Are you looking for travel bucket list ideas for your next RV trip? Running out of ideas or looking for fresh ones? From epic classics to exciting newcomers, we have selected the 51 most amazing places to visit or things to do in the U.S. and Canada. Of course, there are many more than 51 places worth visiting.
We have traveled by RV in 47 states and four Canadian provinces but barely made a dent (and our list continues to grow longer and longer).
It’s time to pack the RV and discover beautiful and awe-inspiring places across North America. Following are many of our favorite destinations in the US and Canada to satisfy your wanderlust.
Badlands National Park: South Dakota
With ochre-tinted buttes, graceful spires, and fossil-rich landscapes, Badlands National Park, in southwest South Dakota, entrances visitors with its ethereal vistas.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: North Carolina and Tennessee
Great Smoky Mountains National Park attracts outdoorsy types with its sublime mountain scenery and beautiful old-growth forests.
Banff National Park: Alberta
Nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, Banff is Canada’s first (and arguably most beautiful) National Park.
Charleston: South Carolina
With its Spanish moss, historic architecture, coastal scenery and graceful antebellum mansions, Charleston oozes Southern charm.
Bryce Canyon National Park: Utah
Otherworldly rust-colored hoodoo rock formations are on full display at this popular national park.
Blue Ridge Parkway: North Carolina and Virginia
The nearly 500 miles of blacktop twisting through the Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah national parks was built for travelers seeking Appalachian overlooks.
Sedona: Arizona
Sedona attracts nature lovers with its desert landscapes, surreal red rocks, and enchanting vortexes, places where the earth’s energy is reportedly amplified.
Joshua Tree National Park: California
With jaw-dropping desert scenery, prickly Joshua trees, and distinct boulder rock formations, Joshua Tree mesmerizes visitors with its eye-catching landscapes.
Zion National Park: Utah
If your perfect bucket-list includes hitting scenic hiking trails, it’s hard to rival the otherworldly landscapes in Utah’s Zion National Park.
Wells Gray Country: British Columbia
Wells Gray has something to offer every outdoor interest: lush alpine meadows, birding and wildlife viewing, hiking, boating, canoeing, kayaking, and 41 breathtaking waterfalls.
Boston Freedom Trail: Massachusetts
Walk this 2.5-mile path (just follow the red-brick line) that passes 16 historical landmarks from Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church to Bunker Hill and Old Ironside.
Scenic Byway 12: Utah
The red rock majesty of Utah is on triumphant display on Scenic Byway 12 winding between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon national parks.
Green Mountain Byway: Vermont’s Route 100
The billboard-free Route 100 winds through some of Vermont’s most quintessentially Vermonty villages, with all the cider donuts and country stores that go with them.
Dead Horse Point State Park: Utah
Towering 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, Dead Horse Point is an iconic peninsula of rock sitting on top of incredible vertical sandstone cliffs.
Tombstone: Arizona
Arguably America’s most infamous Old West town, Tombstone, is the perfect place to see what life was like during the days of the Wild West.
Jekyll Island Club Resort: Georgia
Follow in the footsteps of visitors like J.P. Morgan and the Pulitzer family as you golf, bike, boat, swim, or trot along on a horse-drawn carriage.
Santa Fe: New Mexico
A city that embraces its natural environment, Santa Fe is a city whose beautiful adobe architecture blends with the high desert landscape.
Remember the Alamo: San Antonio, Texas
Home of the famous 1836 battle, the beautiful 300-year-old former Spanish mission turned fortress is the heart of San Antonio and Texas’ most visited historic landmark.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge: Georgia
Hop aboard a flat-bottomed boat and keep your eyes peeled for alligators, egrets, and hawks during a tour of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument: Arizona
Canyon de Chelly has sandstone walls rising up to 1,000 feet, scenic overlooks, well-preserved Anasazi ruins, and an insight into the present-day life of the Navajo.
Mesa Verde National Park: Colorado
A great concentration of ancestral Pueblo Indian dwellings, built from the 6th to the 12th century, can be found on the Mesa Verde plateau in southwestern Colorado.
Red Rocks State Park: Sedona, Arizona
Red Rock State Park is a 286-acre nature preserve and environmental education center with stunning scenery.
Monument Valley: Arizona and Utah
The iconic landscape of Monument Valley symbolizes the American West worldwide with its towering buttes and sweeping skies.
My Old Kentucky Home State Park: Kentucky
My Old Kentucky Home State Park honors the home that was the symbol of Stephen Foster’s endearing song, the stately mansion on the Rowan Estate known as Federal Hill.
