A bucket list destination for many, Arizona’s Grand Canyon is one of North Americas most popular travel destinations. Visitors to the Grand Canyon National Park can hike, camp, and kayak through gorges and ravines, all while taking in the dramatic, natural beauty of the Canyon. Banff is also an incredible winter destination, considered to be one of the best skiing destinations in North America.

Located in the Rockies in Alberta, the Grand Canyon National Park is the oldest National Park in Canada, as well as one of the prettiest preserved spaces. Banff National Park draws thousands of visitors every year looking to explore its famed lakes and trails. Located in 2,182 acres of raw, beautiful, historic scenery, the park is an ideal spot to swim, picnic, and hike. This park is a wonderful place to visit if you would like to experience the sights that come with being on the beach.

At its peak, 6593 feet, you can pay a visit to a rustic cabin which has been operating since the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. It is also thanks to an earlier decision to make the park highly driveable, with a mix of roads and hiking trails that cater to all types of nature lovers, from the casual history buff and wildlife observer to the experienced hiker and thru hiker. This is partly thanks to Great Smoky Mountains National Parks ease of access from several large metros, including North Carolinas Research Triangle, Knoxville, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. The Smokies are also a world heritage site, home to more biodiversity than any other U.S. national park.

Yellowstone is home to geothermal activities, like the geyser Old Faithful, one of the United States best natural attractions. Another of the best attractions within Yellowstone (and most photographed) is Grand Prismatic Spring, which is the largest hot spring in the U.S., measuring 370 feet across. Gazing into Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park Of course, Yellowstone itself is a Yellowstone in its own right, so it is no mistake if you only get to see one thing when driving around the park, let it be this insane geyser shooting water two hundred feet into the air. Glacier National Park in Montana is easily one of Americas most scenic national parks, so hike up Logan Pass, which is 6,646ft tall at the top of Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Kluane National Park contains Canadas highest peak (Mount Logan) and offers views of how nature looks in its purest form. This national park offers a visitor centre, information, exhibits, videos, and a bookstore, and the rest of the park is themed around the life of Abraham Lincoln in the state of Kentucky. Acadia National Park is located just outside Bar Harbour, along the coastline, offering abundant wildlife like elk and peregrine falcons, beaches, dense forests, and granite ridges formed by glaciers. The city’s Freedom Trail takes visitors to Boston Common (the oldest public park in the U.S.), the location of the Boston Massacre, the Paul Reveres House, and the USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned ship, which now serves as a museum).

Bryce Canyon is the National Park most famous for having the largest concentration of hoodoos (irregular columns of rock) in the world. North America also has a rare claim to covering every climate zone, and the deepest canyons are at McKinley Mountain and Copper Canyon.

Some seventy-one miles of the Appalachian Trail runs through the spine of the Smoky Mountains, taking you up sweeping overlooks, through fog-shrouded hardwood forests, and past vintage fire towers offering stunning views of the park’s green expanse. Starting at Rock Creek Park, it heads down the Potomac, ending at the National Mall in D.C., pedalling past the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Washington Monument...you get the picture. Brooklyn Bridge Walk Starting at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, ride the bridge, salute at Alcatraz, then end at Golden Gate Park. In Brooklyn, visitors can catch concerts or see a Nets game at the Barclays Center, cross the Brooklyn Bridge, visit Coney Island, and enjoy some outdoor activities in Prospect Park.