Best time to visit the USA. Image credit: Supplied
America introduced the ESTA program in 2009 to make traveling easier for visitors from Visa Waiver countries. Who needs an ESTA? You cannot get into the U.S. without travel authorisation or Visa, so all guests from 39 countries in the program need ESTA at least 72 hours before going to the U.S. The application process is a straightforward online procedure. After answering a detailed set of questions, the administration takes around three days to process the application.
Depending on the destination, the best time for visiting the U.S. vary. If you are heading to Miami or Puerto Rico, the definite best season is from November until March because summer brings relentless heat, more rain, and hurricane season.
For most of the continental part of the U.S., the best time to go is from late spring until autumn. It is also peak season in most places, but you can get the most out of your visit with outdoor sightseeing and great weather. The winter months are harsh in northern parts of the country but looking for a ski resort is not out of the question.
Summer months are the best for touring the national parks, and most attractions are available only in warmer months.
There are so many layers to America. You can explore and enjoy stunning natural landmarks or take one of the famous road trips and get to know the pulse of America. You could visit great American cities and soak their appeal and grander.
New York is number one city to visit with huge urban area, incredible skyline, and numerous attractions if you are looking for the latter. Big and interesting towns on the East coast include Boston, the capital Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. In the southernmost part of the U.S., you can visit the vibrant sunny metropolis Miami on the Florida peninsula.
Chicago is one of the most iconic cities in the country, a huge Midwest center and the starting point of legendary Route 66, an attraction of itself.
Besides Route 66 road trip, the west coast trip from Seattle to San Diego is popular, and the Deep South road trip can be incredible with Southern cuisine, great music cities of Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans.
The most visited natural attractions are national parks. The Grand Canyon National Park is on top of the bucket list for many visitors, and the stunning landscape will leave no one indifferent. Millions flock to the first world national park Yellowstone. Enormous space with an abundance of wildlife, diverse landscape, and geothermal attractions like geysers are a big draw.
Yosemite is an extremely popular park in California, and Grand Teton is another vast mountainous park in the same state as Yellowstone. Other notable national parks include Arches in Utah, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Haleakala on Maui Hawaii, Glacial, Bryce, and Zion National Park.
There is so much diversity in the U.S., from Rocky Mountain alpine beauty to temperate rainforest of Pacific Northwest, and from beaches of Florida and California to prairie landscape in the Great Plains.
America is a relatively new county, but it still has an incredibly rich history with the popular Wild West period, plenty of interesting Native American pre and posts Colombian history.
You can plan your American adventure alone, or you can hire a travel agency. Both approaches have advantages. You will be more flexible with your itinerary, but agencies have developed a network of accommodation and places to visit. Some of the best-rated travel operators that offer U.S. trips include Intrepid Travel, Bamba, Extranomical Tours, Doctor Gumbo Tours, GAdventures, Butterfield & Robinson, and Worldexpeditions.
Before booking your trip by yourself or via an agency, make sure you have ESTA Australia. It is recommended first to get the travel permit and then make arrangements. ESTA approval is valid for two years, and you can visit the U.S. for up to 90 days, so you will have enough time to work everything out.
We could argue that you can visit the U.S. throughout the year, but there are some advantages to seeing from April until September. Cities in the northern part of the country will not be so approachable. You will miss some attractions, and towns like Chicago, New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and others can have extremely harsh winters. March and April might be the best months to visit New Orleans, and the best weather in Florida is during the winter months in the U.S. and summer in Australia.