Amazing day trips from America's most popular cities

One day at a time

There’s no denying that America’s most popular cities have more than enough to keep visitors enthralled. But what if you want a break from the big city vibe?

We’ve gathered together the best day trips from the USA’s favorite cities. Click through the gallery to decide which one you’ll add to your bucket list…

From Los Angeles: San Juan Capistrano

Head south on Amtrak’s scenic Pacific Surfliner and in just over an hour, you’ll be stepping back in time, wandering through the red-tiled adobe buildings and manicured gardens of Mission San Juan Capistrano.

The Spanish-era mission dates back to 1776 and is home to Serra Chapel, believed to be the oldest existing building in California. And a vast flock of swallows that return to nest in the buildings every March.

From Los Angeles: Laguna Beach

Halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, this pretty coastal town is the perfect retreat from the hustle and bustle of Tinseltown. Here life is lived at a slower pace, with white sand beaches, hidden coves, gardens, and galleries encouraging visitors to linger longer and simply enjoy the sunshine.

Here, you’ll find stunning beaches, countless trails through coastal canyons, and a cultural calendar packed with events like the annual Festival of Arts. And best of all, it’s less than an hour’s drive south of LA.

From Chicago: Starved Rock State Park

One of Chicago’s most popular weekend escapes, Starved Rock State Park in Oglesby, Illinois is an other-worldly landscape carved by glacial meltwater, decorated with a forest of oak, maple, and pine.

The park boasts 13 miles of trails that take in the park's most notable formations, including the Council Overhang Cave (pictured) and the 125-foot sandstone butte after which the park takes its name. A couple of hours' drive from Chicago, you can also hire a kayak and paddle the Illinois River for a different perspective.

From Chicago: Joliet

Just 50 minutes south of Chicago, the small town of Joliet is a great place to get your kicks on Route 66. There’s a Route 66 Welcome Center, of course, which includes a well-regarded historical museum. Make sure to drop by the Rialto Square Theater and Joe’s Hot Dogs, a local favorite since 1953, to get a taste of a long-lost era.

Music lovers will want to drop in on the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum (pictured), dedicated to pioneers of rock and roll and home to the popular ‘Cars and Guitars’ event every summer.

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From Miami: Everglades National Park

It’s hard to imagine, but head just 45 minutes west of the glitz and glamor of Miami, you’ll find yourself in the Everglades, a primeval landscape of cypress trees cloaked in Spanish moss, swamplands filled with herons, ibises, and watchful alligators, and vast wetland prairies of sawgrass.

The best way to explore this wild, wet wilderness is by airboat (pictured), especially designed to glide over the shallow tangled waters. Some include cultural tours of local Miccosukee villages.

From Miami: Key West

This colorful clapboard charmer is a 159-mile drive from Miami, but boy is it worth it. With its sugar white sands, palm trees, and beach bars, like Smathers Beach here, it feels more like you’re in the Caribbean than America.

Ernest Hemingway had a home here, seduced by the island’s laidback pace of life. Things are a little more lively these days, but visitors find the Margaritaville vibe pretty seductive too.

From San Francisco: Napa Valley

Napa Valley is one of the world’s premier wine regions, boasting more than 400 wineries set in gorgeous rolling hills, braided with vines. Best of all, it’s only 50 miles north of central San Francisco, with the most scenic route taking you over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

As well as award-winning wines and blissful landscape, Napa is home to the Oxbow Public Market, where stalls groan under the weight of the region’s bounteous gourmet produce.

From San Francisco: Berkeley

Berkeley sits on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It is home to the world-famous university of the same name, and wandering the manicured campus, as well as the buzzing cafés, shops, and music stores makes a great day trip from San Francisco, just 13 miles away.

The 1914 Sather Tower, known as the Campanile (pictured), offers breathtaking views of the campus and the bay, as does the open-air Hearst Greek Theatre, soundtracked by some of the biggest names in music.

From Washington DC: Leesburg

Arty and historic, colorful Leesburg in Virginia is a popular getaway for DC’s political elites. Established in 1758, its venerable downtown (pictured) is regarded as one of the most picturesque and best preserved in the country, full of charming restaurants, trendy bars and cafés, and hip indie stores.

Ostensibly just a 48-minute drive from central DC, you might want to allow a little longer so you can call into one (or more) of the award-winning wineries that dot the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in these parts.

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From Washington DC: Chincoteague Island

The contrast between DC and Chincoteague Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore couldn't be more stark – as the locals like to say, there’s always something to do on Chincoteague, even if it’s nothing.

The island is famous for salty, summery charm and is bursting with tasty seafood restaurants, ice cream stores, quaint B&Bs, and long empty beaches. Be warned: you’ll probably find yourself sharing the sand with the island’s famous wild ponies, especially when they are rounded up for the Great Pony Swim every July.

