30 “Quintessential American Experiences” That Tourists Should Try, As Shared By Internet Users
Open roads, a good hamburger, and freedom aren’t all exclusive to the US, but America is a pretty unique place, through its size, history, and diversity. So it’s no wonder that visitors from around the world want to visit and see if it’s all it's cracked up to be.
One netizen wanted to know what “quintessentially American experience” any tourist to the US-of-A should try, and the internet delivered. National parks, aggressive cops, and portions larger than some European countries are all featured, so strap in, scroll through, and be sure to upvote your favorites, and don’t forget to comment your own suggestions below.
This post may include affiliate links.
Visiting a national park. United States has a lot of things good and bad but it's abundance of breathtaking and well taken care of national parks is probably one of its biggest strengths..... next to its number of aircraft carriers ofcourse lol.
My first USA tourist experience was watching two soccer moms fistfight in a Walmart in Florida, 10/10 would watch again
Florida? I couldn't get the f**k out of that s**t hole state fast enough. Please don't think that Florida represents the US. There are much more
The quintessential American Experience for tourists from Europe is discovering you can't combine all the ideas in these comments in one week because there's so much distance and traffic between them. You're better off thinking of the state you land in as the "country" you're visiting.
Many of the top suggestions point towards the United States’ natural beauty and this is overwhelmingly correct, Americans should feel proud not only for the abundance of outdoor activities but the world-famous national park system, which includes 85.1 million acres of land for Americans and visitors alike to enjoy. This is literally more land than some entire nations and includes some of the most breathtaking places on Earth.
The national park service, which maintains and manages the parks that we can all enjoy, was established in 1916, though the first “park,” as in an area set aside for preservation, was created in 1872, and protected by a nearby fort for US troops. This park was Yellowstone, known for its canyons, forests, and downright breathtaking views.
Drive the coast! Highway 101 from Oregon to California. Beautiful beaches. Great camping. Small towns quite often. Redwood Forest.
Big Sur, Carmel, Alcatraz, watch the sea otters crack shells open on their furry little chests with a rock they hold in their precious little paw.hands. drive through Tioga pass and through a redwood tree. Pick up pinecones that are a foot long.
See the redwoods. My family went to a lot of national parks when I was young, but the redwoods stuck with me or stayed in my head for some reason. My wife had never been so we went one year and same thing happened to her. I don't really believe in supernatural things but there's something about those trees.
I’m not American but felt like an honorary one in the best kinda way when I hiked the whole Appalachian Trail. For me the creation and ongoing survival of the Trail, plus the community who walk it and protect it and celebrate it are a great American achievement.
Diners, restaurants, and good food aren’t limited to the US either, but pop culture, Hollywood, and even paintings have made the 1950s-style diner absolutely iconic. Some have been preserved in the same condition since then, serving the same dishes, a piece of vintage Americana for anyone to enjoy. Some have become famous landmarks, due to showing up in films and TV shows.
Have a cheeseburger and fries in a 24 hour diner, ideally one that has a lot of chrome and looks unchanged since the 1950's.
And make sure the diner is in New Jersey. The State Line Diner on Route 17 in Mahwah has the greatest disco fries in the history of creation.
F****n Yellowstone.
As a Brit, I can guarantee that the scale of the whole thing will blow your mind.
A road trip. For all the hate cars get online, there's something truly amazing about the freedom of movement enabled by the automobile, the road, and the sheer scale of this nation. Doesn't matter what route you take; go down the coast or up to the mountains, and just watch the scenery change. It's beautiful, and really hammers home how *big* America is. Along the way stop at parks, or museums, or whatever touristy things you desire. Get lunch at a fast food place, and dinner at a proper local restaurant.
I think for a foreigner, that's the best way to encapsulate what America represents to most people. It's big; it's untamed. It's beautiful, and there's no other nation like it.
I really love road trips. Especially spontaneous ones, like calling a friend and saying "hey you want to go up to Maine so we can eat at The Great Lost Bear?" "Sure let's go." The food is worth the 5 hour drive. :)
Others point to state or county fairs, which typically include a bizarre arrangement of attractions, some unique to each state, and the sort of food that looks like it’s designed to give you a heart attack in under five minutes. As always, Americans do things big, and that includes health risks. Statistically, the largest is in Texas (figures,) where the State fair reported over two and a half million attendees. They really do things bigger in Texas.
Go to the museums in NYC or DC.
Americans have a real way with museums, it might be a mix of the love of big spaces, a certain kind of insatiable curiosity, and incredible avarice. There are few places in the world this many truly amazing museums of so many kinds in just one place, and pretty close.
Even the museum stores at some of these places are better than the best museums in other cities.
