The soon-to-be wife and I have decided that we’d like to do the states for our honeymoon.

August wedding so honeymoon at the beginning of September.

Originally planned return flights to New York 3 weeks apart with the intention of taking advantage of internal flights to see Washington DC, Miami, Nashville, [insert Texan city here], LA, Vegas and Hawaii. Now we’re thinking that might be a little too much ground to cover so perhaps we should stick to the west coast and a slightly longer relaxation leg in Hawaii.

few questions:

Has anyone ever done a trip similar to the former and can offer any advice on how arduous the travelling was?

If we go for the former, are we missing any must-see destinations?

Finally, if we go for the latter, whats good on the west coast?

Cheers

It was a long time since I did it (it was the day after Princess Diana died, whenever that was) but I flew out to JFK airport, stayed a couple of nights in NY (a must do is get the cheap same day tickets to a Broadway show) then travelled to Washington, Nashville (to visit Gracelands), New Orleans, Chicago, Buffalo (to travel on by bus to Niagara) all by Amtrak using the West Coast Rail Pass https://www.amtrak.com/deals-discounts/multi-ride-rail-passes/rail-passes/take-the-trains-across-america-with-usa-rail-pass.html

Did it all in a couple of weeks.

How much do you like planes? For me that seems like a lot of travel and internal flights within the USA are not romantic.

Personally I’d pick a couple of spots within the continental USA and enjoy them.. Forget Hawaii on the same trip – it’s 6 hours from LA so you’re taking a day each way.

Are you wanting cities or scenery?  You could easily spend 3 weeks just exploring Washington state and California.

Personally I’d hire a car do an epic road trip rather than hopping around in planes.

Nashville (to visit Gracelands)

It’s Graceland, and it’s in Memphis.

And if the OP is going to add a Texan city, it should almost certainly be San Antonio.

Anyway, I would strongly advocate against all that flying, and instead rent a car to drive from New York to, say San Francisco, via a place not many Europeans will have visited, like Rapid City and the Badlands.

I can totally recommend the drive from Vegas to Phoenix via Sedona if you can fit it in – and suggest you stay in Sedona too. We stayed at Junipine Resorts in Sedonda which is a collection of people’s shacks they rent out, each one very different from the next. You can do Grand Canyon by chopper along with tours all round the area.

There is MTB too…

Drive out of Sedona blew my mind, you come around a corner where the Chapel of the Holy Cross is and the views are simply amazing.

Personally in that timescale I wouldn’t bother with Hawaii. You are trying to do everything there …

hire a car do an epic road trip

Depends on personal preference and prior experience, but do you want to spend ages driving from A-B each day?

I travelled to California for work a few times in a previous job. On one trip I drove from Malibu area to Mammoth to go skiing for a weekend. About 300 miles driving through nothing of interest * that took c 6 hrs and that was nowhere near the full length of California.

*There were places off the route I was on I could have detoured to, had I more time, but I was on a mission to get to the slopes.

A colleague relocated from LA to Houston and that was a 3 day road trip self-driving his gear.

With 3 weeks, I get the idea to see as much as you can but you’d be either in a car most of the time or airport lounge.

Nashville (to visit Gracelands)

It’s Graceland, and it’s in Memphis.

You are right (it was a long time ago but I knew that, I have no idea why I said Nashville).

Depends on personal preference and prior experience, but do you want to spend ages driving from A-B each day?

Driving from the place you’re staying to a specific destination 300 miles away is not exactly a “road trip” the way I would conceive it.

Rather, it’s that experience of driving down desolate highways, stopping at “gas stations” to buy more Dr Pepper & Cheetos or V8 juice and Hot Rods or whatever, and then, after the sun has gone down, spotting the Motel 6 and pulling over for the night. Think “American Gods”.

The OP said he and his beloved wanted to “do the States”; and I can’t think of any way better to “do” a country than to immerse oneself in it by hitting the roads.

I’ve done a couple fo two week road trips, but not trying to move too fast/far as we wanted to fit in some hiking and sightseeing.  I love just driving around absorbing it all.

First was LA out through Nevada, Utah and then down into Arizona, second from Denver to Vegas over the Rockies. Both were awesome but if you want to see something that ‘isn’t Europe’ then I don’t think you can beat the desert.  September is a great time to head that way too as the temperature has dropped, though there’s a small window until it snows.

So many places I’d like to roadtrip in the US when I have more time.  My brother loves the south, but then he’s a jazz person.

Anyway, to make it more fun we made a proper I-Spy book before to collect all the cliche’s; tumbleweed, car with cow horns on bonnet, eat a Twinkie, spot a vegas hooker (within minutes of arriving) type stuff on it.

HI

That’s really a lot to cover in three week. It’s a 5 hr timezone difference between east coast and Hawaii.

San Antonio or Austin not Dallas/Houston. Then probably 2 cities per week max. Train NYC to Washington. Finally Maui / Kona not O’ahu for Hawaii.

Enjoy it. Off to NYC (again!) tomorrow.

We did similar last year and went to NYC, Toronto, Chicago and then Seattle and back to NYC all by plane and all within about 18 days I think.

The internal flights were absolutely fine I thought- everything is automated wrt to checking your passports and baggage and it felt more like getting a train or something like that. But then I quite like flying and don’t really enjoy driving all that much, so it made sense for us.

The OP said he and his beloved wanted to “do the States”; and I can’t think of any way better to “do” a country than to immerse oneself in it by hitting the roads.

