United States

Alaska

If you thought everything about the USA was big, well, Alaska is just... bigger. It's the country's largest state, home to both the country’s biggest National Park, Wrangell-St Elias, and highest peak, Mount Denali. Everything here is on an epic scale and there's adventure everywhere. You can paddle across silent fjords with snowy peaks towering above you, watch huge grizzlies pluck glistening salmon from icy rivers, hear the howl of wolves from your cabin in the dark of night and gaze skywards at the shimmering fireworks of the Northern Lights.

There are few roads, so you'll need to hop aboard a light plane to enter the wilderness where musk oxen, grey wolves, bears and caribou roam wild and free. Alaska is a place to encounter nature in all its raw, ethereal beauty ‒ and perhaps to find yourself again as you do so.

Western USA

From California to the Canadian border, Western USA is the place to experience America’s great outdoors. The west coast sprawls over more than 1,000 miles of pristine coastline, with surfing, sailing and swimming all on offer. Inland, the Western USA is home to some awe-inspiring national parks, including geysers at Yellowstone, rock-climbing and mountaineering in the Rocky Mountains, and the vast landscapes of the Grand Canyon.

The cities of Western USA offer travellers distinct personas. There’s brash, celebrity-filled Los Angeles; the boho-tech bro-filled San Franciso; arty, home-spun Seattle; the make-believe neon playground of Las Vegas and everything in-between. However, there are also tiny seafront villages offering spectacular seafood and mountain hideouts with views to die for. Western USA experiences come in many guises.

Wherever you end up, you’re guaranteed some of the best food in the entire USA. From fish tacos and Mexican specialities in California to wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, food in Western USA is as diverse as its landscapes. And that’s before you even think about the world-famous wines of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys and the plentiful microbreweries that are popping up.

So head out to America’s wild west for a taste of the everything the USA has to offer – you’ll have a whale of a time.