6 underrated states to visit for a domestic vacation

My wife and I were fortunate to visit all 50 states on a seven year road trip, getting to see parts of the country we’d never have thought to visit on vacation.

Some of the places we visited hadn’t previously been on our radar, but they ended up being some of our most enjoyable experiences during the trip. I therefore wanted to highlight what I think are the most underrated states for domestic vacations.

1) New Mexico

New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment and it’s not hard to see how it gained that name. It was my favorite state of all, so much so that we ended up finding ways to route through there again a couple of times during our trip to see even more of the state.

We stayed in eight different cities—Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Bloomfield, Los Alamos, Carlsbad, Deming, Farmington, and Gallup—and loved each of them. Shae and I were both surprised at how much interesting stuff there was to do throughout the state.

New Mexico has a ton of interesting history, particularly with regards to the Ancestral Puebloan people. Our favorite places to visit on that front were Bandelier National Monument that has cliff dwellings you can see and even climb up into…

…and Chaco Culture National Historical Park that has the remains of buildings, kivas, and more built by the Ancestral Puebloan more than 1,000 years ago.

Pecos National Historical Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument are also both worth a visit for their historical significance and learning opportunities.

The natural beauty of New Mexico is incredible, especially in the northern half of the state. The drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe was stunning, but we were blown away by the views and scenery all around the state.

Speaking of scenery, there’s some excellent hiking in New Mexico, particularly in Albuquerque thanks to the Sandia mountain range. I went on several hikes there, but two of the most notable ones were the La Luz trail and the Domingo Baca trail.

The La Luz trail was the hardest hike I’ve ever done, starting at 6,600 feet above sea level and going uphill with little respite all the way to Sandia Peak at 10,378 feet. It’s about 7.5 miles each way, although you can take the Sandia Peak Tramway up or down if you don’t want to do a 15 mile round trip hike. I wrote more about the La Luz trail in this post.

The Domingo Baca trail is more of an unusual hike, although it could be of interest for AVGeeks, because it leads you to the crash site of TWA 260, a plane that crashed in the mountains shortly after takeoff on February 19, 1955. Due to the remote nature of the crash location, a large amount of the plane wreckage can still be found scattered at the end of the trail. If you’re interested, I wrote more about the Domingo Baca trail here.

I mentioned the Sandia Peak Tramway earlier, but I wanted to highlight that again as it’s a fun trip up to Sandia Peak if you don’t want to hike up there. There’s a cafe / bar / restaurant at the peak, so you can spend some time up there enjoying the view. It’s also a lovely place to watch the sunset.

The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum is well worth a visit in Albuquerque as it has all kinds of interesting history about hot air ballooning. Albuquerque is also home to the International Balloon Fiesta in October each year. I’d recommend visiting both the early morning and nighttime events, but you don’t necessarily have to do both on the same day.

It’s also fun taking a hot air balloon ride. Those rides are very pricey if you want to depart from the Balloon Fiesta grounds, so we took a balloon ride that set off just outside that park. That slashed the cost, but we still got to enjoy the sight of all the other hot air balloons taking off as part of the festival that day.

In the southern half of the state you have Carlsbad Caverns National Park which has some beautiful formations (although I am still partial to the Luray Caverns in Virginia).

One of my favorite National Parks of all is a little further west of there—White Sands National Park. White Sands is unusual because the sand is made of gypsum which means that it doesn’t get hot. That means you can stand barefoot in the sand on a sunny day and not have scorched feet.

It’s also unusual as National Parks go because it’s incredibly dog-friendly. Truffles was able to join us everywhere we went in the park with the exception of inside buildings like the visitor center. You can bring your own sled to go sandboarding down the tall dunes, or you can rent one from the park.

Food was another highlight of New Mexico. The village of Hatch—known for the Hatch chili—is in the south of the state and you can get red or green chili sauce on food all over the state. Or you can ask for it ‘Christmas-style’ to get both red and green chili. We also loved sopaipillas which are a type of fried bread/pastry.

The southwest part of the state has a surprisingly great winery too. D.H. Lescombes is just outside of Deming and we really enjoyed our wine tasting there. You don’t have to go that far to check out their wine though; D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro can be found in Albuquerque and both the wine and food is delicious.

