How many days do you need in the United States?
Ten days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for the United States, across New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
United States · 10 days New York → San Francisco → Las Vegas
Best time: September–October is the sweet spot everywhere on this route: crisp in New York, fog lifting in San Francisco, bearable in the desert.
New York: Statue of Liberty and Ellis IslandDay 1
🏛️9:00 AMStatue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Take the ferry from Battery Park and stand in the great registry hall where twelve million arrivals were processed. Crown access exists but sells out months ahead, pedestal tickets are the realistic play.
🚗 ~26 min · 7.5 mi
🖼️1:30 PMThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Five thousand years under one roof on Fifth Avenue, the Temple of Dendur, arms and armor, and a rooftop over Central Park. Pick three wings; you cannot do it all.
🚗 ~13 min · 3.8 mi
🌆6:00 PMGreenwich Village and SoHo
Brownstone lanes that ignore the grid, jazz basements on MacDougal Street, and the cast-iron loft district next door, downtown at its most walkable.
New York: Brooklyn BridgeDay 2
🏛️9:00 AMBrooklyn Bridge
Walk it from Brooklyn toward Manhattan early in the morning, the skyline builds in front of you the whole way, and you beat the crowds that pack the boards by 10 AM.
🚗 ~17 min · 4.9 mi
🥾1:30 PMCentral Park
Eight hundred forty acres of designed wilderness in the middle of the grid, the Mall, Bethesda Terrace, and Bow Bridge cover the classics in one southern loop.
🚶 ~34 min · 🚗 ~4 min · 1.3 mi
🎟️6:00 PMBroadway show
The theater district is the reason half the world visits. Same-day rush and lottery tickets exist for most shows; otherwise book before you fly and build the evening around it.
New York: Empire State BuildingDay 3
🏛️9:00 AMEmpire State Building
The 1931 original is still the most New York of the observation decks. Go at opening or book the last slot and watch the grid light up.
🚶 ~27 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 1.0 mi
🖼️1:30 PMMoMA
Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Monet’s water lilies, and the century that invented the modern, dense enough that two hours here beats five anywhere else.
🚗 ~11 min · 3.1 mi
🌆6:00 PMLower East Side
The old immigrant gateway turned nightlife quarter, tenement blocks, hundred-year-old delis and pickle shops, and galleries in between.
New York: Grand Central TerminalDay 4
🏛️9:00 AMGrand Central Terminal
The 1913 Beaux-Arts cathedral of rail, the turquoise zodiac ceiling, the whispering gallery by the ramps on the lower dining concourse, and 750,000 people a day moving underneath it.
🚶 ~40 min · 🚗 ~5 min · 1.5 mi
🥾1:30 PMThe High Line
A freight rail viaduct reborn as an elevated garden walk through Chelsea, enter at Gansevoort Street and drift north to Hudson Yards.
🚗 ~8 min · 2.3 mi
🎟️6:00 PMDowntown food walk
A guided graze through the Lower East Side or Chinatown: dumplings, pastrami, and the immigrant history that explains why New York eats the way it does.
Arrive in San FranciscoDay 5
✈️8:30 AMFlight to San Francisco
New York (JFK or Newark) to San Francisco in about 6h30 nonstop. Fly morning and the three-hour time change lands you at midday; sit on the left for the Rockies and the Sierra.
✈️ ~6h30 · 2566 mi
🏛️2:00 PMGolden Gate Bridge
Walk or bike the east sidewalk from the Welcome Center toward Marin, the fog usually burns off by late morning. The classic photo is from Battery Spencer on the far side.
🚗 ~14 min · 4.0 mi
🌆6:00 PMNorth Beach
The old Italian quarter and Beat Generation home turf, espresso bars, Beat-era bookshops, and Coit Tower on the hill above.
San Francisco: Alcatraz IslandDay 6
🏛️9:00 AMAlcatraz Island
The island prison in the middle of the bay, run by the National Park Service. The cellhouse audio tour, narrated by former inmates and guards, is the best in the business, official ferries from Pier 33 sell out weeks ahead in summer.
🚗 ~11 min · 3.1 mi
🖼️1:30 PMSFMOMA
One of the largest modern art museums in the country, seven floors, a living wall, and deep Californian photography holdings.
🚶 ~19 min · 🚗 ~2 min · 0.7 mi
🎟️6:00 PMChinatown food walk
The oldest Chinatown in North America, best decoded with a guide, dim sum parlors, a fortune cookie workshop alley, and the temple balconies of Waverly Place.
San Francisco: Cable cars and Lombard StreetDay 7
🏛️9:00 AMCable cars and Lombard Street
Ride the Powell–Hyde line over Russian Hill and hop off at the top of the crooked block, a moving national landmark with a bay view from the running board.
🚗 ~18 min · 5.3 mi
🥾1:30 PMLands End
A wild coastal trail inside the city limits, cypress cliffs, shipwreck ruins at low tide, and the bridge appearing around the headland.
🚗 ~19 min · 5.5 mi
🌆6:00 PMMission District
The Latino heart of the city: hundreds of political murals in Balmy and Clarion alleys, Dolores Park’s skyline lawn, and the best burrito blocks in America.
Arrive in Las VegasDay 8
✈️8:30 AMFlight to Las Vegas
San Francisco to Las Vegas in about 1h30, one of the busiest short hops in the country, with departures all day. A window seat gets you the Mojave and, on the right day, Death Valley.
✈️ ~1h30 · 417 mi
🏛️2:00 PMHoover Dam
The 1935 concrete colossus that made the desert Southwest possible, 45 minutes from the Strip. Walk across the top and the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman bridge for the full face-on view.
🚗 day trip · 25 mi
🌆6:00 PMThe Strip
Four miles of the most concentrated spectacle on the planet, dancing fountains, a half-scale Eiffel Tower, an Egyptian pyramid, and canals indoors. Walk it at night; it is free theater.
Las Vegas: Grand Canyon South RimDay 9
🏛️9:00 AMGrand Canyon South Rim
A mile deep, ten miles across, two billion years of rock on display. It is a 4.5-hour drive each way, leave before dawn, make it a full day, and walk the Rim Trail between Mather Point and Yavapai for the classic panoramas.
🚗 day trip · 169 mi
🖼️1:30 PMThe Neon Museum
The boneyard where old Vegas signs go to glow again, restored midcentury neon in the open air, each with the story of the casino it came from. If it hooks you by day, an after-dark return shows the signs lit.
🚗 ~17 min · 4.9 mi
🎟️6:00 PMEvening show on the Strip
Acrobatics, magic, or a residency, Las Vegas stages the biggest live productions in the world nightly. Book ahead for weekends and see at least one; it is the city’s true art form.
Las Vegas: Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas signDay 10
🏛️9:00 AMWelcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
The 1959 googie-style sign at the south end of the Strip, a quick, cheerful pilgrimage with a dedicated parking lot and a permanent photo line.
🚗 ~51 min · 15 mi
🥾1:30 PMRed Rock Canyon
A 13-mile scenic drive through rust-red sandstone half an hour west of the Strip, short trails, desert bighorn sheep, and proof the Mojave was here first.
🚗 ~56 min · 16 mi
🌆6:00 PMFremont Street and Downtown
The original Vegas: vintage neon, a five-block LED canopy overhead, and the restored signs of the Neon Museum’s boneyard nearby: grittier and cheaper than the Strip.
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