(CNN) — Disney World, Times Square and Yellowstone National Park can all be packed with tourists to the rafters. But there are plenty of other places in the United States that continue to fly under the travel radar.
While there are literally hundreds of places that fit that description, here are 22 destinations — from cities and national parks to regions and even entire states — that, despite the surge in travel this year, are refreshingly underrated. They are listed geographically from the Northeast to the Pacific.
Central Massachusetts
Western Massachusetts boasts the Berkshires, while the eastern end of the state is anchored by Boston and Cape Cod. So what’s in the middle? A lot.
Unique shops, restaurants and the LGBTQ scene make Northampton worth a visit, or hop the Connecticut River and hike part of the New England Trail through the northern woods. See the article : Melissa Mathews will not be reappointed as Bayonne’s business administrator.
Block Island, Rhode Island
Block Island has over 30 miles of coastal and inland trails. On the same subject : 1619, 1776 and the United States of America.
Unlike the other large islands of southern New England, this offshore slice of the ocean state has gone to great lengths to preserve its natural environment. In fact, the Nature Conservancy named the tiny island one of a dozen “Last Great Places” in the Western Hemisphere.
Wildlife sanctuaries and other protected areas protect 40% of Block Island, and residents are known for their fierce resistance to anything that might endanger their pristine Atlantic home.
Beaches, Biking and Trekking 32 miles of coastal and inland trails are the main daytime activities. After dark, the island offers a surprisingly good food scene and laid-back bars like Captain Nick’s, Yellow Kittens and the Poor People’s Pub.
Buffalo, New York
Once a boomtown at the confluence of the Great Lakes and Erie Canal, Buffalo lay dormant for much of the 20th century. This may interest you : Ron Gilbert will no longer post about Monkey Island due to ‘personal attacks’. As the metropolis in upstate New York slowly revives, people have realized that all this downtime has helped preserve the city’s classic architecture.
A renaissance of the city’s once-dilapidated waterfront includes the Canalside shopping and entertainment district, lakeside walking and biking trails, a maritime museum, and Silo City with its famous grain elevators. Meanwhile, Niagara Falls is just up the road.
Pennsylvania Wilds
Bridge ruins are part of Kinzua Bridge State Park in Pennsylvania.
From abundant wildlife and untamed mountain streams to the ancient trees of Forest Cathedral and Pine Creek’s gaping mid-Atlantic version of the Grand Canyon, there’s still plenty of wilderness in north-central Pennsylvania.
One of the most sparsely populated places east of the Mississippi River, the Wilds span a vast expanse of the rugged Allegheny Plateau. In addition to the Allegheny National Forest, the region is home to 29 state parks, two national wild and scenic rivers, and a world-class star gazing center in Cherry Springs, as well as human relics like the Kinzua Bridge (also called the “8th Wonder of the World” when it opened in 1882).
West Virginia
While West Virginia isn’t “almost heaven” for everyone, it certainly is for history buffs and outdoor enthusiasts.
Harpers Ferry witnessed John Brown’s infamous 1859 raid that helped start the Civil War. Three years later, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson led a successful Confederate assault on the strategic Union-held city. The riverfront town is also a starting point for the Appalachian Trail and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath.
Established in late 2020 as the country’s newest national park, New River Gorge is known for whitewater sports, hiking and mountain biking, and bridge day BASE jumping from the massive New River Gorge Bridge.
Durham, North Carolina
Downtown Durham has changed in recent years.
Few American cities have seen a more dramatic turnaround in the past 15 years. From its days as a tobacco factory town, Durham has evolved into a center of science, arts, sports and entertainment centered around a revitalized downtown and a revitalized American Tobacco campus.
The Durham Bulls – the most famous minor league baseball team – play their often sold-out games in a snazzy little downtown stadium. At the Duke Lemur Center, visitors can wander through vast forest habitats that help preserve some of the planet’s rarest mammals. By now, the city’s craft brewing and distilling scene is out of sight.
Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia
Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia
Georgia’s largest barrier island combines beach fun and outdoor adventure with abundant wildlife and famous American families.
