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The pound may not be at its most buoyant against the dollar but that will not deter nearly a million British holidaymakers from crossing the Atlantic this year. So popular has the US become that some tour operators no longer think of it as a long-haul destination. It is hardly surprising. America seems custom built for travellers as the choice of attractions and activities is immense. Here is a small selection.

Boston and New England

One of the most atmospheric and walker-friendly cities in the US, Boston will boast another new attraction later this year when its already impressive New England Aquarium adds an IMAX theatre seating 400 people and able to show films in 3D. It is due to open this autumn.

You could combine a few days there with a stay in a rented house in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island or New York State. Clapboard houses with verandas - Americans call them decks - overlooking water are among the properties on offer from New England Country Homes (08700 774774). Prices start at £694pp for two weeks, based on four sharing. That includes scheduled flights, a rental car, insurance and the first night in a hotel on the outskirts of Boston. The company can also organise hotels downtown.

Provided you avoid the peak summer months of July and August, when the roads are jammed and the beaches crowded, Cape Cod can be heaven. An ink-blue Atlantic crashes on long white, empty sands. Go hiking among the dunes or along boardwalk trails where flowers and trees are identified. Rent bicycles and pedal car-free routes such as the 25-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail, which, as the name suggests, is a former train line. And go whale watching from salty Provincetown at the Cape's far tip. Osprey Holidays (0870 2414217) offers stays at The Captain Farris House, a 19th-century sea captain's home in a part of South Yarmouth settled by Quakers, from £60pp per night.

Florida

A hotel surrounded by its own 30-acre wildlife reserve, Disney's 1,307-room Animal Kingdom Lodge opens on April 16. The five-storey property is circular, and bedrooms are from the first floor up, so all guests get a close look at animals and birds including zebra, giraffe, Thomson's gazelle, flamingoes and African spoonbills - up close. Among the tour operators offering packages there is Unijet (08705 336336), which has holidays from £1,599 if two share a room or £1,189 if four share.

Stay at the Courtyard by Marriott in Downtown Disney Resort and you can get access to three theme parks - the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and MGM Studios - an hour earlier than everyone else on certain days. One week packages there are available from Virgin Holidays (01293 456789). Prices start at £549.

For the flip side of Florida, try Sarasota-based Walk on the Wild Side, which offers half-day eco tours - on foot or by canoe or kayak. Enter your preferences online at www.walkwild.com. Tours start at around £22. Or learn to sail in the Florida Keys. Steve & Doris Colgate's Off shore Sailing School has just launched a new branch at Hawks Cay. Customers cast off from there and spend six days sailing down to Hemingway's old home at Key West. Based on double occupancy, it costs $1,661 a head, including instruction and meals. You could do that as part of a two week fly drive with Bon Voyage (0800 3160194), which offers flights from Gatwick to Miami with car hire from £438 a head.

City breaks

No longer is it just East Coast cities such as New York and Boston that attract short break visitors. Travelscene (0870 7774445) has added New Orleans, Louisiana, and Las Vegas, Nevada, and restored San Francisco to a programme that now includes no fewer than eight US destinations. Three nights in New Orleans in April or May, for example, cost £533 a head, based on two sharing. That gets you a three-star hotel and scheduled flights with American Airlines from Heathrow. It is now even possible to gamble in the back of a cab in Las Vegas. Some taxis have touch screen systems that allow passengers to win coupons redeemable with local firms. A Travelscene break there, including accommodation at Circus Circus, costs £460 between April 1 and 21.

California

From Venice Beach to the wine-growing Napa Valley, California is best seen on a fly drive. United Vacations (0870 6062222) can do a fortnight in May for £526 a head, with flight to Los Angeles or San Francisco. A whole new theme park has opened in LA's Anaheim called Disney's California Adventure. Virgin is among the operators offering packages there, with one week starting at £999.

Away from the cities, Backcountry Trail Guides (www.backcountrytrailguides.com) will pick you up from your San Diego hotel and take you on any of four "moderate to strenuous" hiking routes in the Cuyamaca mountains. Walkers are promised sweeping desert views, high mountain peaks and hidden waterfalls. Their full-day guided hike costs $75. Or go whale watching from San Francisco. Eight hour trips to spot humpback and blue whales off the Farallon Islands, not to mention sea lions and no end of birds, are on offer from Oceanic Society Expeditions (001 415 4411106). Check dates. Last year, they ran from June to November. Expect to pay around £45. Until spring, shorter trips in search of migrating grey whales are available. Pick one up at Bodega Bay, about 90 minutes north of San Francisco. They cost around £22.

Riding the range

Even those most deeply sceptical about the appeal of horse riding might be converted by a canter through the sagebrush and cactus. A cattle and buffalo ranch in New Mexico is the latest to be offered by specialist American Round-Up (01404 881777). The firm, which has around 50 US guest ranches in its programme, offers customers weekends at its Devon base learning to ride Western-style before they leave for the US. The weekends cost from £275pp for three days/two nights. A week in New Mexico costs £830pp. That includes all meals and riding, though you would have to allow around £500 to get there and back.The ranch is in the Gila National Wilderness in the south-west of the state.