From Las Vegas: Grand Canyon

If you can drag yourself away from the slot machines in Las Vegas, one of the world’s most iconic sights is a mere 128 miles away – the western rim of the Grand Canyon.

Once your eyes have adjusted to the bright sunlight, you’ll be treated to breathtaking views across this geological marvel, particularly from the world-famous Skywalk, a 'floating' glass bridge jutting out over the canyon. Hike down to the Colorado River below and an exhilarating world of white-water rafting awaits too.

From Las Vegas: Hoover Dam

If the call of the roulette wheels remains strong, perhaps you should consider a quick trip to Hoover Dam instead. Just 33 miles along the way to the Grand Canyon, this man-made engineering marvel is just as awe-inspiring.

Built across on Black Canyon on the Colorado River, right on the Arizona-Nevada border, it remains the highest concrete arch-gravity dam in the United States. Visitors can ride the original elevator to the top of the dam, tour historic tunnels, and enjoy spectacular views of the Colorado River and the vast dam wall (pictured).

From Orlando: Crystal Springs

Just a one and half hour drive from the amusement park capital of the world, Orlando, you’ll find another world capital, Crystal Springs, this time for manatees. Also known as sea cows, they gather here in huge numbers during winter to warm themselves in the spring-fed waters of Kings Bay and Three Sisters Springs.

Visitors can watch these docile creatures move gently through the crystal-clear waters from the banks or from a kayak, or even in the water with them, an experience just as thrilling as any roller coaster ride.

From Orlando: St Augustine

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the USA. Just a couple of hours' drive north from thoroughly modern Orlando, the contrast could not be more apparent.

Here you’ll find the centuries old Castillo de San Marcos (pictured), built by the Spanish in the Atlantic trade route, a fascinating colonial quarter, and some of the most impressive Gilded-era mansions in the state. There’s even a Fountain of Youth, of sorts.

From Boston: Salem

Take a 42-minute train ride north from Boston’s North Station and you’ll find yourself in Salem, a historic seaside town famous around the world for the witch trials held here in 1692.

Hundreds of women were accused of practising witchcraft back then, with 20 put to their death. These days witches and warlocks, psychics and spiritualists are all welcome, as well as any other visitors keen to explore the town’s history and its newfound reputation as a foodie, cultural, and art destination as well.

From Boston: Cape Cod

This hook-shaped peninsula, just 75 miles south of Boston, is one of the USA’s most fabled summertime destinations, a place of quaint villages, seafood shacks, lighthouses, ponds, and bay and ocean beaches.

And lobster rolls. The best shacks use meat from whole local lobsters, fresh and succulent, and preferably from the claw where the meat is the sweetest. Lightly dressed in mayonnaise or butter, and served on a toasted, buttery New England-style bun, it’s worth the drive from Boston alone.

From Houston: Kemah

Sitting on Galveston Bay, just 40 minutes from downtown Houston, the seaside city of Kemah brings the thrills of East Coast boardwalks to the coast of Texas. The sprawling 60-acre entertainment complex only opened in 1998, but it has already proved a huge hit with Houstonites and visitors from further afield.

Some come for the waterfront dining and theme-park rides, others the stingray touch pool and a rainforest exhibit with snakes and turtles. Most also head to the Kemah Lighthouse District, chock-a-block with a variety of shops and restaurants.

From Houston: Stark Museum of Art

Two hours east of Houston, in the tiny town of Orange, right on the Louisiana, you’ll find one of the most extraordinary collections of American Wild West art in the USA. Here you’ll find paintings and sculptures by Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell as well as paintings of native birds and wildlife by John James Audubon.

Buck McCain's bronze sculpture, Invocation, just one of seven cast (pictured), is striking. But so too is the now-restored 1890s Queen Anne-style wooden house that William and Miriam Stark once housed their collection in.

From New York: Fire Island

Follow the lead of savvy New Yorkers and escape the heat and bustle of the Big Apple with a trip to Fire Island, just a 90-minute drive from the city. This narrow barrier island, just off Long Island, is famous for its white sand beaches, dunes, and pine forests and is the perfect big city detox.

Make sure to check out the island’s historic lighthouse (pictured). Built in 1825, it was the first sight of America for transatlantic ships as they approached New York harbor.

From New York: Sleepy Hollow

This historic town, just 35 minutes by train from New York’s Grand Central Station, is famous around the world for its legend of a headless horseman, said to still ride through the town’s cemetery on moonless nights.

The town leans into that legend, of course, especially around Halloween. But for most visitors it is the charming buildings, first-rate food, and relaxing vibe of the village and nearby Tarrytown they enjoy the most.

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Now read on for great day trips from the UK's most popular cities...