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The Best Places to Stay and Do in the United States

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  1. The coastal redwoods here top 250 feet, and standing under them has a way of making whatever you were anxious about feel appropriately small. This 558-acre national monument northwest of San Francisco holds one of the last ancient redwood groves in the Bay Area, with about six miles of trails winding past Cathedral Grove and along Redwood Creek. Serious hikers can push into adjacent Mount Tamalpais State Park when the trees aren't enough.


  2. Columbus Avenue moves at the pace of a neighborhood that has been arguing, pleasantly, about whether to have another espresso since the Beat poets were still alive. North Beach is San Francisco's Italian quarter by heritage, literary enclave by reputation, and genuinely pleasant afternoon by default. Sidewalk cafés, old-school red-sauce spots, and City Lights bookstore orbit Washington Square Park, with Chinatown a short walk when you need a change of scene.


  3. The dugout smells exactly how you'd imagine, and standing in it during a behind-the-scenes tour of Oracle Park is a small, strange thrill even for people who don't follow baseball. The San Francisco Giants' waterfront stadium runs guided tours year-round, covering the field, press box, and the World Series trophies. The pregame add-on gets you in before the gates open, which is when the place actually feels like yours.


  4. The gripmen still turn these cars by hand at the turntable, which is the whole point. The Powell-Hyde line is the last manually operated cable car system anywhere, and riding it feels less like transit and more like clinging to a slowly tilting porch. Standing on the running board while the car crests a hill makes a strong case for handrails. Most riders are tourists, which you also are, so just lean into it.


  5. A former Army post turned National Park, the Presidio is the kind of place where eucalyptus groves give way to cliffside overlooks, historic bunkers, and a walk along Crissy Field that ends directly beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Andy Goldsworthy's natural installations are scattered throughout, the Tunnel Tops park has lawns and food trucks for easy afternoons, and the Tennessee Hollow Trail winds through a restored wetlands thick with birds.


  6. Moroccan tile, velvet banquettes, and flickering lanterns set the scene in a former speakeasy beneath the Marrakech hotel. Mentalist and magician Jay Alexander runs weekend-only shows in the 35-seat theater, blending mind-reading, human lie detector bits, and sleight-of-hand with enough comedy to keep the skeptics from squirming. The evening opens with close-up magic over drinks before moving into the main show, which is as interactive as it sounds.


  7. The Snøhetta-designed expansion gave SFMOMA a half-block-long living wall of native plants and a rippling fiberglass facade meant to echo the Bay, so the building makes an argument before you're even inside. The modern and contemporary collection runs deep, and the museum store is genuinely its own destination, stocked with San Francisco landmark chess pieces and Lichtenstein-inspired ceramics. Clear a full day.


  8. A 150-foot Ferris wheel on the Fisherman's Wharf waterfront, lit by a million LED lights and very aware of the London Eye comparison. Each of the 36 climate-controlled gondolas holds up to six people, and a single ride runs about four rotations, giving you unobstructed sightlines to the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the hills stacked behind the city. Clear nights are the obvious move.


  9. A former highway reclaimed from cars and handed back to the wind, Sunset Dunes is a two-mile coastal promenade running along San Francisco's western edge with the Pacific sitting right there the whole time. Public murals mark the route, Outer Sunset cafes are steps away, and the mood is somewhere between a long exhale and a Sunday with nowhere to be. Bring a stroller, a bike, or just good shoes.


  10. The collapsed concrete walls of an old saltwater bathhouse sit right at the Pacific's edge, flooded and open to the sky, looking less like San Francisco and more like something Rome left behind. Hikers and photographers make the pilgrimage, especially around sunset, when the still water turns the ruins into a mirror. The caves along the shore offer the best angle if you're here for the photo, which, be honest, you probably are.


  11. A sleek, AAA Three Diamond hotel a short walk from downtown Atlanta's convention halls and concert venues, which either thrills you or doesn't depending on why you're here. The compact rooms keep things minimal, platform beds, clutter-free desks loaded with charging points, and nearly all bathrooms are shower-only. The lobby bar runs tapas and craft cocktails, and there's a seasonal outdoor pool with terrace seating when the weather cooperates.

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  21. A converted vintage office building in the middle of downtown Atlanta, this Hampton Inn puts every major sports venue and attraction within walking distance, which matters more than you'd think on a game night. Rooms are compact and stylish, with an oversize TV and a proper desk, though "seating" often means the desk chair. Suites add a living room with a pull-out sofa. Hot breakfast is included daily.

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  29. The breeze-block bones of the original 1962 structure are still visible near the pool, a quiet reminder that this downtown Atlanta hotel was the city's first integrated hotel, which is a genuinely significant thing to just be staying next to. The midcentury modern furnishings and retro mini-fridges lean into that history rather than papering over it. Every major sports venue downtown is walkable, which either thrills you or doesn't.

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  38. Lion-head door knockers greet you at every guest room in this boutique hotel, which leans hard into its self-appointed "pride of Atlanta" identity, right down to stone lions carved into the facade. Rooms are compact but dressed in layered patterns that feel intentional rather than cramped, and the rooftop lounge has city views through windows that open when Atlanta cooperates and close when it doesn't, which is often.

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  63. A tidy Marriott flag in the Historic District, close enough to the squares and River Street that you can walk everywhere without plotting a route. Rooms run king or double-queen, some with balconies, and suites add a sleeper sofa for anyone who brought extra people. Complimentary hot breakfast is included, and coffee sits out in the lobby all day, which turns out to matter more than it sounds on a Savannah afternoon.

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  70. A pineapple motif runs through almost everything here, the light fixtures, the wrought-iron railings, the marble lobby floor, which is either too on-the-nose or exactly right for a hotel on Broughton Street. This restored, old-school Savannah inn has 68 rooms ranging from snug doubles to two-room suites, some with balconies over downtown. Evenings bring a complimentary wine-and-cheese hour, which fills fast with guests who've done the squares and need to sit down.

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  90. Every room faces the water at this 33-room boutique hotel perched over the bay in Sausalito, a ferry ride from San Francisco for anyone who's decided downtown has enough concrete. Decks, fireplaces, and spa bathrooms fill the larger suites, and even the modest rooms get big windows framing the bay rather than a parking structure. Muir Woods and Stinson Beach are close enough to justify staying a few nights.


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  92. A modern hotel on the Savannah River where some rooms have balconies hanging right over the water, which is a strong argument for requesting one. The aesthetic is clean and spare, carpets nowhere to be found, and a rooftop restaurant handles breakfast and dinner with views across the river and skyline. Rooms facing Bay Street catch truck noise at odd hours, so it's worth asking for the quieter side when you book.

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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

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        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.

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