state: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada

1. Yellowstone National Park (a World Heritage Site)

2. Mesa Verde National Park (a World Heritage Site)

3. Rocky Mountain National Park

4. Zion National Park

5. Arches National Park

6. Grand Teton National Park

7. Bryce National Park

8. Great Salt Lake

9. Salt Lake City

10. Las Vegas

Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified wood in the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Southwest

Top 10’s of each state: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma

1. Grand Canyon National Park (a World Heritage Site)

2. Chaco Culture National Historical Park (a World Heritage Site)

3. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (a World Heritage Site)

4. Saguaro National Park

5. San Antonio (San Antonio Missions National Historical Park – a World Heritage Site)

6. Old Route 66

7. Taos Pueblo (a World Heritage Site)

8. Petrified Forest National Park (World Heritage Tentative List)

9. Monument Valley

10. White Sands National Park (World Heritage Tentative List)

Honorable mention: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West (part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)

A bison at Wind Cave National Park
Bison, Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota

Great Plains

Top 10’s of each state: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri

1. Badlands National Park

2. Mount Rushmore National Memorial

3. Custer State Park

4. Chimney Rock National Historic Site

5. Theodore Roosevelt National Park

6. Wind Cave National Park

7. Saint Louis – Gateway Arch National Park

8. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

9. Monument Rocks

10. Amana Colonies

Cloud Gate ("The Bean"), Millennium Park
Cloud Gate (“The Bean”), Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois

Great Lakes

Top 10’s of each state: Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio

1. Mackinac: Mackinac Island, Saint Ignace, & Mackinaw City

2. Chicago (including: Chicago Early Skyscrapers – World Heritage Tentative List; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Frederick C. Robie House and Unity Temple – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)

3. Sleeping Bear Dunes Country

4. Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (World Heritage Tentative List)

5. Serpent Mound State Memorial and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (both on the World Heritage Tentative List)

6. Land of Lincoln sites

7. Michigan Riviera

8. Indiana Dunes National Park and State Park

9. Minneapolis-Saint Paul

10. Door County

Honorable mention: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Spring Green and Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House in Madison (part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)

Southwest Harbor, Maine
Southwest Harbor, Acadia National Park, Maine

Northeast

Top 10’s of each state: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York

1. New York City (including: Statue of Liberty – a World Heritage Site; Ellis Island – World Heritage Tentative List; Brooklyn Bridge – World Heritage Tentative List; Central Park – World Heritage Tentative List; and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)

2. Baxter State Park and the Appalachian Trail

3. Acadia National Park and Penobscot Bay

4. Niagara Falls and Buffalo

5. Boston

6. Mount Washington State Park

7. Cape Cod National Seashore

8. Lake Champlain

9. Newport Cliff Walk

10. Hartford (including the to be established Coltsville National Historical Park)

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania

Mid-Atlantic

Top 10’s of each state: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, and West Virginia

1. Washington, DC

2. Philadelphia (including Independence Hall, Independence National Historical Park – a World Heritage Site)

3. George Washington’s Mount Vernon (World Heritage Tentative List)

4. Colonial National Historical Park

5. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (a World Heritage Site), plus Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and the Virginia State Capitol – Virginia (World Heritage Tentative List)

6. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)

7. Baltimore

8. Atlantic City

9. New River Gorge National Park & Preserve

10. First State National Historical Park

Honorable mention: Moravian Bethlehem District – Pennsylvania (World Heritage Tentative List) (an extension to Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church Settlement, Denmark)

Quapaw Baths and Spa, Hot Springs National Park
Quapaw Baths and Spa, Hot Springs National Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas

South Central

Top 10’s of each state: Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama

1. New Orleans

2. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (a World Heritage Site)

3. Nashville

4. Hot Springs National Park

5. Natchez and Natchez Trace Parkway

6. Louisville and Bluegrass Country

7. Mammoth Cave National Park (a World Heritage Site)

8. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

9. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve

10. Civil Rights Movement sites: Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and Rosa Parks Library and Museum in Montgomery, 16th Street Baptist Church and Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham (World Heritage Tentative List)

Elk in Cataloochee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Elk, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cataloochee, North Carolina

Southeast

Top 10’s of each state/territory: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico (U.S. Territory), and U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S. Territory)

1. Everglades National Park (a World Heritage Site)

2. Charleston (including Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park)

3. Biscayne National Park

4. San Juan (La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site – a World Heritage Site)

5. Savannah

6. Outer Banks

7. Okefenokee Swamp (World Heritage Tentative List)

8. Virgin Islands National Park

9. El Yunque National Forest

10. Dry Tortugas National Park