The United States has some of the most spectacular road trip routes on earth. Here are the ones that stay with you — from the Pacific Coast to the Deep South, the canyon country of the Southwest to the wild forests of the Pacific Northwest.
There is no better country in the world for a road trip. The United States has interstate highways that stretch for thousands of miles, two-lane back roads through desert silence, coastal routes where the ocean is always to your left, and mountain passes that open into valleys nobody warned you were coming. These are the routes worth clearing your schedule for.
The Pacific Coast Highway — California's Greatest Drive
Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles is one of the world's great coastal drives. The Big Sur stretch — roughly 90 miles of two-lane road clinging to cliffs above the Pacific — is the centrepiece: the Bixby Bridge, McWay Falls tumbling onto a beach you can't reach, the sea mist rolling in off the water at dawn. Allow three days for the full drive rather than rushing it in one. Stop at Hearst Castle, eat fish tacos in Morro Bay, and sleep somewhere in Big Sur with the windows open.
California rewards slow drivers. The faster you go, the less you see.
Utah's Mighty 5 — The Road Trip Most Americans Haven't Done
Five national parks in one state. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches — each one extraordinary in its own right, all within a single week's drive. International travellers from Europe and Asia specifically fly to the US for this route. Most Americans have never considered it.
The landscape feels like another planet — red rock formations, hoodoos, slot canyons, arches carved by millions of years of wind and water. Start in Las Vegas, end in Salt Lake City, or loop back. Allow at least seven days. Utah is one of the most spectacular states in the country and consistently underestimated by its own countrymen.
The Blue Ridge Parkway — America's Most Scenic Road
469 miles of ridgeline driving through the Appalachian Mountains, from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. No commercial trucks, no billboards, no traffic lights. Just forests, mountain meadows, overlooks, and in October, some of the most spectacular fall colour in North America.
Asheville, North Carolina sits roughly in the middle of the route and is one of the best small cities in America — excellent food, live music every night, and the Art Deco grandeur of the Biltmore Estate. Base yourself here for two or three nights and drive both directions from town.
Route 66 — The Road That Built the American Mythology
2,448 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica. The Mother Road, decommissioned in 1985 and still partially driveable, passes through eight states and a version of America that the interstate system bypassed and preserved in amber. Cadillac Ranch in Texas. The Painted Desert in Arizona. The wigwam motels of San Bernardino. Diners that have been serving the same pie since 1953.
You don't have to drive the whole thing. The Arizona stretch — Flagstaff to the California border — is the most dramatic section, with the Grand Canyon an hour north of Flagstaff and the Petrified Forest National Park straddling the highway. Allow two weeks for the full route; five days for the best of it.
The Going-to-the-Sun Road — Montana's Most Dramatic Drive
50 miles through the heart of Glacier National Park in Montana. The road climbs over Logan Pass at 6,646 feet, hugging cliff faces with the mountains rising on one side and dropping thousands of feet on the other. Mountain goats walk the road. Grizzly bears appear on the slopes above. The road is only fully open from late June to mid-October — the rest of the year it's buried under snow.
This is not a drive you do while distracted. It's a drive you remember thirty years later.
The Florida Keys — Where the Road Runs Out Over the Water
US-1 from Miami to Key West crosses 42 bridges over 113 miles of open ocean. The Seven Mile Bridge — exactly what it sounds like — is one of the most distinctive stretches of road in the country. Key West at the end of it is a city unlike any other in America: part Caribbean, part literary history (Hemingway lived here for a decade), part sunset ritual. Florida gets overlooked as a road trip destination because people think of theme parks. The Keys are the antidote.
The Columbia River Gorge — Pacific Northwest Power
Washington and Oregon share the Columbia River Gorge — an 80-mile canyon carved by the river that serves as the boundary between the two states. The Historic Columbia River Highway on the Oregon side passes Multnomah Falls, Vista House, and a series of viewpoints over the gorge that make it clear why Lewis and Clark spent two weeks here on their way to the Pacific. Portland is 30 minutes west and one of America's most interesting food cities.
The Road Trip Rules That Actually Matter
- Drive in the morning — the light is better, the roads are quieter, and you arrive at your destination with the afternoon ahead of you
- Book shoulder season — September and October for most of the country. Fewer people, lower prices, fall colour, and weather that's still excellent
- Get a National Parks Pass ($80) — covers entry to every national park for 12 months. It pays for itself after two parks
- Leave the interstate — the US highway system runs parallel to most interstates and passes through the actual country. The extra time is the point
- Eat where locals eat — the best food in America is not at the chain restaurant visible from the highway. It's at the barbecue place that doesn't have a sign
