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Something to keep in mind about this. Yes we have lots of variety, but I will give you an example. The tropical areas of S. Florida are a miniscule part of the entire area of the US. The reason Florida is chock full of development and people is because the US with 300M people, has very few decent areas for warm weather retirement. Florida is destined to grow by millions more and will just become a hell hole of traffic, over development and pollution. Count on it. Same with the other over developed warm weather areas like S. Calif, AZ, etc. Compare the size of the tropics in Australia with those in the US.
The vast majority of the eastern half of the US is just pure cold continental winter type climates and flattish boring landscape. Even in places like Jackson, MS in winter the landscape looks just as dead as Pennsylvania with leafless trees and brown grass.
Yes the US has some spectacular landscapes in National Parks. The rest, I wouldn't say is knock down amazing. Just ordinary. The Rocky Mountains are no match for the European Alps in terms of steep scarped out valleys and soaring snow capped mountains. The Rockies tend to be much more rounded than the Alps and simply not as scenic.
The US may be more wild in terms of natural elements, but is certainly not the most scenic nation on earth. Americans tend to be very biased, and the US media hardly portrays beautiful areas in other countries. People in Europe tend to know just about any beautiful place on the planet. Americans tend to know only about US places. Hence they have an inflated sense of the US over the rest of the world.
Read loads of travel blogs from Europeans, Canadians, and others from around the world that travel thru numerous countries, and many times they talk about the most beautiful place they have seen. Some will mention somewhere in the US like the Grand Canyon or Bryce, but not the majority.
I disagree about the natural aspect of the US. The eastern half might not be as topographically/climatically dynamic as the western, but it is still punctuated by numerous hills, mountains, ridges and valleys in a lot of it--then again, a fat chunk of Europe and other areas are similarly less topographically/climatically dynamic than the West Coast. Here's a Koppen Climate System map:
Mountain-wise, I like the coastal ranges of the West and especially the Olympic Mountains--temperate rainforests are a very rare thing.
The Great Lakes are a unique asset and can be absolutely beautiful with its azure coloring and stretching out into the horizon.
The US has a shorter history of intensive development and was the first nation to officially set aside national parks for posterity. I agree that a lot of the most beautiful places in the world aren't in the US, but a lot of the most beautiful places aren't natural or entirely natural either.
I've never left the U.S. in my life and I'm 27 years old. Hopefully someday I can visit other countries. I just watched tons of tour videos of other countries across the world, and I beg to ask the following: Is it just me, or does the U.S. seem very bland and boring compared to numerous other countries?
Other countries, such as France, Italy, China, Egypt, etc, have unparallelled scenic/natural beauty with stunning architecture that nothing in the U.S. can compare. But the U.S. seems to severely lack in these things. It's almost as if the layout and urban/suburban design of the U.S. is designed for a capitalist system where the primary concern is business and economics. We have tons of cookie cut-out neighborhoods from the 1950's. But other countries seem like they are more designed for beauty and leisure.
I mean, yeah, the U.S. has great scenic beauty in itself, but it seems flatter and blander compared to the rest of the world. And it seems like the U.S. has TONS of suburbia compared to other countries and heavy reliance on interstate highways and a more rural feeling in general.
Is there truth to this assertion? Hopefully someone who has traveled to other countries can confirm or deny this for me.
Most other countries in the world people live on top of one other .There is no space and no privacy .If you think your row housing in New York , Baltimore ,Philly or San Francisco is bad and tired of police complaints of loud music or TV well have fun in other parts of the world. To live in small war time house like this http://images1.estatesincanada.com/n...se_1839375.jpg you will have to have lots of money .
Most middle class would not even live house like that.
Every thing now is moving to highrise apartments because of over population in the city .Unless there is major population decline in many cities that are getting too big highrise apartments and condos will be the answer.Give the US other 50 or 100 years and the suburb living will be over in most big cities in US too .
What country would you say is more scenic overall than the U.S.?
I would say China, but the problem is, a lot of that scenery is remote or basically inaccessible without a long journey. The lower 48 states of the US are unique in their accessibility, with the interstate system able to deliver cars from coast to coast in a matter of days. It's getting easier to drive cross-country in China, but it's still limited to a handful of routes, and due to population density, it probably will be for a long while.
