The USA.

keithf

Thinking of making my first trip to the USA

Where should  go? Ideally I'd like to be in a decent city with good bars

good music(classic rock, metal etc) decent food but not mentally expensive.

Any idea's gratefully received ,Keep in mind I'm sight impaired so my Mrs got to

guide me everywhere at night and she won't drive in a foreign country.

ta in advance

 

Chuffola

San Francisco. Beautiful place - nice weather, bars, food. Small enough to get around by public transport.

boogieman

Good call on SF.

Otherwise New York? Public transport is good, plenty to see. Not sure about the music scene though, a mate who goes over there a fair bit said quite a few of the old venues have shut down and it's not as good as it was. 

Vegas has lots of bars and a decent music scene. It is a completely mental town, although that shouldn't necessarily put you off. We loved it (but you wouldn't want to stay for more than four or five days tbh). The Grand Canyon is fairly close too, the most gobsmacking thing I've ever seen. 

slacker

I loved San Franciso. You dont want a car there as there a billion one way streets. If you buy a bus ticket you can use it for the second bus if it's one journey ie take a bus, wait for the next bus and use the ticket. 

Book some bus tours, we did a Muir Woods and Alcatraz tour. 

IvisonGuitars

If you're after Classic Rock, Metal. LA & Sunset Strip is the place to go. It's a shadow of its former glory years but the majority of the famous clubs are less than a mile of each other so it's worth going, if just for the heritage of the area.

That said, I was there on a wet Tuesday night so most of the famous gigs were shut so I had a steak and a couple of pints in the Rainbow (excellent food), Lemmy had just left!

Jalapeno

Vegas, SF, NYC all fine.

Consider Austin, Texas. Totally unlike the rest of Texas, laid back, warm climate, lots of  music, Tex Mex & BBQ food everywhere, fairly compact city too.

DesVegas

San Sanfransico for sure. An amazing place, bars for days also everyone is pleased to see you. Failing that New York. Is a noticeably shorter flight

keithf

excellent,Im thinking maybe one of them multistop jobs , 4 night sf, 4la,4 vegas and home

DesVegas

keithf said:

excellent,Im thinking maybe one of them multistop jobs , 4 night sf, 4la,4 vegas and home

That sounds perfect

Emp_Fab

Can I come?  I'll drive at night in a foreign country.

keithf

yeh no probs,I like company

slacker

keithf said:

excellent,Im thinking maybe one of them multistop jobs , 4 night sf, 4la,4 vegas and home

LA is huge and I wouldnt want to do it without a car. 

CHRISB50

Seattle. 

Great music history. Very chilled place. Nice countryside, wilderness on your doorstep. 

And you can pop over to Vancouver which is really a lovely place. 

xSkarloey

Some good suggestions here. 

People often overlook Chicago. Fascinating city, tons to do, easy to get to and around, and because it's less familiar via films etc than your LA's, SanFrans and New Yorks, it actually felt like a genuinely 'foreign' (i.e. culturally different) place to me. 

Great museums, food okay, decent bars, fascinating architecture, lakeside location and BLOOZ clubs! 

EricTheWeary

I wouldn't bother with LA if you need public transport or are a hesitant driver. There are things to see but it's very, very spread out. San Francisco is more compact, has notably good public transport. Everything you'd want to see in Vegas is in a fairly compact area. I'd love to go to Chicago and New York. MrsTheWeary ( who lived in Arkansas) would probably recommend New Orleans, again everything you'd want to do as a tourist is in a fairly small area. 

HAL9000

NYC. You won't need a car as the subway system works well. Plenty to see plus plenty of music venues in Greenwich Village. 

Must sees include...

Times Square 
Ground Zero 
Empire State Building
Grand Central 
Central Park

Rockefeller building
St Patrick's 
Started Island Ferry
Grimaldi's Pizza (a bit of a New York institution, this)
Brooklyn Bridge
Gray Line bus tours
Liberty Island
Ellis Island 
Hudson River cruise 
USS Intrepid 

Etc etc 

thermionic

Don't go to the bit in the middle.

I used to get work trips to Silicon Valley and I would also recommend SF, so much to do and see there. I like seaside towns in general, and SF has so much history in terms of music, films and books. Also places like Monterey and Carmel are within reach.

Out of the other places I've been, Boston and the surrounding area comes second. Again, little seaside towns and fishing villages, and lots of very interesting history from the revolution era.

boogieman

keithf said:

excellent,Im thinking maybe one of them multistop jobs , 4 night sf, 4la,4 vegas and home

Sounds excellent. If you do go to Vegas, drop into the Hard Rock hotel. They've got masses of amazing music memorabilia around the place. (All the hotels in Vegas you can just wander in, you don't need to be a guest). They get some top name bands playing there too. And like I said earlier, go and see the Grand Canyon: there's plenty of places on the strip that run trips from Vegas. 

joneve

CHRISB50 said:

Seattle. 

Great music history. Very chilled place. Nice countryside, wilderness on your doorstep. 

And you can pop over to Vancouver which is really a lovely place. 

Wis awarded. I might be *slightly* biased, as I used to live there, but it's without doubt the best place I've visited in the US. Plus you can hire a car, drive a few hours east and you get awesome canyon/barren scenery which is completely the polar opposite to what you get in Seattle and the Western half of Washington State. 

If you go and want any recommendations, let me know! 

strtdv

DC is interesting if you're into American history, and surprisingly the majority of the things to see there are free (the very extensive Smithsonian museums are all free).

ronnyb

Yes, San Francisco every time. Went in April this year and have booked again for next April. Can't wait to get back. Went to Alcatraz, Golden Gate bridge etc but also visited a lot of the locations where the film Bullitt was filmed. Drove up the pacific coast highway from LA. Stunning. I thought Los Angeles particularly Hollywood was a bit tacky, loads of down and outs. Nearby Santa Monica is well worth a visit though.