Though most visitors only come to Cumberland for the day — via their own boats or the ferry from St Marys on the mainland — you can also stay in beachside campgrounds or at the elegant Greyfield Inn, which was built in 1900 and is still owned and operated by Clan Carnegie Steel Glory.
Wild horses frolic and sea turtles lay their eggs on the island’s 18 miles (29 km) of beaches, while alligators patrol the wetlands of Cumberland Sound. JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married at the First African Baptist Church in Northend, a historic African American congregation founded by freed slaves.
Florida’s Forgotten Coast
Located along the Gulf of Mexico between Port St. Joe and St. Marks, this unheralded stretch of Florida coast is about as authentic as the Sunshine State gets.
Talcum powder-fine beaches on St. Joseph Peninsula and St. George Island offer an uncrowded alternative to Florida’s more historic (and crowded) beaches. Manatees and monarch butterflies are among the wildlife at Wakulla Springs and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
Fresh-from-the-boat clams and live music are the two attractions of the St. Mark’s Stone Crab Festival (October) and the Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola (November).
Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas
Mount Magazine State Park is a regional hub for hang gliding.
Tucked away in a valley on the southeastern edge of the Ouachita Range, Hot Springs National Park has been popular since the 1830s, when bathhouses first appeared. But few visitors make it much further into the highlands of west-central Arkansas.
Unlike the nearby Ozarks, which pride themselves on experiencing nature and culture, the Ouachitas are extremely untouristy. This makes these mountains ideal for those who enjoy a large dose of solitude while hiking, camping and fishing.
Magazine Mountain (the state’s highest point) is a regional hang-gliding mecca, and the area also offers gnarly mountain bike trails.
Oklahoma
A state that many people overfly and traverse, Oklahoma is one of those underrated places to visit sooner rather than later.
Oklahoma City has a surprisingly rich and varied food scene, particularly the eclectic Paseo, Plaza, and Uptown 23rd neighborhoods, as well as the Asian Quarter.
Oklahoma’s long stretch of historic Route 66 is dotted with vintage restaurants, museums and roadside curiosities. Tulsa showcases local hero Woody Guthrie, the new Bob Dylan Center and classic Art Deco architecture, while the village of Medicine Park and the nearby Wichita Mountains offer a taste of Old West days.
Kansas City, Missouri
In Missouri’s second largest city, it’s all about sound and taste. As the birthplace of American jazz, KC has more than 40 venues where you can hear live jazz, blues and other tunes, and probably just as many venues serving hearty, slow-smoked Kansas City barbecue.
Southern Illinois
Wedged between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the state’s southern tip still looks and feels like Illinois did in the early 1800s, when the infamous Trail of Tears passed here and a teenage Abraham Lincoln was still splitting rails.
Hikers can explore the dark woods and deep canyons of Shawnee National Forest — and maybe catch a Sasquatch sighting — on the 160-mile River to River Trail. Shorter hikes penetrate the primeval bluffs of Giant City and Garden of the Gods.
The area’s man-made attractions include the Superman Museum and colossal statue in Metropolis, the free Cave-in-Rock ferry across the Ohio River, and the Full Terror Assault heavy metal music festival in September.
Lake Superior
The shores of Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan with Harbor Lighthouse in the background.
The American half of the world’s largest freshwater lake (by area) stretches across northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, a vast expanse of water, trees, islands and wildlife rivaling anything in the West.
Anglers can cast for 86 species of fish that inhabit the lake, while divers can explore numerous historic shipwrecks. For those who just want to glide through the Great Lakes, half a dozen major cruise lines have added Superior to their Great Lakes itineraries.
North Park, Colorado
Almost everyone has heard of South Park thanks to the irreverent TV show. But did you know that there is a North Park in Colorado?
Located about a three-hour drive northwest of Denver between the snow-capped peaks of the Medicine Bow Mountains and the Park Range, the broad highland valley is in one of the most sparsely populated corners of the state.
The Continental Divide Trail winds around two sides of North Park, while the valley’s waterways provide pristine habitat for trout, migratory birds and many moose.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
White Sands is an otherworldly gypsum dune field.
Like something created more for a sci-fi movie than a freak of nature, White Sands feels like visiting an alien planet. That’s how strange it is to explore the largest gypsum dune field in the world.