I could spend all day writing about all the different places I loved in New Mexico, so here’s a quick list of other places worth checking out that I haven’t mentioned so far:

• Santa Fe in general
• Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano
• El Morro National Monument
• El Malpais National Monument
• Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
• La Posta de Mesilla in Mesilla (near Las Cruces) for a meal; Shae loved their prickly pear margarita, but the food was good too
• Elephant Butte State Park – you can drive your car down on to the beach
• Pistachioland for a quirky stop near White Sands
• White Rock Canyon for hiking
• Mogollon ghost town
• Catwalk Recreation Area
• Tsankawi Prehistoric Sites (this is part of Bandelier National Monument, but is at a different location)
• Petroglyph National Monument
• Valles Caldera National Preserve
• Sopaipilla Factory in Santa Fe for a meal; both their stuffed sopaipillas and dessert sopaipilla with honey were tasty
• Ruby K’s Bagel Cafe in Los Alamos; these were unexpectedly good bagels
• Los Alamos History Museum (has history of the town and the Manhattan Project)

Due to COVID, we didn’t get a chance to visit Taos which came highly recommended by many people. Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos was also closed when we were there due to COVID.

2) Vermont

Vermont was my second favorite state of all and it’s also a state that I imagine isn’t at the forefront of everyone’s minds when planning a domestic vacation.

Similar to how New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment, there’s something simply magical about Vermont. The moment you drive into the state, it’s like the scenery becomes ten times more beautiful. It doesn’t seem to matter where you drive in Vermont—you’ll always have a mountain on one side and a babbling brook on the other, with a waterfall not far away.

Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the entire US as its population is only ~8,000 people. We first visited Montpelier in May 2018 and found it incredibly charming. Unfortunately the city—and much of Vermont—suffered from serious flooding several years later, so the city was still recovering from that the next time we visited.

Ben & Jerry’s is from Vermont and you can go on a factory tour, try a new ice cream flavor, etc. Be sure to also check out the Flavor Graveyard where you can pay your respects to all the Ben & Jerry’s flavors that have come and gone.

If you love The Sound of Music, one place you’ll definitely want to check out is the Trapp Family Lodge & Resort. The real life von Trapp family escaped to Vermont and set up this lodge that’s still running today. You can book a stay there, or just visit during the day. You can also take a tour where you learn more about Maria von Trapp’s final visit to Salzburg, you visit the family cemetery where the Captain, Maria, and many other family members are buried, and they often have an actual von Trapp family member sharing more about their life.

The Sound of Music is one of my mum’s favorite movies, so when they came to visit us on the road trip we booked them for a tour.

There’s also von Trapp Brewing on site, so you can stop there for a drink even if you’re not staying at the lodge.

Vermont has tons of other wineries, breweries, and distilleries throughout the state. Some of our favorites were:

• Boyden Valley Winery
• The Alchemist (brewery)
• Smugglers’ Notch Distillery
• Cold Hollow Cider Mill
• Stowe Cider
• Barr Hill (gin and some other spirits)
• Appalachian Gap Distillery
• Stonecutter Spirits
• Woodchuck Cider House
• Lincoln Peak Vineyard

There’s tons of amazing hiking in Vermont, but be aware that gnats in the summer can make the experience more miserable than you might like, so bring a generous supply of bug spray if you’ll be in the forests and mountains.

The payoff is worth it though, like this view of Lake Willoughby from Mt Pisgah.

While it’s not necessarily the happiest of places to visit, dog owners might like to drive up to the Dog Chapel & Stephen Huneck Art Gallery at Dog Mountain. The Dog Chapel is there to honor, remember, and memorialize all the pups who’ve crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

It’s free to visit, it’s pet-friendly, and anyone can leave a photo or note dedicated to their dogs who’ve passed on.

On a much happier note, one of the many reasons that Vermont is so charming is that it has more than 100 covered bridges. These can be found throughout the state, so it’s not hard to find a handful of them near wherever you are.

There are several maple syrup-related activities you can do in Vermont. We enjoyed visiting Bragg Farm Sugar House and you can get a maple creemee—a maple syrup flavored soft serve ice cream—while there too.

That said, the best maple creemee I had was at Vermont Maple Market in Middlebury. Shae loved it too.

Vermont truly is a wonderful place and somehow you just know when you’re there. On our drive to New Hampshire a few years ago, we stopped for a picnic lunch in a small town by the side of a river. Shae and I remarked to each other about how beautiful it was and how much it reminded us of Vermont. It turns out that we were in Vermont; we’d entered the state a short while earlier and hadn’t realized, but somehow the look and feel of it was unmistakably Vermont.

3) Virginia

Before setting off on our road trip, we lived in Portsmouth, VA for about seven years. Virginia is another state that’s underrated from a vacation perspective as it has so much to offer no matter what you’re interested in.

There’s all kinds of history, from George Washington’s Mount Vernon to Monticello to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (which saw the end of the Civil War), not to mention Historic Jamestowne and Colonial Williamsburg. Even Olde Towne in Portsmouth where we used to live has homes dating back to the 1700s.