I agree that my trip had a singular purpose as opposed to the romantic notion of a road trip. I was just trying to give an idea of how big the country is so how much time is spent just travelling, let alone stopping for gas and burgers.

On my route I passed signs for The Mojave desert and Death Valley, places that I’d heard of yet never imagined I’d see.

I gave up counting the amount of time I’d crest a hill and then the road stretched out to the horizon again. I’d concentrate on a wide area and plan a trip from A to E but stopping off exploring around B, C & D for example.

Even in 3 weeks trying to see too much is going to involve a lot of driving and immersing in the culture of mile after mile of blacktop.

When I was working just outside Malibu, after I left the office each night I’d head out, often up the PCH for a few hours just to sample the views and try to get to a different town. I’d roll back to the hotel late just to sleep. I barely scratched the surface and that’s just a small part of one state.

From a slighty different perspective, we had three weeks in Italy for ours – did Maggiore, Garda, Venice, Rome then the last week on the Amalfi coast to unwind. We used trains to get about (which worked pretty smoothly) but that was about as much travelling time as I wanted to spend on honeymoon. The US is too big to try in one go (heck, Italy was!), you’ll spend half the time on planes – I’d be thinking pick a coast, choose some highlights, rent a muscle car and do some cruising. Whatever you do, hope it works out and you both have a great honeymoon after a fantastic wedding. 🙂

I’d do one big train ride and forget Hawaii. New York for a few days then train somewhere like Colorado for a week. California is special but a trip on its own.

We did vegas for 3 nights, 10 days in hawaii, 2 in washington then 4 in virginia for ours. Hired a big dodge charger to drive feom washington to virginia (have friends there)

It was amazing, covered a lot of tourist america and got to see some of the real stuff as well. Problem is the place is huge, so much bigger than you appreciate and it takes ages to get anywhere, especially driving at 55.

I tend to think of the US in quarters, each being enough for a three-week trip in itself, especially if you don’t want to be packing and unpacking every night:
Northeast – New York, Boston, Maine (Acadia NP etc), Cape Cod, Vermont, maybe dip across border to Quebec City.
South, east – Miami, Everglades, Nashville, Charleston, Deep South
Southwest – Vegas, LA, Utah (Bryce Canyon, Arches NP etc), Taos, deserts
Northwest – SF, Portland, Yosemite, Tahoe, Pacific coast, mountains
And the weird bit in the middle that seems to have utterly disproportionate representation at elections. I’d pretty much rule out Hawaii unless that’s the focus of your trip and you just stop off en route.
Each of those corners is brilliant. Whatever you’re into (cities, culture, food, outdoors etc) they’ll have something to offer. The best idea is probably to buy a Lonely Planet guide to the US and go from there. September is arguably the best time to visit.

If you can use a train or drive any of the internal journeys do that. American cities are good but the bits in between are best, and you can set that from an aeroplane.

Once you decide what flights you do need try to book them all together. Use Google Flights, or if you prefer speak to a travel agent. The latter will be easier, and if you get a good agent you’ll get a decent price.

And don’t try to do too much. It sounds like you’ve realised this already, but better to see 4 places really well than visit 6 but wish you had stayed longer.

New York to Hawaii is 1/5th the circumference of the Earth. Trying to hop that distance in 3 weeks you’ll spend your honeymoon in transit.

I am not a fan of cities and cities in the US are mostly less than 200 years old and pretty generic. I go to the USA for the ‘great outdoors’ so I may not have much to offer. It really depends what it is that is attracting you both?

Also wtf goes to Las Vegas for their honeymoon? Fine if you mean use LV airport as a gateway to canyon country. I can’t imagine who wants to spend their time away with the love of your life staring at a casino slot machine taking all your money and then wandering down a boulevard of hookers and over-the-top fake ‘grandeur’.

I could spend 3 weeks in Hawaii, active volcanoes you can walk on, rainforest, coral reefs and whale watching. It has gaudy American beach resorts but it is also has beautiful, remote, quiet coves. Not cheap though.

One really great thing about how big the USA is, you can always find somewhere properly remote which would be perfect for a honeymoon. Looking at vrbo or airbnb, there are so many places sat on the hillside over the ocean (like on the Pacific Coast Highway) or in the middle of a desert with clear skies (like near Joshua Tree, Mojave or most of Nevada) and a private hot tub or pool completely secluded.

Bit more roadtrip than honeymoon but did this over three weeks in 1996 – best holiday I’ve had

Calgary->Canadian Rockies->Vancouver->Seattle->Mt St Helens->Portland->Monterrey->San Fran->Yosemite->Death Valley->Zion Canyon->Vegas Baby->Yellowstone->Montana->Calgary

About 2500 miles total from memory which sounds a lot but as other posters enjoyed just taking in and stopping in tiny towns meeting people. Didn’t book any accomodation so lots of cheap motels and ended up camping in Yosemite.

Also Hawaii is a long way – and a holiday in itself

Congratulations on your wedding. Groom’s speech is the easiest

Don’t go to Houston or Dallas. Austin if you like music. I’d consider New Orleans over a Texan city.

In California I prefer San Francisco over LA. Unless there is something specific that you want to visit in LA, San Francisco is simply more pleasant.

Hawaii is a long way away.

Road trips are fun, but you spend a long time in a car. Flying between places you want to see let’s you spend more time in those places. Obviously.

have fun