I've never been to the mountains.

[GeneD]

I've never been to the mountains. It's from exercises. I think it's AmE because I've noticed AmE spelling in other sentences ("behavior", "neighbor" and so on).

Well, the underlined article does sound OK to my (not very reliable) ear, but I can't explain to myself its presence in the sentence. We are talking about mountains in general, the noun's countable and in the plural form. What do you think of it?

 

[bhaisahab]

It's fine.

 

[Tarheel]

It's common usage.

Abe: What are you doing this weekend?
Bob: I'm going to the mountains.
Abe: For the skiing?
Bob: Yep.

Also:

I've never been to the seashore.
I've never been to the big city.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I've never been to the countryside.

 

[GeneD]

So I should take it as a set expression, right?

 

[Tarheel]

Yep.