EDIT: I want to add here that I am a real museum hound and go to every museum I can everywhere I travel or live. I’ve lived or spent multiple long visits in probably about 15 different cities including Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Montreal, Toronto, and Buenos Aires. For art, there are several cities that equal or even excede NYC and DC, but if you want science and history as well, you really cannot beat these two cities.
1) Visit any of the National Parks. Glacier, Yellowstone, or Yosemite are the big ones. Just leave the animals alone.
2) Find a BBQ shack made out of corrugated metal (bonus points if the floor is dirt). Go nuts on pulled pork, ribs, and brisket.
3) A beer and a hot dog at a baseball game is a must.
4) Go to a rodeo. Not one held in some major city. Go find a county fair or rural rodeo.
5) Develop a stance on the best type of pie. Different regions have VERY strong opinions on this. (Pecan is the best. Fight me)
6) Tour the Bourbon trail
7) Eat a bison steak.
Go to a live performance of blues, jazz or bluegrass/country, all are unique American music styles
My stepdad and his band are going to America sometime this year. They play country/bluegrass. I think they are going to a number of festivals.
Another quintessentially American festivity is the tailgate party, where people gather in the parking lots (Americans have a lot of these) of sports stadiums before a game to barbecue, drink, and just party. It’s so ubiquitous that certain teams even have tailgate snacks associated with them, such as palmetto cheese, which originated at Atlanta Braves tailgate parties. Expect games like beer pong and the wonderfully American cornhole.
Go to a county fair, eat a bunch of fried Oreos, and then ride sketchy carnival rides until sick.
On October 31 dress in costumes, attend parties, visit haunted houses and eat Halloween candy.
Speaking of sports, many foreigners are surprised to see just how seriously Americans take high school and college sports, football in particular. Small towns might have stadiums that rival major teams and college football is a multibillion-dollar industry. Rivalries are ancient and fierce, but without the unpleasantness of, for example, European football hooliganism. Viewing parties are a normal state of affairs and a fun time, generally, for all around.
Check out a minor league baseball game! They have awesome stadiums, great fans and it's usually pretty inexpensive!
This. A lot more fun than MLB games in their oversized stadiums. You might sit on a bench instead of fancy seats but that's nostalgia.
Check out any of the Smithsonians in DC
Edit: National Air and Space is my favorite. I could spend multiple days there if I read and pondered everything on display.
I'd also like to plug Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH if you're an aviation nerd. It's another multi-day museum
Driving through a loooooong stretch of wide open highway with nothing but fields and trees on either side of you as far as the eye can see.
It’s something that we take for granted, but Europeans especially are always kind of shocked by.
Here's what I'd reccommend from my trip to the U.S back in 2015.
Grand canyon and Yellowstone national Park, eat at a 50s themed diner, eat BBQ ribs, go to vegas, don't gamble but do other stuff, go to Texas and feel like a big man at the gun range (so many guns, I wanted to shoot them all, my favorite was the 44 magnum, it's got style) go to new Orleans, eat some good home-style southern food made by an old black woman who calls you "sugar", go gator hunting in the bayou on an airboat with rednecks, if you snag one, eat some gator steak. Get drunk in Alabama, get drunk in Georgia, go to Miami, smoke some Cubans while losing at dominoes to Cubans, hit the Miami beach, see the sights, go north, go to New York, get followed 2 blocks by a group of guys yelling s**t at you, have a civil conversation with one of the many crazy subway guys, see a few shows, then go home broke but cured of your depression.
Was in a really dark place in my life, my friends had all moved away, gf just got sick of me and left, job got taken over by a new guy who fired me cos he considered my job redundant (I used to drive the delivery truck for lumber and plumbing supply deliveries, did all the loading and unloading while the trades handled instalations and whatnot) but I'd saved up a good bit of money, mom told me that I can move back with her if I go broke but I should travel and do something to get me outa that rut. I came back broke but happy. Best damn month and a half of my life.
My favorite moment was actually in New Mexico, I was staying the night in the spare room of this crystal shop owner lady she was using as an airbnb, we were sitting around her back yard fire pit, me, her, her boyfriend, one of her friends and me, drinking a few beers, smoking a few cones and talking. Dunno why but, I guess since the part of Australia I'm from which is usually really cold, rainy, cloudy and very pastoral, being out in the desert, such an alien place to me, with these really chill people, I felt at peace.
Were it not for the U.S's f****d up healthcare and... all the rest, I think I'd move out there.
- Eat a s'more if you are going camping... It is a pleasantly simple treat: marshmallow, graham crackers, and chocolate.
- go to a national park if you can. Camp if you can.
- if snow cones are available, get ice cream on the bottom &/or a bit of condensed milk on the top. It's another simple treat
- Go to a Costco and check out the giant bottle of ibuprofen
- look and see if there are any local events going on in the area you are staying at... Farmers market, fairs, berry picking etc
- if you haven't had Mexican food, get it at a family owned restaurant. Ask locals about this one.
