At airports across the country, security checkpoints are newly abuzz. Car rentals are selling out. Road trips are on the rise. As more Americans get fully vaccinated, they are casting aside cabin fever and, for the first time in more than a year, acting on their visions of domestic vacations.

We’ve pulled together our top picks for summer 2021, from east to west:

U.S. Virgin Islands

With three main islands and 50 smaller cays, there is a lot to see. Why not go island-hopping via ferry or flight and get a taste of them all? Better yet, charter a boat and sail this paradise in the Antilles. St. Thomas, the most popular entry point, has a bit of everything: white sand beaches, rocky hills, luxury resorts, and dining and shopping in the port town of Charlotte Amalie. Next door, St. John is the quieter isle, home to Virgin Islands National Park with its jungle hiking, snorkeling and the acclaimed beach at Trunk Bay.

A Caribbean escape is often a winter pursuit, but the U.S. Virgin Islands have a few things going for them right now: They’re open to Americans with a negative COVID-19 test, and you won’t need a test to return. The U.S. territory has had fewer cases per capita than every state but Hawaii, and they’d like to keep it that way, with a strict mask mandate, even on beaches. But with the usual cruise traffic curtailed, you just might have more of the beach to yourself.

Note: Visitors must submit proof of a negative COVID-19 test, taken within five days of arrival, at usvitravelportal.com.

Martha’s Vineyard

Most visitors to this triangular island just south of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod come for the beaches and the laid-back lifestyle. But they also get protected woods and marshes, villages of gingerbread cottages and clapboard mansions, harbors lined with working fishing boats and towering sailboats, and a sandwich that defines summer in New England, the lobster roll.

Six distinct villages dot the island. Up-island towns include Chilmark, West Tisbury and Aquinnah, where the Gay Head Lighthouse marks the westernmost spot. Down-island places include Edgartown, the oldest town; Oak Bluffs, an early enclave for freed slaves and now the island’s tourist hub; and Vineyard Haven.

Note: Not all beaches are open to the public. Visitors who have been fully vaccinated or have had a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours before arrival are good to go; others are urged to quarantine for 10 days.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Get a new perspective on the Great Lakes — from 450 feet above the shores of Lake Michigan. Towering bluffs of sand along 65 miles of Michigan coastline are the most famous feature of Sleeping Bear Dunes, now celebrating its 50th anniversary as a national lakeshore a year late due to the pandemic.

With all that sand, you can almost always hike to your own private stretch of beach, most refreshingly under the July and August heat. Take a canoe out on one of two rivers, the inland Loon Lake or — for experienced paddlers — turquoise Lake Michigan itself. Or ride the ferry from Leland, Mich., to the park’s Manitou Islands.

The 15,000-acre North Manitou is a newly designated wilderness area with backcountry campsites and miles of trails. The smaller South Manitou has visible historic shipwrecks and the park’s only lighthouse, an 1872 beauty.

Thirty miles across Lower Michigan’s “Little Finger” is Traverse City, the Cherry Capital. The National Cherry Festival is set for July 3-10.

Note: Michigan had the country’s highest rate of COVID-19 cases in April.

Mississippi Blues Trail

When Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in Clarksdale for a chance to play the blues, as legend has it, he chose well. The town in the Mississippi Delta now has more juke joints than any other in the region, and it is home to the Delta Blues Museum. Jazz, rock, country: all these musical genres owe some debt to the musical inspirations that sprung from this region in the 1920s and ’30s.

The Blues Highway, aka Route 61, passes through small towns and by important sites roughly parallel to the Mississippi River, but the Blues Trail best represents the importance of the entire region in the realm of musical history. It is a constellation of markers concentrated on the river’s alluvial plain.

Among the more than 100 places with markers are Ground Zero Blues Club and the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Club Ebony and the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Dockery Farms in Cleveland and the Blue Front Café juke joint in Bentonia.

In Tunica, the Gateway of Blues Museum is not far from the Hollywood Cafe, where fried green tomatoes, catfish and pecan pie are on the menu.

Glacier National Park

After you drive for hours under Montana’s Big Sky, the Rockies suddenly, stunningly appear like a wall on the horizon.

Dubbed “The Crown of the Continent,” regal Glacier National Park is where snowcapped Matterhorn peaks, Pacific rainforest, Northern woods and arid plains collide; where grizzlies, black bears, mountain goats, moose and elk coexist.

In summer, melting snow fields form cascades down stark cliff walls, feeding bluegreen glacial lakes. It might take a lifetime to explore all of this on the nearly 700 miles of trails — but you can start.

In 1932, the park opened the 50-mile Going-to-the-sun Road, one of America’s great drives with hairpin turns, stone bridges and tunnels, and vertigo-inducing lookouts. A visitor center at chilly Logan Pass marks the Continental Divide.

Note: An advance ticket, or a reservation for an in-park service — lodging, camping, boat rides, guided hikes, horseback rides, bus tours or park shuttles — is required to enter Going-to-the-sun Road from May 28 to Sept. 6. A park pass ($35-$80) is also needed (nps.gov/glac).

Alaska

As the most remote and wild place within the U.S., the 49th state tops many bucket lists. Visitors can trek on a glacier, kayak along shoreline dotted with wildlife in the Inside Passage, hang with bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve, and marvel at the immense beauty of Denali, North America’s highest peak. The state remains the last frontier, occupied by more moose and bear than humans. The rugged landscape and lively fishing towns are unlike anywhere elsewhere in the country, and a visit there is as easy as hopping on a plane.

Summertime, when the weather turns warm and the sun barely sets, if at all, marks a great time to visit. And this summer could be exceptional. Fewer cruise visitors will be disembarking at port towns, making Alaska’s wide open spaces more open than ever.

Note: Visitors should arrive with a negative COVID-19 test and register with the state or receive a test upon arrival and maintain social distancing until they receive their results.

Maui

More than 120 miles of shoreline and 80 sandy beaches ring the island, while colorful fish dart among the coral reef just offshore. There’s sheltered Kapalua Bay, with gentle waves; Napili Bay, great for snorkeling; and Makena Beach, where body surfers ride the waves.

In winter, Hawaii’s verdant landscape and relative warmth soothe winter-weary travelers, but summer might be the best time to go. From April through November, the islands see less rain and warmer temperatures.

Before you settle into the new time zone, wake up early one day and watch the sun rise atop Haleakala, the largest dormant volcano in the world. From above the clouds, and with the ocean in the distance, it feels like you’re on top of the world.

Note: Travelers must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure or quarantine for 10 days. Visitors must also download the Alohasafe Alert app or face a mandatory 10-day quarantine.