THE AMERICAS
The Americas
From national parks to Andean cities, learn the rules for tipping, driving and Indigenous sacred sites.
City guides
Start with a city
Every city guide has a timeline, stories of local figures, must-see sights, festivals and local etiquette.
New York City
New York
5 places
From New Amsterdam to five boroughs: a world capital written by immigrants
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San Francisco
San Francisco
2 places
A bay city made by the gold rush: the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars and Alcatraz
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
2 places
City of the Queen of the Angels: Hollywood, beaches and endless freeways
Honolulu
Honolulu
3 places
The old capital of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi: Waikīkī, Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor
Ciudad de México
Mexico City
3 places
An Aztec capital built on a lake: a city of palaces grown from the ruins of Tenochtitlan
Cancún
Cancún
2 places
From a fishing island with three residents to a Caribbean resort city, with Maya ruins nearby
Qosqo · Cusco
Cusco
2 places
Capital of the Inca Empire: Spanish churches built on Inca stone walls
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
3 places
A carnival city between mountains and sea: Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf and Ipanema
New Orleans · La Nouvelle-Orléans
New Orleans
3 places
A French old town on a bend of the Mississippi: jazz, Creole food and Mardi Gras
Ville de Québec
Quebec City
2 places
A walled French-speaking old city on the St Lawrence: where New France began
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Yellowknife
Yellowknife
1 places
A gold-mining town on Great Slave Lake: Dene land and the northern lights
Grand Canyon
Earth's growth rings carved by the Colorado River over two billion years — the crown of America's national parks
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Yellowstone National Park
The world's first national park: a wilderness epic of geysers and bison
Statue of Liberty
The light of liberty given by France in 1886: the welcoming goddess of New York Harbor
Times Square
'The Crossroads of the World': the neon-lit, crowded heart of New York
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Hollywood Walk of Fame
A Walk of Fame paved with 2,700 stars: the dream factory of the film capital
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Waikīkī, Hawaiʻi
The smiling beaches of the Rainbow State, birthplace of surfing under blue skies
Golden Gate Bridge
A suspension rainbow in International Orange: San Francisco's calling card
Hawaiian poke
'Poke' simply means 'to cut' in Hawaiian: fishermen's offcuts mixed with salt and candlenut as a snack.
New York bagel
A bread ring that's boiled and then baked, brought to New York by Polish Jewish immigrants.
New Orleans beignets
Square fried dough brought by French colonists, with café au lait made with chicory.
French Quarter
New Orleans' old town: ironwork balconies, street jazz — and most of the houses were actually built under Spanish rule.
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USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor
A white memorial over the wreck of a sunken battleship; the surprise attack of 7 December 1941 changed the course of the Second World War.
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Hollywood Sign
Originally just a real-estate advert reading 'HOLLYWOODLAND', meant to stand for only a year and a half.
Alcatraz
The federal prison that held Al Capone; three inmates who escaped in 1962 were never found.
Ellis Island Immigration Museum
Between 1892 and 1954 about 12 million immigrants were inspected on this small island before setting foot in America.
Central Park
843 acres of green in the middle of Manhattan, the breakthrough work of Frederick Law Olmsted, father of American landscape architecture.
New Orleans Mardi Gras
February 9, 2027
Purple, green and gold floats, and the beads thrown from them caught by outstretched hands: New Orleans' liveliest carnival before Lent.