I been to east Germany. Theyāre still nicer than large parts of LA. Makes you wonderā¦
If youāre roadtripping, through Montana and Idaho to Portland, OR. then up to Seattle would be a more view worthy drive than Tennessee to New Orleans. New Orleans is worth a visit though. Iāve driven up the Gulf Coast from Orlando to New Orleans and the little beach towns along the way are cool-ish.
DCās got free museums galore, and some really good paid ones.
Foreigners like visiting Vegas for some reason.
I never liked Vegas. The only thing I like is the buffet.
With a few weeks Iād say do the classic American road trip: Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica.
Unless someone really, really wanted to say they drove Route 66 (whatever that means given they wonāt be driving the og route anyway), that wouldnāt be my recommendation. If you wanted to go between LA and Chicago, much more interesting routes to take.
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The drive to Key West for sure. The Key itself not so much.
Yellow stone, Arches, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, I mean there are so many amazing ones. I spent most of my time on the west coast, Iām partial to the west coast. Washington, Oregon, California, even B.C., all are amazing places. You can be next to the beach in the morning, in giant sequoia trees in the afternoon, visit the vineyards the next day, be up in the mountains that afternoon, and a couple of hours driving later be in Utah or Arizona for a national park.
If you like sleepy towns, I mean plenty of New England suburbs are amazing. Iāve only been to Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow in Upstate New York in the fall. All the maple trees, pretty houses, and nice shops were pretty memorable.
Instead of hitting lots of national parks, either just hit one, or find an area where a bunch of them are together. It also really depends on the time of year you want to visit. Some national parks are better for certain seasons.
Iāve never driven there. Iāve always flown in a little airplane. A little airplane I used to own. I lived on Miami Beach for some time. I used to spend weekends in Key West. I would hate to drive there.
Here I am at First Flight Field - Outer Banks North Carolina
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Plenty of good suggestions above. For reference, and out of personal nostalgia, I did the following 30-day road trip back in 2000 with my Taiwanese then-girlfriend/now-wife.
Left from Seattle where I was living, drove to Missoula, spent a couple days there staying with a friend.
From Missoula to Jackson Hole, more friends there, visited Yellowstone, did a river float thing, awesome.
Then to Denver, where my brother lived at the time. Few days there, cool city, went up Mt. Evans.
Then to Taos, NM for a night, cool little arty town, on the way to my other brotherās place in Phoenix. Desert / saguaro, about 3 hours to the Grand Canyon.
From Phoenix to Vegas for a night, then through Death Valley to catch the 395 up the Eastern Sierra. Absolutely incredible country, camped at June Lake, made our way to Yosemite, couple days there, on to San Francisco and another friendās place.
From SFO up along the coast, the giant redwoods are pretty insaneā¦
Continued up the Oregon Coast, made our way back to Seattle. Trip of a lifetime.
If you donāt have 30 days (or donāt want to drive that much), two suggestions:
- Fly to Salt Lake City and get a car, from there can go north to Yellowstone and/or south to the Utah parks (Arches, etc. ā havenāt been there yet but these are next on my list). Could go as far as the Grand Canyon.
- Fly to SFO, from there go north to the redwoods, south to Monterey and/or inland to Yosemite. Another option besides driving might be Amtrak, havenāt researched it lately but I think you can get some kind of 30-day rail pass and get on and off trains (and connecting buses), could be a fun way to see a lot of the west coast.
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Yeah, I used to do that a lot . Driving down the PCH, seeing Big Sur, Carmel by the Sea and Monterey was also a route that I did often.
I also had the most memorable drives up and down the coast from the boarder of California and Oregon to Vancouver BC.
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Beautiful country up and down the west coast. Noticed the OP mentioned avoiding āobviousā destinations like California, but if youāre after landscapes and havenāt been there before I donāt know why youād avoid it. Yosemite may be my favorite place on earth, the redwoods are mindblowing, forgot to mention Tahoe as well. I also suggested a more interior, less obvious itinerary if California must be avoided.
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There must have been some system upgrade that has occured, for I was only just notified of your responses, which are appreciated.
I just donāt like big cities and big airports. Iāll be flying from London most likely, which is bad enough. Iād rather do a flight to somewhere like Salt Lake City, or Charlotte, and then a domestic flight to somewhere like Missoula or somewhere in Wyoming, than fly into SFO or JFK.
Maybe I can save myself the flight and drive down to Austria or somewhere like that. Somewhere with open air and landscapes, deciduous forests 
Or highway 1 on the western coast all the way from up there to down there
If I were you Iād go biking in Maine. Thatās probably the most beautiful state.
If you go to Washington DC I can give you more advice on logistics.
Big Sur, Yosemite, Oregon from Crater Lake up the Willamette Valley to Portland, Northern Idaho/western Montana/Yellowstone, Wisconsin dairyland, Florida beaches on Gulfside, Key West.
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Golden Gate Bridge is so cliche, but seeing it in person and walking its length is a totally different experience (and you see first hand just how much work is required to keep it standing).