On yer bike

The "slick rock" around Moab in Utah can be searing hot in high summer - but it makes for formidable off-road biking. Saddle Skedaddle (0191-265 1110) offers a 16-day holiday that combines six days in the saddle with some hiking and sightseeing. The trip also takes in Monument Valley - backdrop for Westerns including John Ford's Stagecoach and Cheyenne Autumn- the Grand Canyon and the stunning rock patterns of Zion National Park whose Gooseberry Mesa and Jem Trail. Departure is on September 16. The price, which covers accommodation, (mainly camping) most meals and a transport/back-up vehicle, is £1,250. Flights are extra. Take your own bike or hire one.

Birdwatching

Follow the roadrunner across Arizona. Naturetrek (01962 733051 www.naturetrek.co.uk) is offering a 17-day escorted birdwatching tour which covers the south of the state and finishes at Big Sur, on the Pacific coast of California. You might spot the bird that became a cartoon character in the desert around Tucson. Customers will also visit the Chiricahua and Huachuca mountains, home to rare birds such as the rose-throated becard, the thick-billed kingfisher and to more than 15 kinds of hummingbird. Departure is on July 29 from London and the price, which includes scheduled flights accommodation and expert guiding, is £2,595.

Southern states

With their uncompromising religion, racist past and curious drink laws, the southern states have a special and sometimes awful fascination. Unijet (08705 336336), which launched a dedicated America brochure last August, has now published a new edition with a section concentrating on the Deep South. This offers hotel-only deals to be booked in conjunction with flights and car hire. Destinations covered are Memphis, with Elvis Presley's Graceland; Nashville, home to the Grand Ole Opry; New Orleans and the Emerald Coast on the north-west Gulf coast of Florida.

North to Alaska

Watch grizzly bears scoop salmon from teeming rivers; spot moose and caribou. Explore Worldwide (01252 760100) offers a 17-day tour of Alaska with departures between June and August. It takes in Anchorage, Denali National Park, Chena Hot Springs and Keystone Canyon. The trip costs £1,595, including scheduled flights, camping accommodation and three nights in hotels - and some meals.

Golf

Arizona now rivals Florida and South Carolina as one of America's leading golf states, according to Lotus Supertravel (020-7962 9494). There are over 100 courses at Scottsdale, just outside Phoenix, and if you get fed up with walking between greens you could always head off to the old western town of Tombstone. The company offers seven-day packages there from £579pp, including BA flights to Phoenix, accommodation and a hire car. Golf packages allowing five rounds start at £115.

National parks

Yellowstone is arguably the most famous; The Great Smoky Mountains, in Tennessee and North Carolina, are the most visited; Colorado's Mesa Verde, where the Anasazi Indian built their stupendous cliff dwellings, is perhaps the most intriguing; California's Yosemite and Utah's Bryce Canyon, with its translucent rock spires, are among the most spectacularly beautiful. British Airways Holidays (0870 2424243) offers several relevant pre-planned self-drive tours. One starts in Seattle, takes you into Canada to Banff National Park in the Rockies and turns south across the border again, to Glacier and Yellowstone Parks. Without flights, it costs from £681pp, based on two sharing. Return flights start at £384 but go up to £640 in the summer peak. Glacier and Yellowstone feature with the lava fields of Idaho's Craters of the Moon in a fly-drive itinerary offered by Kuoni (01306 747000). Besides Idaho, the route takes in the Canadian Rockies, Washington State, Montana. It costs from £1,038 each based on two sharing, including flights and accommodation.

Motorhomes

Renting a motorhome or RV (recreational vehicle) is a great way to see the American outdoors. Commercial sites such as those operated by KOA (Kampgrounds of America - bookable on 08705 143610) or those in national and state parks usually have grills on which you can barbecue. You'll need to do some arithmetic to work out if it is more economic than a fly-drive, bearing in mind heavy fuel consumption, payments for mileage and the provision of sleeping bags and cooking gear, and top-up insurance to reduce the hefty excess - which could be around £2,000 - if you damage the vehicle. One company offering motorhomes is Trailfinders (020-7937 5400). Prices depend on availability.

White-water rafting

Rafting on the Colorado River is an experience to live in the memory. Between rapids you drift noiselessly beneath great walls of red sandstone, flopping now and then into the water to cool off. Guides invariably have broad knowledge of local wildlife and folklore. Abercrombie & Kent (0845 0700610) includes four days on the river in an up-market, 11-day tour which also takes in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks plus a stay at the Sorrel River Resort in Utah, where you could go hiking, riding, kayaking or just hang around the pool. The holiday costs from £3,499, based on two sharing.

• Who flies where? Direct flights from the UK to the US