I would say China, but the problem is, a lot of that scenery is remote or basically inaccessible without a long journey. The lower 48 states of the US are unique in their accessibility, with the interstate system able to deliver cars from coast to coast in a matter of days. It's getting easier to drive cross-country in China, but it's still limited to a handful of routes, and due to population density, it probably will be for a long while.
The Na Pali Coast, Paria Canyon, Havasu Falls, Lake Tahoe, The Florida Keys, Finger Lakes, Yellow Stone, Blue Ridge Pkwy, Big Sur, Glacier National Park, Everglades and I could type for days adding to the list. This does not even take into account urban scenic areas.
By far the U.S. has the most vast and diverse scenic beauty, in my opinion of course, with much of it easily accessible.
While places like China and Australia may come close in some aspects of scenic beauty they do not have as many different climates as the U.S. and thus can not match the U.S. overall.
China does not have any desert cities or Tropical cities like the US has.
Yes, it does. China has the Taklimakan desert (among others), one of the biggest, weirdest landscapes in the world. Urumqi is the biggest city in an arid part of China, but there are smaller cities right up against the Taklimakan itself. China also has Hainan island and the borders with Vietnam/Laos/Burma, which have tropical features.
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they do not have as many different climates as the U.S.
China actually has more climactic variety than the US overall because it has landscapes that don't exist in the US. For example, the US has no interface between a huge mountain range and a semitropical jungle, like China does in southern Tibet/Burmese border. Think of the Shangri-la myths - that's the kind of landscape those tales were describing. The US does not have any high-altitude plains, with expanses of flat land at 15 to 18,000 feet or more, while China has too many. One of China's high-elevation plains leads to the Afghan border; it's a gigantic nation. And the Himalayas themselves of course exceed anything we've got by thousands of feet.
That's not to disparage the US at all, but in terms of absurd,inhuman landscapes that push the limits of what the Earth's surface offers at the moment, I think China wins. But like I noted, a lot of those places are inaccessible. A 19,300ft. mountain on the Burma side of the China-Burma border (Hkakabo Razi) wasn't even climbed until 1996. The mountaineering team had to ascend through humid jungles and then over a glacier field to reach the summit, and from the top, there were dozens of other smaller unclimbed peaks in view. We really don't have frontiers like that in the US anymore, unless we count our coastal seafloors.
Then howcome it seems like foreigners rarely visit the U.S. for vacation or tourism? I hear more about Americans traveling to other countries than non-Americans coming to America for leisure and travel.
Actually, Europeans love to travel to the United States since our currency exchange rate favors them. It's like Americans going to Mexico where our money goes much further. When I traveled to England, there were many people who had traveled all over the States. They'd been to more places here than I had. Then, when I went to Disney World I was hard pressed to find anyone not from a foreign country.
Yes, it does. China has the Taklimakan desert (among others), one of the biggest, weirdest landscapes in the world. Urumqi is the biggest city in an arid part of China, but there are smaller cities right up against the Taklimakan itself. China also has Hainan island and the borders with Vietnam/Laos/Burma, which have tropical features.
China actually has more climactic variety than the US overall because it has landscapes that don't exist in the US. For example, the US has no interface between a huge mountain range and a semitropical jungle, like China does in southern Tibet/Burmese border. Think of the Shangri-la myths - that's the kind of landscape those tales were describing. The US does not have any high-altitude plains, with expanses of flat land at 15 to 18,000 feet or more, while China has too many. One of China's high-elevation plains leads to the Afghan border; it's a gigantic nation. And the Himalayas themselves of course exceed anything we've got by thousands of feet.
That's not to disparage the US at all, but in terms of absurd,inhuman landscapes that push the limits of what the Earth's surface offers at the moment, I think China wins. But like I noted, a lot of those places are inaccessible. A 19,300ft. mountain on the Burma side of the China-Burma border (Hkakabo Razi) wasn't even climbed until 1996. The mountaineering team had to ascend through humid jungles and then over a glacier field to reach the summit, and from the top, there were dozens of other smaller unclimbed peaks in view. We really don't have frontiers like that in the US anymore, unless we count our coastal seafloors.
Well said. Another area the US is definitely not the most scenic is beaches. The East Coast from Cape Cod down to Texas is one long line of development after another with very little topography but flat, sandy beaches. Many of those beaches are just chock a block over development with no thought to any kind of planning. And the development continues unabated as Florida will develop every last inch of its coastline for the almighty dollar. The US cares more about profit. Look at what is being done to the Outer Banks.
