Getting Around the USA
The US has no single answer — it depends entirely on the city. New York City runs on its 24/7 subway and needs no car. Los Angeles is built around freeways and genuinely requires a rental car. Miami's South Beach is walkable but Little Havana and the Everglades need a car or rideshare. Uber and Lyft work everywhere; domestic flights or a long drive connect the cities, since Amtrak is comparatively slow and limited outside the Northeast.
Getting to the USA
New York (JFK/Newark), Los Angeles (LAX), and Miami (MIA) are all major international gateways with direct flights from most continents. From Canada or Mexico, expect 2-5 hours; from Europe, 7-11 hours; from Asia or Australia, 13-16 hours. Round-trip fares from Europe or the UK start around $350. Airport transfers vary hugely by city: New York's AirTrain plus subway reaches Manhattan for under $10, while Los Angeles essentially expects you to have a rental car or rideshare waiting.
Getting around: the real options
This is the one country on this site where "how do I get around" has three completely different correct answers depending on which city you're in — treat each destination as its own transport plan, not one national rule.
- Trains — Amtrak exists but is slow and infrequent outside the Northeast Corridor (Boston-New York-Washington DC, where it's genuinely good); it's not a realistic way to connect New York, Los Angeles, and Miami to each other.
- Buses — Greyhound and FlixBus cover longer routes cheaply but slowly; useful for budget travelers on a fixed route, not for efficient city-to-city travel across a country this size.
- Domestic flights — the practical way to connect New York, Los Angeles, and Miami — budget a 6-hour cross-country flight between New York and LA, with fares typically $150-350 one-way if booked a few weeks ahead.
- Car rental / driving — essential in Los Angeles (the city has no comprehensive transit system connecting its spread-out neighborhoods) and genuinely useful for a Grand Canyon or national parks add-on from LA or Las Vegas; unnecessary and actively unhelpful in New York City, where parking and traffic make driving worse than walking or the subway.
Getting around inside cities
New York's subway runs 24/7 and covers the whole city — tap your contactless card or phone directly at the OMNY-enabled turnstile, no MetroCard needed, with fares automatically capped at the weekly-unlimited price. Los Angeles has a growing but limited metro system that doesn't reach most neighborhoods worth visiting; rent a car at the airport and budget for genuinely heavy freeway traffic, especially the I-405 between 3-7pm. Miami's South Beach is walkable on its own, but Little Havana and the Everglades need a car or rideshare. Uber and Lyft both operate reliably and extensively across all three cities — the US is one of the most Uber-friendly countries on this site, with no coverage gaps to worry about.
| Route/option | Typical cost | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| JFK Airport to Manhattan (AirTrain + subway) | $10.90 total | 45-60 min |
| New York to Los Angeles (domestic flight) | $150-350 one-way | ~6 hrs |
| NYC subway single ride (OMNY capped weekly at $34) | $2.90 | — |
Just tap your own contactless bank card or phone directly on New York's subway turnstile — OMNY accepts it natively and automatically caps you at the $34 weekly-unlimited price once you've paid for 12 rides in 7 days, so there's no need to buy a physical MetroCard at all.
Common transport mistakes
The single biggest mistake international visitors make is assuming Los Angeles works like New York or a European city — it doesn't, and skipping the rental car to "save money" usually costs more in rideshares by the end of the trip. The second is underestimating LA freeway traffic and scheduling a flight or tour too tightly around a "20-minute drive" that can take twice that at rush hour. And in New York, don't waste money on taxis for routine sightseeing — the subway is genuinely faster for anything over 20 blocks.