Mitchell Corn Palace: South Dakota
The World’s Only Corn Palace is a quirky but cool multi-purpose arena in Mitchell.
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument: Washington
The eruption of Mount St. Helens caused a huge landslide to sweep through the Toutle River Valley and remove 1,306 feet from the top of the volcano.
Shiner: Texas
Shiner, Texas is home to 2,069 people, Friday’s Fried Chicken, and—most famously—the Spoetzal Brewery where every drop of Shiner beer is brewed.
Gulf State Park: Alabama
Gulf State Park’s two miles of beaches greet you with plenty of white sand, surging surf, seagulls, and sea shells, but there is more than sand and surf to sink your toes into.
Icefields Parkway: Alberta
The Icefield Parkway is a 144-mile highway winding along the Continental Divide through soaring rocky mountain peaks, icefields, and vast sweeping valleys.
Cherohala Skyway: North Carolina and Tennessee
Travel the Cherohala Skyway and enjoy panoramic vistas as you wind through the Southern Appalachian high country.
Catalina Highway: Arizona
With a nearly 7,000-foot elevation change in a mere 24 miles, the Catalina Highway is a brilliant ascent with countless curves, numerous vistas, and three major switchbacks.
Myakka River State Park: Florida
Seven miles of paved road wind through shady hammocks, along grassy marshes, and the shore of the Upper Myakka Lake. See wildlife up-close on a 45-minute boat tour.
Natural Bridges National Monument: Utah
These three majestic natural bridges were formed by the power of water in a landscape usually defined by its absence. View them from an overlook or hit the trails.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument: Arizona
Organ Pipe Cactus is the only place in the U.S. where the organ pipe cactus grows wild.
San Antonio Missions: Texas
The San Antonio Missions are a group of five frontier mission complexes situated along a 7.7-mile stretch of the San Antonio River.
Incline Railway: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Take the incline railway up a 72.7-percent grade on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. It’s like driving up an insanely pretty wall.
Lassen Volcanic National Park: California
See all four types of volcanoes—cinder cone, composite, shield, and plug dome. Plenty of hydro- and geothermal activity is still found in Lassen Volcanic National Park today.
Okanagan Wine Region: British Columbia
Okanagan wine region is possibly the most scenic wine region in North America and a place where RVers and other normal people can afford to taste wine.
Cedar Breaks National Monument: Utah
At an elevation of over 10,000 feet, Cedar Breaks looks down into a majestic geologic amphitheater, a three-mile long cirque of eroding limestone, shale, and sandstone.
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park: Alberta
A wide green valley, steep sandstone cliffs, strange rock formations called hoodoos, and rock art—all of these things make Writing-on-Stone a special place.
Lake Powell: Utah and Arizona
Spend a week on Lake Powell boating through slot canyons, anchoring on deserted beaches, and camping under the stars.
Creole Nature Trail: Louisiana
Louisiana’s prairies, marshes and shores teem with wildlife, and a drive along the Creole Nature Trail gives visitors a chance to experience nature’s bounty up close.
Grand Canyon National Park: Arizona
“Grand” doesn’t do this canyon justice. Measuring approximately 277 river miles in length, up to 18 miles in width and a mile deep, this massive chasm is a natural wonder.
Jasper National Park: Alberta
The largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, Jasper is the wildest of the mountain parks and contains the world famous Columbia Icefields.
Congaree National Park: South Carolina
Congaree National Park showcases the largest tract of old-growth floodplain forest remaining on the continent.
Black Hills: South Dakota
Driving through this corner of South Dakota takes you through some of the most rugged, distinctive, and beautiful land in America.
Blue Bell Ice Cream: Brenham, Texas
Stop by for a scoop of ice cream at the Ice Cream Parlor, view how Blue Bell is made, shop in the Country Store, and learn more Blue Bell Creameries in the Visitor Center.
Colonial Williamsburg: Virginia
A living history museum and two art museums offer something for everyone, from hands-on activities to original 18th-century buildings to a folk-art collection.
Awaken your senses and explore the birthplace of Bourbon as you embark on a self-guided journey to discover the story behind Kentucky’s Bourbon Culture.
Ohio Amish Country: Holmes County
Ever wish you could turn the clock back to a time when life was simpler and the wheels turned a little more slowly? Now you can.
Arches National Park: Utah
More than 2,000 sandstone arches dot the 47,000-acre landscape of this national park.
Worth Pondering…
“My favorite thing is to go where I have never been,” wrote photographer Diane Arbus, and so it is with us.