If you want beaches, you’ve got Virginia Beach, along with lots of other beaches like Buckroe Beach in Hampton, Chesapeake Bay, etc. If you want mountains, you’ve got Shenandoah National Park and the rest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Appalachians, and more. If you want hiking, Virginia has tons of trails. If you like caverns, both the Luray Caverns and Grand Caverns are excellent.

Virginia’s state capital Richmond has all kinds of free activities you can do, including museums. Roanoke is a beautiful mountain town with nearby hiking, the Mill Mountain Star, and the Roanoke Pinball Museum which can be a lot of fun.

If you like theme parks, there’s Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion. If you like water parks, there’s Water Country USA. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in northern Virginia is a fantastic venue for live music and other performances.

4) Kentucky

Kentucky was an unexpected delight. I think part of the reason we loved it so much is because of the time of year we visited. We spent six weeks there in 2019 from early April through mid May. That meant we had lovely, temperate weather before the heat of the summer, perfect for exploring all the natural beauty the state has to offer.

And there’s a lot of natural beauty. We visited many state resort parks there and were surprised at how beautiful and lush it all was.

Louisville was a fun city; we stayed in NuLu, a neighborhood on the eastern side of downtown. One fun activity to do there is Mega Cavern which features the world’s only fully underground ziplining course.

We were lucky with the timing of our visit as we got to attend Thunder Over Louisville—a massive fireworks display (think 30 minutes) set to music. It was definitely the most impressive fireworks display I’ve seen in person.

Kentucky is best known for three things though. One of those is horse racing. Churchill Downs—site of the Kentucky Derby—is in Louisville and you can tour the facility throughout the year. We did a tour, then returned a few weeks later for the Derby itself.

That’s not the only horse racing-related activity you can do in Kentucky. There’s the 3,000 acre Claiborne Farm where Secretariat is buried, as well as Old Friends Farm which takes care of retired race horses.

The second major thing Kentucky is known for is bourbon. There are bourbon distilleries in various locations around the state, including Angel’s Envy in Louisville. However, most of the biggest names in bourbon can be found in and around the state capital—Frankfort.

Many of them offer paid tours, but I’d highly recommend Buffalo Trace. They offer a free tour that includes a tasting, it’s an interesting experience and, if you’re traveling with your pup(s), it’s pet-friendly. That meant we got to bring Truffles along for the day rather than having to leave her in the hotel room.

One of the most fascinating parts of the tour was the exhibit below showing four different barrels at various stages of the aging process. Bourbon barrels tend to lose about 2%-3% of their volume each year to evaporation, something referred to as the Angel’s Share. This display showed what that looks when it’s first barreled, then at the 4, 9, and 18 year marks. That’s predominantly why whiskey that’s been aged for a longer time is more expensive—there’s simply less of it to go around.

One of the best parts of the tour is the gift shop afterwards. Buffalo Trace produces numerous popular whiskey brands in addition to Buffalo Trace itself, with some that are harder to get your hands on than others. Each day there’s a particular brand that’s available for sale that’s limited to one per person and is strictly enforced. The last time we visited, that meant Shae and I were able to buy a couple of bottles of Blanton’s.

The third thing that Kentucky is most famous for is Kentucky Fried Chicken. What is now Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum in Corbin, KY was the birthplace of KFC. You can visit the museum and also order KFC; definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

A few other places in Kentucky worth highlighting:

• Bernheim Forest – this is home to several of Thomas Dambo’s troll sculptures; Jim Beam Distillery is nearby too
• National Quilt Museum in Paducah – I didn’t go as I had to work and Shae’s not even into quilting, but the quilts on display can only be described as being a work of art. After seeing her photos, I was actually a little disappointed that I missed out
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace & Boyhood Home
• Tri-State Peak at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park – you can hike to a spot where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet, thereby allowing you to stand in three states at once
• Dog Slaughter Falls
• Harkness Edwards Vineyards
• Carter Caves State Resort Park – this has several different natural bridges
• Canoeing on Elkhorn Creek with Canoe Kentucky – this included a beer at the end at West Sixth Farm

5) Washington

I was in two minds as to whether or not Washington (state, not D.C.) should be eligible for this list seeing as Seattle is a fairly popular place for people to visit. I ultimately felt like it warranted inclusion because it doesn’t feel like I’ve ever heard many people saying, “I’m going to Washington on vacation.”

We only stayed in four different places in Washington, but loved them all. Shae and I kicked things off in Spokane, staying at The Historic Davenport hotel which is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. It’s a beautifully restored property that’s in a great location downtown to explore the city by foot; you can find my review here.