Visitors can hike or sled down the gleaming white dunes. If you don’t pack your own sled, the visitor center gift shop sells/rents plastic discs. Overnight backpacking along a sandy wilderness trail.
West Texas
In the frontier, Texas west of the Pecos River was the epitome of the Wild West. An image that was later strengthened by film classics such as “The Searchers”, “Giant” and “No Country For Old Men”.
Still sparsely populated, the vast region is home to vast open spaces and some of the country’s wildest national parks: Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains. The ghost town of Terlingua hosts a massive annual chilli cook-off, Fort Davis preserves a historic US cavalry post, while Marfa offers Hollywood history, offbeat art and the mysterious “Marfa Lights” of UFO lore.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spans nearly 1.9 million acres.
Grand Staircase-Escalante (GSE), the largest national monument in the lower 48 states, covers nearly 1.9 million acres of largely roadless wilderness in south-central Utah.
The park takes its name from the remote Escalante Canyons and a series of huge plateaus that descend like a giant stairway between Bryce Canyon and Zion. GSE is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and offers plenty of scope for wilderness hiking, camping and biking.
In addition to primitive camping, Grand Staircase-Escalante also offers upscale glamping spots like Yonder Escalante near the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center in the town of Escalante and Under Canvas near Lake Powell.
Tacoma, Washington
Seattle might get the lion’s share of ink (and visitors), but Tacoma holds its own when it comes to standout attractions, thanks to local son Dale Chihuly’s incredible glasswork, one of the best vintage car collections in the country, and outstanding seafood.
The great outdoors also beckons: Tacoma is closer than Seattle to Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks and fantastic cold-water diving in the Hood Canal.
Channel Islands National Park, California
Channel Islands National Park, California
Hikers make their way along the Scorpion Canyon Loop Trail on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park.
Reminiscent of ancient California, the five-island park preserves Paleolithic digs, frontier-era ranches and relics of Spanish exploration.
But its strength is the raw nature. Whales, dolphins, sea lions and sea otters roam the waters surrounding the park, while the islands provide terrestrial habitat for extremely rare plant and animal species such as the Torrey pine and island fox.
Only about 30,000 people set foot on the islands each year. For those making the ferry crossing from Ventura Harbor, there’s scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, and backpacking—often in utter solitude.
San Luis Obispo, California
Located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on California’s scenic Highway 101, San Luis Obispo has only recently developed into a true tourist destination.
Two factors were responsible for the turnaround: the development of world-class wine regions in nearby Paso Robles and the Santa Ynez Valley, and the transformation of downtown SLO into a vibrant social and shopping center for Cal Poly SLO University’s 22,000 students.
Craft breweries, great-value restaurants and unique boutiques are all the rage in a city that also offers a historic Spanish mission, coastal walking and biking tours, and the coastline of Morro Bay and Avila Beach are a short drive.
Kaʻū District, Hawaii
Kealakekua Bay offers amazing kayaking, snorkeling and Hawaiian history on the island of Hawaii.
Probably the first place Polynesians landed in the Hawaiian Islands more than 1,000 years ago, Kaʻū is the southern end of the Big Island of Hawaii.
Virtually untouched by modern tourism, the district is celebrated for its dramatic black and green sand beaches, tropical fruit and coffee farms and the popular Punalu’u Bake Shop.
Hikers and mountain bikers can explore the remote Kahuku Unit or the Ka’u Desert in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, while Kealakekua Bay in the district’s northwest corner offers fantastic kayaking, snorkeling and Hawaiian history.
Matanuska Valley, Alaska
Just an hour’s drive from Anchorage, this long river valley offers the kind of outdoor encounters that typically take far more time and effort to achieve.
MICA Guides in Chickaloon offers a wide range of frozen adventures — including ice climbing and overnight camping on a glacier — while Alaska Helicopter Tours at Knik River Lodge offers fly-in glacier hikes, glacial lake paddleboarding, and glacier dog sledding.
Get up close and personal with furry arctic beasts at the valley’s musk ox farm and learn about the life of frontier gold miners and their families in the ghost town of Independence.
Joe Yogerst is a freelance writer based in California. He is the author of 50 States, 5,000 Ideas, a National Geographic travel book that he is currently updating.
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