Road trip route ideas

Real itineraries with real distances — pick one and open it straight into the planner.

US

Cross-Country

Iconic

Route 66: Chicago to Santa Monica

The original cross-country road trip — 3,900 km of diners, neon motel signs, and small towns that grew up around the highway itself, from Lake Michigan to the Santa Monica Pier.

West

Coastal

Pacific Coast Highway: San Francisco to Los Angeles

California's Highway 1 hugging the cliffs from San Francisco down through Big Sur to Los Angeles — the drive most people picture when they think "road trip."

Desert

Los Angeles to Las Vegas Road Trip

A straight shot across the Mojave that's easy to do in one push, or worth stretching over two days with a Joshua Tree detour.

National Parks

Denver to Moab Road Trip

Colorado's Rockies give way to Utah's red-rock desert — the gateway to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

Mountains

Seattle to Portland Road Trip

A short Pacific Northwest run down I-5, worth extending with a detour up Mount Rainier before dropping into Portland.

East

Mountains

Blue Ridge Parkway: Shenandoah to the Smokies

A 750 km ridgeline drive connecting two national parks through the Appalachians — no billboards, no commercial traffic, built purely as a scenic route.

Coastal

Boston to Acadia National Park Road Trip

New England's coast road north — lighthouses, lobster shacks, and Maine's only national park at the end of it.

City

New York to Washington DC Road Trip

The I-95 corridor between two of the country's biggest cities, broken up by Philadelphia and Baltimore along the way.

South

Coastal

Miami to Key West Road Trip

The Overseas Highway — 210 km of bridges hopping between islands, including the 11 km Seven Mile Bridge with open ocean on both sides.

City

Austin to New Orleans Road Trip

Texas hill country to the Louisiana bayou, by way of Houston and Cajun country.

Midwest

City

Chicago to Nashville Road Trip

A Midwest-to-South run through Indianapolis and Louisville, ending in Music City.

Southwest

National Parks

Phoenix to Grand Canyon Road Trip

Desert to red rock to canyon rim — Arizona's two most-visited landscapes, connected by a single drive.

Australia

Coastal

Great Ocean Road: Melbourne to Warrnambool

Australia's answer to the PCH — a cliff-hugging coastal drive from Melbourne past the Twelve Apostles limestone stacks, built partly by returning WWI soldiers as a war memorial.

Europe

Iceland

Loop

Iceland Ring Road Loop

Route 1 circles the entire island — glaciers, waterfalls, black-sand beaches, and geothermal fields, returning to Reykjavik after roughly 1,300 km with no backtracking required.

Ireland

Coastal

Wild Atlantic Way: Kinsale to Donegal

Ireland's west coast, end to end — one of the longest defined coastal driving routes in the world, past cliffs, beaches, and villages that barely feel changed by the last century.

Italy

Coastal

Amalfi Coast Drive: Sorrento to Ravello

A short, intense stretch of the SS163 — hairpin turns cut into cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea, connecting a string of towns stacked on the hillside.

Africa

Coastal

Garden Route: Cape Town to Port Elizabeth

South Africa's N2 highway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) — forests, lagoons, and whale-watching towns along the southern coast.

Canada

Mountains

Vancouver to Banff Road Trip

Coastal British Columbia into the Canadian Rockies — one of the most dramatic elevation changes of any drive on this list.

Southeast Asia

Vietnam

Iconic

Vietnam Coast Road Trip: Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

The full length of Highway 1 — 1,700 km from Hanoi's Old Quarter down the coast to Ho Chi Minh City, through limestone bays, imperial cities, and the country's best beaches.

Thailand

Loop

Mae Hong Son Loop: Northern Thailand

A 600 km loop out of Chiang Mai through the mountains near the Myanmar border — famous for its official curve count (1,864) and misty valley towns, ending back where it started.

Laos

Mountains

Luang Prabang to Vientiane Road Trip

Laos's classic north-south route — misty mountain passes and the limestone karsts of Vang Vieng, connecting the old royal capital to the modern one.