Things to do — USA East Coast

In New York City, minimum over 5-6 days: iconic Manhattan — Statue of Liberty + Ellis Island (half day, ferry from Battery Park, $25), Empire State Building ($47) or Top of the Rock ($40, Empire State view) or One World Observatory ($44), Times Square and Broadway (musical $80-300), Central Park (340 ha, walk or Loeb Boathouse rowing, free), Brooklyn Bridge (walk 30 min, spectacular view), 9/11 Memorial + Museum ($28, recommended). Museums: MET ($30, plan 4-6h), MoMA ($25, 3-4h), Guggenheim ($25, 2h), American Museum of Natural History ($28, 3h). Neighbourhoods: SoHo and Greenwich Village (bohemian charm, restaurants), Lower East Side (Katz's Deli for the Sex and the City pastrami sandwich), Chelsea Market (food hall), High Line (former elevated rail, 2.5 km walk), Williamsburg Brooklyn (hipster, food, street art), DUMBO (Manhattan views), Harlem (Apollo Theater, soul food at Sylvia's, gospel churches Sunday).

In Washington D.C. over 2-3 days: National Mall (Capitol + free tour with ID, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, MLK Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Memorial), White House (visit only on request via embassy 3-6 months ahead, otherwise exterior view from Lafayette Square), free Smithsonian (Air & Space, Natural History, American History, National Gallery of Art, African American History & Culture by reservation, Holocaust Memorial Museum), Arlington National Cemetery (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK Memorial), Georgetown (elegant neighbourhood, Potomac, M Street shopping).

In Boston over 2-3 days: Freedom Trail (4 km, 16 historical sites, red brick line on the ground, self-guided or audio guide $19) — Boston Common, State House, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church (Paul Revere's signal, 1775), Bunker Hill Monument. Harvard + MIT in Cambridge (free Harvard campus visit, Harvard Art Museums $20, Harvard Museum of Natural History), Fenway Park (stadium tour $25, or Red Sox game $30-300 April-October), Museum of Fine Arts ($27), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ($20, copied Venetian palace), Whale Watching from Boston Harbor (May-October, $60-80).

Excursions from NYC: Cape Cod (4h drive, beaches, lighthouses, LGBTQ-friendly Provincetown, summer), Hamptons (Long Island, 2-3h drive, elite beaches, summer), Long Beach Island (Jersey Shore), Storm King Art Center (Hudson Valley, monumental sculptures, 1h drive north), Hudson Valley (Cold Spring, Beacon, Hyde Park FDR Library, 1-2h drive). From Boston: Cape Cod (1h30, Provincetown), Salem (50 min, witches, October), Concord and Lexington (45 min, Revolution sites), Vermont and New Hampshire (foliage, 3-5h, winter skiing). From Washington: Mount Vernon (45 min, George Washington's plantation), Annapolis (1h, Maryland capital, harbours), Williamsburg (3h, Colonial Williamsburg reconstruction), Shenandoah National Park (2h, Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Mountains).