From theme parks to national parks, the United States is full of vacation choices. Sandra O'Connellrounds up some of the most appealing possibilities.
WITH EACH EURO in your pocket worth $1.50, there has never been a better time to go west in search of a holiday. Most of us haven't needed telling twice. A record 56.7 million international visitors went stateside last year, up 11 per cent on 2006. The amount they spent was up, too, with retail sales to overseas visitors up 14 per cent on 2006, itself a record-breaking year. And the records don't stop there. Arrivals from Ireland soared by 19 per cent last year, the highest increase ever.
It's not hard to see why. The fares to New York, Chicago, Florida or Los Angeles might not be able to compete with 1c European flights, but once you get to the US the value for money just keeps on coming. From breakfasts big enough to last you all day to designer gear at outlet prices, your euro buys you more dollars, and then your dollars get you more value.
But money will only get you so far, and what makes the US still more attractive is the quality of its holiday destinations. Want to go grizzly in the great outdoors? The United States has some of the world's biggest, most spectacular and emptiest national parks. Want to shop till you drop? US cities are vying to take New York's crown as the world's consumer capital. Want to kick back and chill out by the sea? Golden beaches (and mountainous platters of seafood) await you from California to Cape Cod.
From year-round skiing to top-notch sailing, music festivals to mountain hiking - in fact, whatever you're into - Uncle Sam's got the solution. And did we mention the dollar . . .
1 Florida family fun
Too much is never enough in Florida. No matter how long your holiday, there just isn't time to visit every attraction, let alone every ride. The theme-park capital of the world, it is home to the planet's biggest Disney park - 70sq km of Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom. Then there's Universal Studios Orlando (below), SeaWorld and Discovery Cove. There's even a park devoted to re-creating the Holy Land. As if that's not enough, there are Nasa's Kennedy Space Center and, farther afield, Busch Gardens to consider, too.
Panorama Holidays has two-week Florida holidays departing in June, September and October for €599 per person, including flights. Book online for a further 10 per cent discount.
One of the handiest options is to stay at the Best Western Plaza International Hotel, on International Drive, between Universal Orlando and SeaWorld and just half an hour from Walt Disney World.
The same company is offering rooms only for from €2,322 for two adults and a child, including car hire, for the two weeks from June 20th.
0818-202020, www.panoramaholidays.ie
2 Fall for New EnglandThere's nothing like being in the right place at the right time. For leaf-peepers that's got to be New England in the fall. With the dollar dropping faster than autumn leaves, this is the time to book that trip to Vermont, where the foliage burns out in a blaze of glory during September and October.
Throughout the region, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, local authorities run hotlines so you can tell with pinpoint accuracy where nature's paint box is going to be at its most vibrant.
The Travel Department has a 10-night escorted tour of the region, flying to Boston and taking in a series of full-day guided excursions to Cape Cod and Hyannis, Newport, Bethel, Maine, Rutland and beautiful Woodstock - straight out of Little House on the Prairie. A highlight of the tour is a trip to see the stunning Queechee Gorge.
Prices start at €1,249 for a September departure.
01-6371600, www.thetraveldepartment.ie
3 Star in your own road movie
Trek America, a US operator, will take you on a small-group adventure tour of the biggest, oldest and just plain oddest elements of Americana, taking in everything from a Maid of the Mist cruise at Niagara Falls to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Roswell UFO Museum.
The company's Americana Tour sees you cross coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, in 28 days. In line with the pioneering spirit of those who originally headed west, don't expect luxury. The bulk of your nights will be spent under canvas.
Optional activities, paid locally, include a scenic flight over the Grand Canyon, a tour of Gracelands, a visit to a drive-in movie, a western horseback ride and a visit to the Route 66 Museum. You'll also see the weirdness that is the Cadillac Ranch, where cars are buried nose-first in the dirt.
Ten excellent national-park hikes are also provided for, including mighty Yosemite.
Prices for the trip, which is marketed at under-40s, start at $2,537 (€1,646).
00-44-20-87723758, www.trekamerica.com
4 Viva Las VegasAs the local tourist authorities have it, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". It's probably just as well. Never mind visiting the shows and casinos: a trip down the Strip is stimulation enough - with music pulsating, neon lights flashing, fountains dancing and, of course, volcanoes erupting.
About the best way to see it is by helicopter. Just €69 will get you a champagne-fuelled flight past landmarks such as New York-New York, Bellagio and Caesar's Palace.
Las Vegas is also a great base from which to take a trip to the Grand Canyon, including the fantastic new Skywalk, a vertigo-inducing glass bridge that gives you an eagle's-eye view of the chasm below.
Sunway is offering Las Vegas specials throughout November priced from €695 for a four-night getaway, based on two sharing at the three-star Circus Circus hotel. For even better value, do it in style at the five-star MGM Grand, where prices start at €716 per person, including flights.
01-2311888, www.sunway.ie
5 Bake in Alaska
With August temperatures of up to 25 degrees, it's theoretically possible to bake here. To be honest, though, nobody goes to Alaska for the sunshine. They visit the US's largest state for its uniqueness. It's a sparsely populated wilderness of immense natural beauty, from the highest peaks of Mount McKinley (below) to its kilometres of deserted coastline.