We really enjoyed our 10 days in Spokane. There were lots of great breweries, my favorite of which was Whistle Punk Brewing. The waterfalls are fantastic and, in addition to walking down by them, you can take the Numerica SkyRide gondola over the falls.

There are all kinds of hiking opportunities nearby; we went on one in Riverside State Park which is to the north of downtown Spokane. There are more than 50 miles of trails, with all kinds of beautiful views.

Our next destination in Washington was Leavenworth, a cute Alpine town that’s modeled on a Bavarian village.

There are lots of breweries, wineries, and eateries serving German (and non-German) fare. The Wenatchee River runs through the city and that can make for a nice scenic walk.

Shae loved Leavenworth Reindeer Farm where she learned all kinds of interesting facts about reindeers and got to meet them. It’s not dog-friendly, so I hung out elsewhere with Truffles.

My favorite activity there was riding the Alpine Coaster a couple of times at Leavenworth Adventure Park. You race down the mountain on a toboggan at up to 27mph. It’s tremendous fun and feels very safe, but it’s also very exhilarating.

For my first ride, I did use the brake a little as I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. For my second ride, I didn’t use it at all in order to go full pelt. Here’s a video of both my rides so you can get a sense of what to expect if you visit.



There are a few museums in Leavenworth. The Greater Leavenworth Museum shares the city’s history, including how and why they decided to model themselves on a Bavarian village. There’s also the quirky Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum which has more than 9,000 nutcrackers. If you’re traveling with your dog, they’re allowed inside the Nutcracker Museum provided you can carry them in your arms or in a backpack.

Seattle was our third destination in Washington. There are all the obvious highlights—the Space Needle, the first Starbucks, Pike Place Market, notable grunge locations, the Gum Wall, etc.—although my favorite activity there was unexpected.

I’m generally not into art galleries, but Chihuly Garden and Glass was incredible. Dale Chihuly is the guy who created the iconic glass flower display on the ceiling of Bellagio in Las Vegas. Chihuly Garden and Glass has tons of his items and they’re truly a wonder to behold.

Our final Washington destination was the Olympic Peninsula where we stayed in an amazing Vacasa property on Lake Sutherland in Port Angeles. We booked it with Wyndham points, but that partnership has since sadly ended.

If you’re a Twilight fan, there are lots of book and movie locations you can visit in Forks and La Push.

Olympic National Park is definitely worth a visit on the Olympic Peninsula. That has lots of hiking trails and the Hall of Mosses is otherworldly.

Our friends were living just across the water on Whidbey Island, so we met up with them one day and checked out Deception Pass with its bridge you can both drive across and walk over to enjoy the views.

Something else that was a lot of fun was Olympic Game Farm. This offers a drive-through safari experience with bison, bears, yak, elk, llamas, and more. You can buy bread to feed many of the animals; I’d recommend buying several loaves at the park as you get through it much more quickly than you might expect, even when trying to ration it.

Shae being Shae, she put a slice of bread in her mouth to feed a bison in true Lady and the Tramp style. Don’t try this at home kids.

6) South Dakota

South Dakota was another state that surprised me in terms of how much I enjoyed our time there. We kicked things off in Sioux Falls, staying at the Holiday Inn downtown which is an extremely rare Holiday Inn in that has a club lounge.

Falls Park downtown is a nice place to have a walk, as is Palisades State Park. There are loads of pet-friendly breweries and distilleries downtown if that’s your thing, with Sioux Falls having a very walkable downtown.

South Dakota’s state capital is Pierre and it’s one of the least exciting state capitals we visited.

Rapid City on the other hand had lots of stuff to do. There’s a presidential sculpture hunt downtown, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands National Park, and one of the best state parks we visited anywhere in the US—Custer State Park.

Deadwood is near Rapid City too and it makes for an easy day trip if basing yourself in Rapid City. That said, we spent a week in Deadwood too and had a fun time. A former mining town, it’s retained its Wild West origins and is now more of a casino town, plus it leans into its fame from the TV series of the same name.

Calamity Jane is buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery in the city, as is Wild Bill Hickok. Saloon No. 10 does shooting reenactments of his death at the hands of Jack McCall (the unfortunate result of a card game), while during tourist season (which starts in mid-May), you can attend free shooting reenactments on Saturdays on Main St.

Downtown has lots of museums (including a brothel museum), other saloon bars, distilleries, and great hiking in Spearfish Canyon. Many of the activities—including some of the saloon bars and casinos—were pet-friendly, so Truffles enjoyed her time there too.

Question

Those are my six most underrated states for domestic vacations, but how about you? Are there states that fly below the radar that you think deserve more tourism? Let us know in the comments below.