Fly out of Kochi, land in New York, and cross a continent by coach and two internal flights. Eight cities, from Liberty Island to the Golden Gate. Fixed departures, one escorted group.
America is the trip most Kerala families get one shot at, and the size of it is the whole problem. New York and San Francisco sit nearly five thousand kilometres apart, the famous sights are scattered across a continent, and building the route yourself means weeks of flights, park tickets and drive times that never quite line up. This tour runs the classic line straight across: the East Coast icons first, then Niagara, Florida, the desert, and the California coast at the end, with two internal flights covering the long jumps so no day disappears into an airport. Fortune runs it as a fixed fifteen day group tour from Kochi flying Emirates, with the US visa charges, the entry tickets, the coach and the local guides all settled before you leave home.
The tour lands on the Atlantic side and works west, city by city, until the Pacific. Each stop earns its place, and the country changes completely along the way.
Two nights in the city
With the Statue of Liberty reached by ferry, the One World Observatory, Ground Zero and Times Square.
The capital in one guided day
The White House, Capitol Hill, the Lincoln Memorial and several of the city's great war memorials.
A chocolate town stop on the road north
Where a train ride through a replica factory traces cocoa bean to finished bar.
Two nights at the water
With the Maid of the Mist boat and the Cave of the Winds walkways behind the falls.
The classic American circuit of city icons, natural wonders and theme parks, travelled as one escorted group. The essentials at a glance.
The drive out from Las Vegas is half the story. The road crosses Joshua tree forest and the Mojave Desert, passes the Hoover Dam built on the Colorado River in 1933, and climbs the Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which gives the highest open view down onto the dam. Then the canyon itself, 446 kilometres long, up to 29 kilometres wide, more than a mile deep, with nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history laid bare in its walls. The West Rim adds the Skywalk, a glass bridge curving out past the cliff edge with the river more than three thousand five hundred feet below your shoes. Some travellers stride straight across. Some hold the rail the entire way. The group is back in Las Vegas the same evening, which means the canyon and the Strip land on one day.
Most visitors see Niagara from a viewing rail. This tour gets closer than that, three times over. The Maid of the Mist sets out from a calm stretch of river near the Rainbow Bridge, passes the American and Bridal Veil Falls, then pushes into the thick spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe Falls and on to its base. In the afternoon, the Cave of the Winds drops you 175 feet through the bedrock by elevator into tunnels that open a third of the way behind the water, where a yellow poncho and the footwear provided carry you across wooden walkways to the Hurricane Deck. Then the evening is free, when the LED light show turns the whole gorge to colour. One boat, one tunnel, one light show, and two full nights to fit them in.
Indian passport holders need a United States visa, and this tour includes the visa charges, with our team preparing the application alongside your documents. What cannot be shortened is the consulate appointment queue, which runs long, and the decision itself rests entirely with the consulate, so this is the part to begin the week you book. Passports need six months of validity beyond the return date and four blank pages. The group flies Emirates from Kochi to New York and home from San Francisco, with internal flights covering the Buffalo to Orlando and Orlando to Las Vegas legs. Medical insurance is included for Indian passport holders up to age 70. Days are full and there is real walking, from coach parking to the monuments and through the theme parks, so comfortable shoes matter more here than anything else you pack. Carry a light jacket for Niagara and San Francisco, sun cover for the desert day, and something waterproof for the falls. One seasonal note: the Maid of the Mist usually begins running in the last week of April and operates subject to weather, and where it is not running the Niagara scenic trolley is offered instead.
Two decades of escorted group departures from Kerala, with the systems that only come from repetition.
United States visa charges sit inside the package, with your application prepared and submitted well ahead.
Eight cities ordered so the falls, the canyon and the coast each keep their full days.
A Fortune tour manager travels from Kochi to San Francisco and home again with your group.
Small-group journeys with a host. Fixed dates, limited seats.
15 DAYS | EX KOCHI · NEW YORK | WASHINGTON DC | HERSHEY | NIAGARA FALLS | ORLANDO | LAS VEGAS | LOS ANGELES | SAN FRANCISCO
EXPERIENCES
Statue of Liberty by ferry | Cave of the Winds behind the falls | Kennedy Space Center launch complex | Grand Canyon Skywalk over the Colorado | Golden Gate Bay Cruise
Yes, and the visa charges are included in this package. Our team prepares and submits the application with you. The appointment and the decision rest with the US consulate, and waiting times can run long, which is why we ask for documents as soon as you book.
The group tour follows a set route, and that is part of what keeps fifteen days across a continent running smoothly. Around it, we can add nights in New York or San Francisco, move you to another departure, cut the route to one coast, or build a private version for your own family. Tell us what you have in mind.
Eight over fifteen days: New York, Washington DC, Hershey, Niagara Falls, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with guided city tours in five of them and the Grand Canyon reached on a day trip out from Las Vegas.
Yes. The Statue of Liberty, the One World Observatory, Hershey's Chocolate World, the Maid of the Mist, the Cave of the Winds, the Kennedy Space Center, Epcot, the Grand Canyon West Rim with Skywalk, Universal Studios and the Golden Gate Bay Cruise all sit inside the package.
It suits travellers who can manage full days and a fair amount of walking, since theme parks and long coach days both ask for stamina. Medical insurance covers travellers up to age 70. Tell us the ages in your group and we will give you an honest read on the pace.
Most of it, on an air conditioned coach, with two internal flights covering the longest legs. Some driving days run long, particularly Washington to Niagara and Las Vegas to Los Angeles, and the scenery does a fair amount of the work on both.