In between, the state has five times as many lakes (three million) as people (670,000), 17 of the United States' highest mountains, 100,000 glaciers and 15 national parks. Top attractions include Alaska SeaLife Center - where huge sea lions glide past underwater viewing windows - Wolf Country and Alaska Raptor Centre.
American Holidays will get you from Dublin to Anchorage, via Chicago, staying at the Best Western Golden Lion, from €4,903 based on two adults staying 14 nights in August. Flights start at £1,708 (€2,167) per person in August, via London and Seattle, on the search engine Opodo. Not cheap, but it could cost a lot more if the dollar strengthens.
01-6733840, www.americanholidays.com; for flights only see www.opodo.com
6 Shop in New York
In these straitened times the annual shopping break in New York is not so much a luxury as a necessity for anyone looking to bag a bargain. There are great prices and a great exchange rate, and, if your trip coincides with one of the city's legendary sales, you actually make money by going. Well, almost.
Tour America has five nights at the Regency Inn and Suites from €972 per person sharing, including direct flights with Continental Airlines, which gives you just enough time to take the Sex and the Citytour and the bus out to Woodbury Common discount outlet.
You'll also have time to make use of your $67 New York Pass, which provides free access to the city's top attractions, including museums, zoos, tours, a trip on the Ellis Island Ferry and Rockefeller Center (below), as well as discounts at loads of other venues.
To do it independently, flights to NY are available through Aer Lingus at about €470 return in November. Roomex.com has a variety of accommodation for €100-€130 that month, perfect for Christmas shoppers.
01-8173535, www.touramerica.ie; see www.roomex.com to compare hotel prices 7 Raft the Grand Canyon
As if visiting the Grand Canyon weren't dramatic enough, how about white-water rafting your way down it? Raftingthegrandcanyon.com is a website whose name pretty much says it all. The company will take you down the Colorado River.
Over an eight-day, 460km meander, expect as many spills as thrills, given that there's an average of two rapids every three kilometres, with names such as Badger, Grapevine, Horn Creek and the ominous Upset.
All are mere appetisers compared with Lava Falls, your arrival at which is signalled by a thunderous roar of water. Check out "carnage at lava falls" on YouTube to get an idea.
There are hiking excursions to high plateaux and side canyons, with waterfalls and natural swimming pools to visit, too, as well as trips to abandoned mines and Native American ruins.
Camp out on sandy river beaches with food prepared by your guide and stowed in on-board fridges - assuming they survive the rapids.
Prices start at $2,095 (€1,355) per person for motorised-craft trips of up to 11 days.
00-1-702-6556060, www.raftingthegrandcanyon.com
8 Snow sure in KillingtonNext time you feel you're getting fleeced on the piste, think US. Killington is the largest ski area in the eastern United States - and the closest
US ski resort to Ireland. It's made up of six interconnecting mountains (below) and the additional area of Pico Mountain, 20 minutes away by bus.
As such it offers excellent diversity for skiers of all ability, from dedicated beginners' slopes to perfectly prepared pistes, gladed terrain and steep mogul runs. There are snowmobiles, sleigh rides, tubing, ice-skating and dog-sledding opportunities, and the nightlife's fairly hopping, too.
Aer Lingus is offering one-way flights to Boston in January from €144 each way, excluding taxes. Killington is a three-hour drive from Logan International Airport.
A week's rental of an economy car from Hertz, picking up at the airport, works out at about €130. Accommodation at the well-located Inn of the Six Mountains at Killington costs from about €139 a night for a double room in January.
00-1-802-4224302, www.sixmountains.com
9 Get well in ArizonaThe state might not have much of a profile here, but to those in the know it is the spa capital of the world, with cities such as Tucson, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Sedona creating what economists like to call an industry cluster. Except that this industry is devoted to making you feel human again, and few do it better, by all accounts.
Daddy of them all is Canyon Ranch Resort & Hotel, in Tucson, which practically invented the destination spa. Spreading over 7,500sq m (80,000sq ft), with more than 40 treatment rooms and 225 programmes to choose from, it might at first seem pretty industrial itself. But don't be fooled. If any place can put you in touch with your pampered self, this is probably it.
The last word in luxury (and gourmet dining), all-inclusive four-night packages start at $2,560 (€1,655) per person sharing a double this summer. This includes $600 (€390) worth of services. What's more, right now when two newbies book a stay, each saves 15 per cent on the package price.
00-1-520-7499000, www.canyonranch.com
10 Ride the Oregon trail
If it's a dude ranch you're looking for, look no farther than Rock Springs, in Oregon. This 26-room venue punches so far above its weight that it has featured in National Geographic and won accolades from Condé Nast Traveller.
Visitors stay in their very own log cabin, and you know you've come to the right place when you hear a place advertise a lack of mobile-phone coverage and e-mail facilities as a plus.
Visitors are paired with horses for the week before setting out into the sagebrush and ponderosa pines. And when not doing your Billy Crystal City Slickers impersonation, there's yoga, massage, tennis, swimming, golf, fly-fishing and rafting to choose from, as well as more barbecues than you could shake a refried bean at.
It's a family affair, too, with a children's programme of riding (below), games, crafts and nature walks.
The ranch is open from June until the end of August, with some vacancies still available this summer. Prices start at about €1,785 for a week; the local airport is served by connections from Los Angeles.
00-1-541-3821957, www.rocksprings.com