NYC · Philadelphia · Washington DC · 4 Days

One key fact: the park is entirely man-made — designed by Olmsted, with every contour reshaped, so its "nature" is something composed. More important is the mid-19th-century idea behind it: that a city must provide public natural space for people of every class. It runs on the same line of thought as the Free to All of the Boston Public Library.

Photo spot: Bow Bridge looking across the lake to the skyline (the classic shot); Bethesda Terrace and the Angel of the Waters fountain; the elm arcade of the Mall

Rockefeller Center was one of the largest privately funded building projects of the Great Depression, employing tens of thousands at a time of mass unemployment — a single complex set against an entire era. The Prometheus statue out front and the lobby murals all turn on the theme of human progress, a direct expression of the ideals of the Art Deco age.

Photo spot: Facing north for the full sweep of Central Park; facing south for the Empire State Building (best in the blue hour after sunset)

An honest word helps here: Times Square is for visitors, and New Yorkers tend to steer clear. Saying so builds trust — and leads naturally to the question of where New Yorkers actually go, setting up the High Line, Chelsea Market and Brooklyn later on.

Photo spot: Looking down over the billboards from the top of the red steps; looking up into the canyon of screens (at night)

This is a place of mourning, and it asks for quiet: not a spot for cheerful photos at the water’s edge, nor for pointing out names. The most fitting response is restraint, leaving room for silence. In its design lies the idea of voided space — rather than rebuilding, the memorial makes the absence itself the monument.

Photo spot: The pool’s edge and the inscribed names (photographed with restraint); One World Trade Center looking up; the Survivor Tree

The two islands are best understood together: one stands for an ideal — liberty enlightening the world — the other for its reality, the medical checks, interviews and separations that immigrant families faced. Ellis Island’s archives still hold the surnames of arrivals, and many American families trace their roots to that building. Held side by side, the contrast is one of the most moving stories in all of New York.

Photo spot: Backlit silhouette from the ferry; close-up along the Liberty Island loop path; the Registry Room in the Ellis Island main hall

Together with Boston, this completes a full arc: Boston was the spark of the revolution (the Tea Party, Lexington), Philadelphia its moment of writing (the Declaration and the Constitution), and Washington the place where that system still runs today. Told across three cities, the trip becomes a single thread of the American founding. The Liberty Bell’s crack — and its later adoption as a symbol by the abolitionist movement — makes the finest closing note.

Photo spot: The clock tower on the front facade of Independence Hall; the Liberty Bell framed with Independence Hall behind (from a particular angle inside the centre)

Running the steps is something nearly everyone joins in: tell the story of the film first, then let people run up once, and the mood lifts at once. Going into the museum for the art afterwards gives the visit an easy rhythm.

Photo spot: From the top of the steps, looking back down Benjamin Franklin Parkway straight to City Hall (Philadelphia’s finest city-axis shot); the Rocky statue

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall is the most powerful point of all: designed by Maya Lin while she was still a student, polished black granite set into the ground, inscribed only with names and making no proclamation. It drew great controversy at the time and is now regarded as one of the most important memorials of the 20th century. That its designer was a Chinese-American student gives it a particular resonance. It calls for restraint — the wall reflects the viewer’s own face, and that is the whole of its design.

Photo spot: From the Lincoln Memorial steps, the Reflecting Pool and the obelisk (dawn or sunset); reflections in the Vietnam wall; the west front of the Capitol

Interior tours are effectively not available to foreign tour groups, so we view the house from outside — worth knowing in advance. There is history to tell here: the burning of the house by British troops in 1814 and its rebuilding, and the origin of the name White House.

Photo spot: From outside the railings on the Lafayette Square side to the north; from the Ellipse lawn to the south (a fuller view)