USA Travel Guide: ESTA, Tipping, and What to Know Before You Go

Travellers from the 42 Visa Waiver Program countries can enter the US for tourism or business stays of up to 90 days using ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) instead of a visa — but you still need to apply and be approved before you fly. Apply only at the official site, esta.cbp.dhs.gov, directly through the US government — third-party sites that look official but charge a markup are a real, common trap, not a rare edge case.

The ESTA fee has risen in recent years and now includes a small annual inflation adjustment, so don't trust a number you see quoted on a blog — check the current fee on the official site when you apply. Whether your passport is on the Visa Waiver list at all is also worth confirming directly on travel.state.gov, since the list is reviewed periodically and a hedge here ('check before you book') is more useful than a hardcoded country list that could go stale.

None of this applies if you need an actual US visa for your nationality or purpose of travel — ESTA only covers the visa-waiver pathway for short tourist and business stays.

Cards, especially contactless, are the default for almost everything — hotels, restaurants, transit, even small purchases — but roughly four in five Americans still use cash at least occasionally, so keep a little on hand for tips, food trucks, and smaller vendors.

Tipping is the one thing worth getting right before you land, because it isn't a nicety here, it's how service-industry pay works: in most states servers are legally paid a reduced base wage on the assumption tips make up the rest. The current baseline for sit-down restaurant table service is 18-20%, with 20% increasingly the default rather than a top-tier gesture — 15% now reads as low, not standard, which is a genuine shift from older advice you might have read. Bartenders, taxi/rideshare drivers, and hotel staff are typically tipped too, though those norms are more custom than fixed rule.

This doesn't extend to everything — counter service and self-checkout screens increasingly prompt for a tip too, and that's a genuinely debated norm even among Americans right now. Table service at a sit-down restaurant is the one case worth treating as close to mandatory.

Unlike Japan or much of Europe, the US doesn't have a rail-pass culture that makes sense for most itineraries. Amtrak exists and can be a relaxed way to cover specific corridors (the Boston–New York–DC line, or parts of the California coast), but outside the Northeast it's slower and far less extensive than intercity rail elsewhere — for most trips, domestic flights or a rental car do the job that trains do in other countries.

If you're renting a car: licenses in Latin-alphabet languages are generally accepted by major rental companies without extra paperwork; licenses in non-Latin scripts should get an International Driving Permit arranged in your home country before you travel, since the US doesn't issue IDPs to non-residents. Check your specific rental company's policy, since it varies.

In cities with real transit — New York in particular — contactless tap-to-pay (OMNY) now works directly at the gate with a bank card or phone, no separate transit card needed for most visitors. Fares and systems are revised periodically, so treat any specific number here as illustrative rather than current.

Beyond tipping, US social norms lean informal — first names come quickly, casual dress is widely acceptable, and service-industry small talk is genuine rather than insincere. Punctuality matters more for business than for casual plans.

The honest caveat: etiquette, pace of life and formality vary a lot by region — the Northeast, the South, the West Coast and the Midwest are not interchangeable, and a guide this broad can only give you the average. Treat everything here as a starting point, not a rulebook.

There's no single 'best time' for a country spanning sub-arctic to tropical climates — think regionally instead: the Northeast and Midwest are pleasant in spring and fall with cold winters; the South and Southwest are mildest in winter and can be brutal in summer heat; hurricane season on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts runs June through November, which is a fixed, well-established window worth planning around if you're headed that way.

Two travel weeks are consistently the most congested nationally, regardless of where you're going: the days around Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November) and the days around July 4th. If your trip overlaps either, book early and expect delays.