I would say the Med Coast of Italy is more beautiful, all the Greek Islands, and of course Australia beaches blow US beaches out of the water.
The Alps are more scenic than the Rocky Mts. The Rockies are not nearly as steep and scoured as the Alps. Rockies tend to be slightly more rounded, with high elevation valleys. The diff in elevation between valleys and peaks in the Alps is stunning.
America has a very diverse sense of architecture. The OP may be caught up on suburban housing patterns that developed after World War 2 that In my opinion can get a bit boring, but there was at least a couple hundred years of building that preceded that (Victorian, Brownstone, etc), and those designs are marvelous and intriguing. Check out some of my photo albums to get a better look at what I'm talking about since I've been devoting a significant amount of time to documenting old housing stock before its all torn down
Is there truth to this assertion? Hopefully someone who has traveled to other countries can confirm or deny this for me.
Old thread, and maybe I have responded to it in the past. I have traveled the states quite a bit and it is lovely imo. The Rockies are gorgeous. Go find yourself a wild sage field in the middle of those mountains and it will take your breath away. The deserts, red rock, grand canyon, and smaller surrounding canyons are breath taking. The Florida keys have miles of beautiful sea. The White mountains up in New England are my favorite (especially crawford notch, which is nestled in the twin mountains). I woke up one morning in eastern North Carolina following a massive rain and the woods glowed orange. It was amazing. Google the boundary waters separating Minnesota and Canada. It's majestic. Even within MN and WI there are water falls all over that are gorgeous. As pretty as the hot spring falls to be found in New Mexico. I've also been to Europe and had the opportunity to take the rail across rural France into Switzerland, so I got to see some of that space. It was beautiful as well, although really not unfamiliar.
I would like to head South someday. I want to see machu piccu, jungles, the coast, all over.
I've been to about 30 other countries. The US is a fairly interesting place in comparision. It's quite large, so it has more (and more varied) scenery than most smaller countries. It is a little more scenic than India, a little less scenic than China.
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Originally Posted by nep321
I just watched tons of tour videos of other countries across the world, and I beg to ask the following: Is it just me, or does the U.S. seem very bland and boring compared to numerous other countries?
Keep in mind that those tour videos only hit the higlights--neglecting the drudgery inbetween--and usually gloss over anything uninteresting.
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Other countries, such as France, Italy, China, Egypt, etc, have unparallelled scenic/natural beauty with stunning architecture that nothing in the U.S. can compare.
France? Haha no. It's mostly flat farmland, much like the Midwest. Paris is pretty, but not all that remarkable.
Italy? Also not more scenic than the US. It is more hilly than France. The architecture is mostly ancient ruins. Rome is just plain ugly. Venice and Florence are highlights. Naples has some beautiful scenery (the sea and towns under Vesuvius), but it's a pretty dirty city.
China has comparable scenery because it is very large. China lacks miles of white sandy beaches (ala. Florida), but it makes up for it with better mountains in Tibet and far western Xinjiang province.
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But the U.S. seems to severely lack in these things. It's almost as if the layout and urban/suburban design of the U.S. is designed for a capitalist system where the primary concern is business and economics. We have tons of cookie cut-out neighborhoods from the 1950's. But other countries seem like they are more designed for beauty and leisure.
Nope. Plenty of cookie-cutter, or ugly communist-block style housing in China. Plenty of blah cities and towns with absolutely no soul, just busier and more crowded than, say, dull US suburbia. Europe, in general, does have better-looking neighborhoods and towns than the US, though.
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I mean, yeah, the U.S. has great scenic beauty in itself, but it seems flatter and blander compared to the rest of the world. And it seems like the U.S. has TONS of suburbia compared to other countries and heavy reliance on interstate highways and a more rural feeling in general.
Is there truth to this assertion? Hopefully someone who has traveled to other countries can confirm or deny this for me.
The US does feel more rural in general. There's a LOT of empty space out there, and more than enough suburban sprawl. However, there are also lots of highlights. Cities like San Francisco, NYC, Chicago. Small towns with unique layouts, scenery, souls.
I do agree that the car-centric nature of the USA makes very large swaths of it pretty unappealing.
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highrise apartments and condos will be the answer.Give the US other 50 or 100 years and the suburb living will be over in most big cities in US too .