- if you smell good BBQ, try it.
- go to a sporting event, maybe tailgate
- go to multiple states across the country so you can see the differences... (Hawaii is going to be vastly different from Montana, which is going to be different from Louisiana, which is going to be different from Oregon... Ect)
Is the giant bottle of ibuprofen for sale? I am not even allowed to buy two packets at the same time in Australia!
A Thanksgiving feast
Yes. Find a family to take you in for the weekend. You won't regret it.
As a tourist that visited USA in 2019 I can highly recomend three things.
1. Visit a diner and order pancake stack
2. Go to Walmart
3. And finally go to BBQ grill, bbq in europe does not even come close
My friend in London took me to a Chicago style bbq restaurant. Then when she visited I took her to a wonderful bbq place here. She said I ruined London bbq places for her. I mean come on!
If you can, go to a national park or nature preserve. It doesn't need to be a big name one. Wherever you go, there will always be something unique about it, especially since each state has its own ecosystems.
Ellis Island for one. Find your roots-- amazing geneology resources
Go to southern california and you can experience most biomes of the entire country. Sunny beaches, rainy forests, snowy mountains, sandy dunes, boggy swamp lands, rolling grass lands. All of these things are more or less within 3 hour drives of eachother.
The weather is the best, plenty of shopping and recreational activities and many historical landmarks.
The North Shore of Lake superior
I'd say driving Route 66, I'm from NM and wanted to do it after high school but never did. Still on the bucket list!
From a West Coast perspective - if you make it over to our beautiful side of the country, I highly recommend a road trip from the Mexican border to the Canadian boarder, up on the 1 and back on the 5. It's an AMAZING trip that will take you into pretty much every climate you can think of other than tundra. The views of the Pacific from the 1 are unforgettable. It also takes several days so it's understandable if it doesn't fit into your itinerary.
A road trip to Las Vegas from southern California is also a great, classic drive. Anywhere from 6-12 hours depending on traffic. Rent a convertible & drive at night (or at least, time your arrival in LV for after dark). The excess of Las Vegas is a sight to behold and should be experienced at least once. (Put $5 on black for me!)
I also recommend trying your hand at surfing, bowling, pickleball, frisbee golf, or other "American" sports.
Have a great trip!!!
I remember visiting Vegas as a kid, and my family drove through Colorado to get there so we ended up on a giant hill outside of the city at night, Vegas at night and far away is a sight to behold, I still remember it clearly! Going to the Space Needle is also a trip, there's a bungee jump and a slid at the top for the adventurous.
Lots of folks from overseas, when visiting in the central Texas area, want to eat TexMex, shoot guns, ride a horse, eat BBQ, actually drive a long highway at 80mph+, and visit some museums like NASA or even the Alamo.
A bill from the local hospital for $17,365.14 because you got food poisoning, who knew children shouldn't be in charge of food safety.
A small town with a festival or a county fair going on. Fair food (anything fried) carnival rides, and lots of people watching. The quintessential small town America experience.
depending on where you go you won't have the ability to maybe see a national park or have the food from the region of the country you want. But every single town in the country has a greasy cafe/diner. Go to one for a proper american breakfast
As an european, I'd say go see a sport match there.
It is very different mood from what we do in here.
On a summer night, near dusk, eat an ice cream cone in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen with the local teens.
Its gotta be a walk-up dairy queen where the only hot options are chilli dogs and bbq beef sandwiches and they still do butterscotch dip and crunch cones
As an American, this thread made me realize I haven't had a lot of "American" experiences.
I'd also say visit a national park, but pick one of the less busy. They're spectacular too.
Every state has several, many are smaller, less crowded National cemeteries too-- remember those who paid the ultimate price for our liberty. Beautiful places.
For North Carolina specifically:
At the coast: lighthouse tours, Maritime Museum in Beaufort (has stuff from Blackbeard's ship!), buy fudge at a tourist shop, hunt for *Megalodon* teeth at the Aurora Fossil Museum
In the Piedmont: Duke Lemur Center, local barbecue, Hanging Rock State Park, local art in Winston-Salem, county fairs
In the mountains: bluegrass concerts, whitewater rafting, Linville Cavern and Linville Gorge, Tweetsie Railroad amusement park, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest (giant trees!)
Being aggressively passed by an oversized pickup truck on a country highway while you're driving the speed limit
Bonus content: it occurs right after a major rainstorm. Three minutes later you see the same truck has spun out off the road and into the ditch.
Don't under estimate how big the country is. I hear some visitors tend to do that.
I hear it said that the Brits consider 100 miles a long way and in the U.S. folks consider 100 years a long time. I love this <3
Everyone is saying go to a national park, and that is a great idea.
