Whenever someone finds out how much I love to travel, and how much I’ve travelled, the inevitable question is, “What’s your favourite place you’ve ever been?” So here are my top five favourite North American travel destinations, in no particular order.
Alaska
My cruise to Alaska in July of 2016 is one of my favourite trips. We took a 7-night cruise on Norwegian Pearl roundtrip from Seattle, and whilst the ship was smaller and lacking features compared to her larger counterparts, I hardly noticed because I was glued to the scenery passing by outside my balcony. In port, we had a wide variety of memorable experiences, including a short hike to Mendenhall Glacier, feasting on fresh Alaskan King Crab, taking a scenic train ride through the Canadian Yukon, riding a sled pulled by huskies, and enjoying the most delicious salmon & chips.
I’ve heard a lot of people make excuses about visiting Alaska–“I don’t want to go someplace cold on vacation,” or “I’m not an ‘outdoors’ person,” or “I’ll get bored with nothing to do.” But, if you ever have an opportunity to visit the largest state in the USA, then I encourage you not to miss it.
The Dutch Caribbean
Let’s go from a cooler climate to a warmer one. The islands of the Dutch Caribbean are my favourite destinations in that part of the world, including Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, and St. Maarten. I may have a certain bias since I lived in the Netherlands for a few months back in 2000, and each island created a little bit of Europe in the Caribbean along with some fond travel memories.
I spent a week in Aruba and fell in love with Palm Beach, where some of the soft sand and calm turquoise waters created the ultimate relaxing beach vacation.
In Bonaire, my family and I got to experience the unique thrill of landsailing at Bonaire Landsailing Adventures. Even my 10 year old daughter had a blast driving her own BloKart!
In Curaçao, viewing the World Heritage site of Willemstad’s colourful facades from the floating Queen Emma pontoon bridge is a must! We also got to indulge in an authentic Rijsttafel at a local Dutch-Indonesian restaurant.
And of course, St. Maarten’s Maho Beach is a pilgrimage for every self-proclaimed AvGeek!! Best of all, you can make a quick side trip to France on the way and pick up some fresh pastries!
Las Vegas, NV
I lived in Las Vegas before moving to Florida, but my former hometown is now one of my favourite travel destinations. Yes, there’s a bit of sentimentality that probably influences my love of Las Vegas, but the city has its merits. There’s gambling, but there’s gambling almost everywhere now, and much of what makes Vegas unique has nothing to do with casinos. Take the dry weather, for instance. Who doesn’t love 330 days of sunshine every year? And, if you get tired of the heat (I’ll take a dry 110 degree heat over the FL humidity any day), then you can drive less than an hour to Mount Charleston, where it’s often 20-30 degrees cooler and snows in the winter. Las Vegas is also a hot bed for great quality entertainment and diverse dining experiences. Who wouldn’t fall in love with a place where you can get a great bowl of pho at 3am after hitting that hard 8 parlay at the craps table?
Boston, MA
It’s the second former hometown of mine on the list, but Boston is a walkable city with a good public transport system (the T) for visiting most major attractions. It’s America’s greatest sports town (yes, I am biased–Go Sox!!), and there are few better cities for museum and history buffs to visit. Be sure to grab some of the delicious New England seafood around town, scratch made Italian food in the North End, and Asian specialities in Chinatown.
Montréal, QC, Canada
Visiting Québec had been on my list for a long time, and I finally had an opportunity to visit Montréal over what was the Independence Day holiday in the US last summer. What am amazing city! Again, the Métro system makes it extremely easy to get around using public transport and your own two feet. The people were all very friendly, and Montréal is a very approachable taste of French Canadian culture without having to travel abroad. Montréal hosts one of the largest Jazz Festivals in the world each summer, with several other festivals happening throughout the year. Be sure to check out the city’s marketplaces (including what must be one of the world’s best places for fresh oysters, La Boite Aux Huîtres at Jean Talon market), sample the Asian cuisine in Chinatown, and visit other diverse and distinctive neighbourhoods, many of which have cozy “Terrasses” for outdoor dining and drinking during the warm weather months.
Montréal’s Old Town, Vieux-Montréal, houses quaint cobblestone streets that transported me to someplace like Hogsmeade from Harry Potter, or to a smaller version of Paris with the city’s own Notre Dame basilica. There are plenty of cute shops and restaurants ranging from traditional pubs to haute cuisine. Nearby is the Montréal Museum of Archeology and History, Pointe-à-Callière, which is one of the most engaging museums I’ve ever visited, where you can walk through actual archeological dig sites of old Montréal below the street level of the modern city, with interactive projections and narration that bring history to life.
What Are Your Favourites?
These are only five of my favourite places to visit in North America, but I know there are countless more great destinations. What are your own personal favourites, and what do you like most about them?
