USA travel guide

Travel to USA between May – Sep. Those are the months the weather, the crowds and the airfare line up — outside them you trade one of the three.

Currency

US Dollar (USD)

Language

English everywhere; Spanish widely spoken in the south and west. Gujarati is easy to find — the motel and convenience trade has deep Gujarati roots.

Time zone

EST (UTC-5) in New York — 10½ hours behind India; the West Coast is 13½ hours behind

Plug type

Type A / B, 120V

Flight time from India

16 hrs

Flying from

Mumbai · Delhi · Ahmedabad

• 

  Manhattan on foot and from the water

  New York rewards two speeds. Walk it — Fifth Avenue, Central Park, the High Line — and then take the ferry past the Statue of Liberty to see the skyline assemble itself from the harbour. An observation deck is worth one evening; Top of the Rock looks AT the Empire State Building, which is why photographers prefer it.

• 

  The Grand Canyon rim

  A kilometre and a half deep, over four hundred kilometres long, and no photograph prepares you for the first look over the edge. From Las Vegas the West Rim with its glass Skywalk is the practical day trip; the South Rim is further but is the classic view. Go at dawn or towards sunset — midday light flattens the whole thing.

• 

  San Francisco and the Golden Gate

  The prettiest big city in the country: cable cars hauling themselves up impossible streets, sea lions barking at Fisherman's Wharf, and the red bridge appearing and disappearing in the fog. Rent bicycles and ride across the bridge to Sausalito, then come back by ferry — it is the single best half-day here.

• 

  Las Vegas after dark

  A city built as a stage set, and best treated as one. The Bellagio fountains, the Eiffel-tower replica and the Fremont Street light canopy cost nothing to watch; the shows — Cirque du Soleil above all — are what deserve your money. It is also the base camp for the canyon country, which is the respectable excuse for coming.

• Washington, the free museum capital

  Every Smithsonian museum on the National Mall — Air and Space, Natural History, American History — is free, which no other capital city offers. Add the Lincoln Memorial at dusk and a drive past the White House and the Capitol. Two nights is right; museum lovers should quietly steal a third.

• An outlet mall, done properly

  Woodbury Common outside New York and the premium outlets outside Las Vegas sell the brands Indian malls import at roughly half the Indian sticker price. Go on a weekday morning, take an empty duffel bag, and keep the receipts — customs duty-free allowance applies on the way home.

• The New York slice and the bagelVegetarian

  A folded dollar slice of cheese pizza and a morning bagel with cream cheese are the two city rituals, both vegetarian by default and both eaten standing up. The slice shops never close; the good bagel shops sell out by noon.

• Diners and the American breakfast

  Pancakes with maple syrup, hash browns, eggs any of seven ways, bottomless filter coffee. The roadside diner is the honest end of American cooking and the portions are genuinely double what you expect — one order between two people is not stinginess, it is arithmetic.

• Tex-Mex, the vegetarian shortcutVegetarian

  Bean burritos, cheese quesadillas, guacamole, corn chips: the Mexican-American counter is the most reliable vegetarian meal between the coasts, and the flavours — beans, rice, chilli, lime — sit closer to an Indian palate than anything else on the road.

• For a Jain travellerJain friendly

  Easier than almost anywhere else we send you. New York, Washington, the Bay Area and even Las Vegas have Gujarati and Jain restaurants run by the diaspora — Jersey City's India Square and Sunnyvale deserve a detour in their own right. On canyon and highway days there is nothing, so we carry packed thepla-and-sabzi meals arranged the previous evening.

• Tipping is not optional

  The line on the bill that surprises every first-time visitor. In sit-down restaurants 18-20% is the working wage of your server, not a compliment; counters and taxis expect less but still expect something. Budget for it as a real cost — we do, in every meal estimate we give you.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

• Outlet malls — Woodbury Common near New York, the premium outlets near Las Vegas — at roughly half Indian mall prices
• Electronics and phones, which are cheaper than India even after customs duty on the way back
• Levi's, sneakers and sportswear from the brand flagship stores, in sizes India never stocks
• National Park Service posters and books from the Grand Canyon visitor centre shops
• M&M's, Hershey's and Ghirardelli by the kilo — the standard suitcase filler for the family
• Fifth Avenue and Union Square window shopping, which costs nothing and is worth an evening

Between cities you fly — New York to Las Vegas is five hours in the air and four days by road — with one exception: the Amtrak Acela from New York to Washington, which beats flying door to door. Inside New York the subway is the fastest thing on the island and runs all night; buy the OMNY tap fare with any contactless card. Uber and Lyft work everywhere and are the sensible default in Las Vegas, Washington and San Francisco. Do not hire a car for the cities — parking in Manhattan costs more per day than your hotel breakfast — but a one-day hire is a fine way to do the canyon country if you hold an international driving permit and remember which side of the road you are on.

• The visa interview is the trip's only real gate. Answer plainly, carry the same papers you filed, and never let an agent "improve" your bank statements — a refusal is recorded for life. We prepare you for the interview but we do not and cannot guarantee its outcome.
• American cities are safe where the tourists are and change character block by block. At night stay where the lights and the crowds are; in San Francisco skip the Tenderloin, in Los Angeles skip Skid Row, and in every city keep the phone in your pocket at the kerb — snatch thefts happen at crossings.
• Healthcare is the most expensive on earth and a hospital visit without insurance can cost more than the whole holiday. Travel insurance is included in our packages up to age 60; above that the loading is real money and worth every rupee.
• Never leave anything visible in a parked car, especially in San Francisco — broken-window theft is the one crime tourists actually meet. Take the bags out, every time, even for ten minutes.
• Summer heat in Las Vegas and the canyon country passes 42°C. Carry water in the car, do the outdoor touring before ten and after five, and take the heat advisories seriously — they are issued for a reason.
• Card is accepted literally everywhere, so carry little cash. Tell your bank you are travelling, carry two different cards, and decline "dynamic currency conversion" — always pay in dollars, not rupees, when the machine offers the choice.

Per person, per day, on the ground — meals, local transport and entry tickets. Flights and hotels sit in the package price, not here.