Best Road Trips Worldwide: Routes Worth Every Mile
There is no travel experience quite like a road trip. The car becomes your base camp, your playlist becomes the soundtrack, and the horizon does the planning. After thousands of miles behind the wheel across four continents, these are the routes I keep coming back to and the ones I would happily drive again tomorrow.
Why the Road Changes How You Travel
Flying gets you from place to place, but driving gets you inside a region. You smell the pine forests, you stop for the roadside stand with the hand painted sign, and you watch the landscape shift slowly enough to actually register it. On my first big road trip, I learned something I have never forgotten: the detour is usually the best part. The unplanned turn into a valley I had never heard of became the memory I talk about most.
Pacific Coast Highway, USA
California’s Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles deserves its legendary status. The stretch from Monterey to Big Sur is the crown jewel, with cliffs that drop straight into the Pacific. Driving it takes about six hours without stops, but give yourself two days. Plan for the weather to change a few times in a single afternoon, and check for road closures before you set out, because landslides do happen and they shut sections down.
Route 66 and the American Southwest
If you want a slice of pure Americana, the surviving road trips of the Southwest deliver. A loop through Utah’s five national parks, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce, and Zion, packs more scenery per mile than almost anywhere I have driven. The red rock arches, the hoodoos, and the endless canyon roads are a moving geology lesson, and the small towns in between keep the drive human. It is a route you plan for the light, because golden hour transforms every overlook.
The Great Ocean Road, Australia
Australia’s Great Ocean Road runs for just over 240 kilometers along the southern coast from Torquay. The Twelve Apostles rock formations are the famous draw, and the surf town of Lorne is worth a coffee stop. The wind on the coastal viewpoints is stronger than it looks, so bring a proper jacket. Drive slowly and you will find empty beaches and koalas in the eucalyptus trees near Kennett River.
Ring Road, Iceland
Iceland’s Route 1 circles the entire island at roughly 1,300 kilometers. It feels like driving through a geology textbook, with waterfalls, glaciers, black sand beaches, and volcanic fields. The full loop usually takes seven to ten days. In winter, sections can close without warning, so check road.is daily and rent a four wheel drive. In summer you get almost no darkness, which means you can truly drive until you are ready to stop.
Garden Route, South Africa
South Africa’s Garden Route stretches from Mossel Bay to Storms River along the southern coast. It packs forests, lagoons, and dramatic shoreline into a few hundred kilometers. Stop in Knysna for oysters, try a tree top zipline in the Tsitsikamma forest, and keep an eye out for whales between June and November. The roads are in good shape and the driving is easy, which makes this a solid first international road trip.
Amalfi Coast and Italy’s Back Roads
The Amalfi Drive hugs the cliffs of southern Italy between Sorrento and Salerno. It is gorgeous and genuinely stressful, with narrow hairpin turns and tour buses on every corner. Go outside July and August if you can, because summer traffic turns a forty minute drive into a two hour crawl. Park once in a town like Positano and walk from there. I wish someone had told me that on my first attempt. For a calmer Italian version, the white roads of Tuscany between hill towns offer the same charm with far less drama.
North Coast 500, Scotland
Scotland’s North Coast 500 loops around the far north, about 800 kilometers of coastal road that many now call the answer to Route 66. It winds past ruined castles, empty beaches, sea cliffs, and villages that feel frozen in time. The roads are narrow and single track in places, so pull over and let faster traffic by, and be patient in lamb season. The reward is a wild, weather soaked coastline that changes character every time the clouds shift.
Practical Road Trip Advice
A few habits have made every trip smoother. Rent the biggest car you feel comfortable handling so you have room to live out of it. Pack a physical paper map in case your signal drops, because it always drops in the mountains eventually. Download your music and podcasts before you leave town, and stop every couple of hours even when you do not feel tired. A road trip is a pace of travel, not a race.
Choosing Your Route
If you want dramatic coastal scenery, pick the Pacific Coast Highway or the Great Ocean Road. For raw nature and a once in a lifetime landscape, Iceland’s Ring Road is unmatched. For food and ease, the Garden Route delivers. A great road trip does not come from the perfect itinerary. It comes from being willing to follow a good road past the last planned stop and see what shows up.