But I would also say to go to one of the big, modern US cities like New York or Chicago. Each is very distinct, but this kind of US city is very different from those in Europe or even South America (I can't speak to Asia, but I feel I can say that is probably true as well).
These cities embody a very "American" ideal of always moving ahead, thinking about progress, and not being stuck in the past.
If you want to be in awe of what nature can make, go to a national park. If you want to be in awe of what humans can do, go to one of these cities.
I'd wait-- you can't legally defend yourself or have a bulletproof vest-- and you need one now Especially in Chicago-- NYC isn't far behind. Glad I'm outta there.
Go to a NASCAR race. I mean, a sport based on illegally running booze and hanging out with rednecks is as quintessential American as you can get. I think it's boring af on TV too, but in person it is an absolutely awesome experience.
Also, the first time I went those rednecks were so goddam nice, answered all my questions, told me trivia. I'm sure they appreciated actually having someone to talk about the sport to.
Assuming you have plenty of time and money.
Visiting the Colorado or Montana. Visiting Times Square. Visiting Texas during the state fair.
Don’t forget Wyoming too ! For as huge as it is….less than half a million people. See the Tetons, visit Jackson Hole and see buffalo 🦬!
Hash browns for breakfast..
Visiting Zion Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park and Monument Valley in. Utah which can easily be done on one trip . I did that several years ago. . If you like.Lighthouses The Oregon Coast has many . .
Capitol reef national park is the best for seeing wildlife and stargazing.
Visit the Grand Canyon - breathtaking views!
I just bet that if I ever managed to make it to the grand canyon, it'd look like this when I did because that'd be my luck. XD Dt0qX_GUwA...be1732.jpg 
Trying to find parking in a Costco parking lot on the day before a holiday weekend.
Visiting Times Square in New York City at night.
Visit Times Square on New Year’s eve and watch the big ball drop and kiss a stranger!!
Go to an NFL game. Tailgate. Find a rivalry
"Go to an NFL game" Shows a college game. But go to a college game. The rivalries are better.
Get drunk in the Midwest with the wateriest of beers, then give your buddy (sober, maybe) the keys and go to waffle house at 3am.
A theme park, like Universal Studios Hollywood, Great Adventures, Disneyworld, etc.
Go to a Waffle House, preferably after midnight. Dennys and IHOP also work, but not as well.
College Football tailgate/game at one of the major Big Ten or SEC schools. What a wonderfully unique American experience.
Most Americans thing I can think of is either go to a dude ranch or a rodeo.
My personal favorite would be a swamp boat tour in New Orleans and then get some Jambalaya and Beignets!
A) marvelling at the majesty of nature and feeling a calming sense of life affirming joy as you watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean from Santa Monica Pier
B) walking back from the pier only to have your reverie broken by the sight of two dirty homeless people rolling around in the sand sucking each others toes, and then being repeatedly accosted by a series of mentally unwell individuals until you are lucky enough to snag an Uber home
Disneyland. Las Vegas ( while you're in the area, check out the Hoover dam, Grand Canyon and Death Valley.) Also while you're in the area, check out Zion NP, Brice Canyon and Arches on your way across the rockies to Denver. New York city is the most international city in the US. Lots to see there.
Shooting an AR15
Try a Barrett .50m cal when you are ready for a real gun-- or go full auto with Ma Deuce in Nevada-- okay, expensive, but worth it
Waterparks. I know they aren't exclusive to the US, but my answer is still: Waterparks. There's no better way to feel like a kid again.
Visit the small, local amusement parks. Sure, most of the rides are the same, but they cost a lot less and as soon as you tell locals that you aren't from around there, they'll give you big tips on places to go. Don't wanna spend money and theme rides aren't your thing? Check the big libraries. Our librarians are f*****g fantastic and will bend over backwards to help you find free, inexpensive, or expensive things to do. Plus, nearly all the libraries here are pretty massive and have events every weekend. Check them out!
This reminds me of my first UK visit. I had the quintessential British experience: Stuck on a train after a match with screaming fans (angry? sad? No idea, but drunk as f*ck). And that's when I learned to be like the natives. I check match schedules against my train needs!
Waterparks. I know they aren't exclusive to the US, but my answer is still: Waterparks. There's no better way to feel like a kid again.
Visit the small, local amusement parks. Sure, most of the rides are the same, but they cost a lot less and as soon as you tell locals that you aren't from around there, they'll give you big tips on places to go. Don't wanna spend money and theme rides aren't your thing? Check the big libraries. Our librarians are f*****g fantastic and will bend over backwards to help you find free, inexpensive, or expensive things to do. Plus, nearly all the libraries here are pretty massive and have events every weekend. Check them out!
This reminds me of my first UK visit. I had the quintessential British experience: Stuck on a train after a match with screaming fans (angry? sad? No idea, but drunk as f*ck). And that's when I learned to be like the natives. I check match schedules against my train needs!
