Fighting Words: Red States Are Better at Vacations Than Blue States

We've got the science and a half-baked argument to prove it

January 6, 2017 9:00 am EST

No surprises here:

In an analysis of travel trends by state, people in politically liberal states are planning more long-haul international trips, while red-staters are sticking closer to home, favoring domestic travel.

Your correspondent is writing this in a state so blue it’s almost ultramarine (#calexit), but on this subject, she sides with her red-state family members. Plenty of Europeans are saving up their centimes to make a pilgrimmage to the U.S., where we have some of the most spectacular natural wonders on earth (plus an extra couple newly secured by the president — #thanksobama). Shouldn’t we do the same?

Deserts, beaches, volcanoesNorthern Lights, whales, rich culture, gorgeous hotels: it’s all here, gents. Support your local hospitality personalities.

And speaking of hotels: Travel & Leisure just released its list of the best one in every state. Many will be familiar to the luxury traveler, like the famed Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge on the Oregon coast. But it turns out other states have managed to put together some notable lodgings as well.

Check ’em out, and get to planning.

Meet your guide

Diane Rommel

Diane Rommel

Diane Rommel has written for The Wall Street Journal, Outside, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Travel + Leisure, Wallpaper and Afar, as well as The Cut, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and McSweeney’s. She once drove from London to Mongolia, via Siberia.
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