Who doesn’t dream of a good road trip?! The excitement and thrill of the open road, having the freedom to set your own schedule and making pit-stops whenever and wherever you want – are just some of the reason to take a good road trip.
In this post we’d like to share some of our favourite Road Trip destinations in order to get your creative juices flowing and inspire you for your next adventure!
1. Route 66
Best time to go: May – September
The mother of all road trips. The beloved Route 66 in the USA is the original road trip destination spanning over 2,000+ miles across 8 different states.
Starting in Chicago and finishing in Los Angeles, California, this road trip is an enchanting mixture of stunning landscapes, traditional small American towns and quirky roadside attractions. On the way you’ll find everything from interesting museums to diners that still look like they would have in their hey day. It really gives the road tripper a view into the past and a scope of how much the world has progressed and evolved since.
On this road trip you will travel across stretches of desert, small towns, farmland and big metropolitan cities.
In many of the small towns you will visit there may be nothing else to do except walk along its Main Street, eat at its diner, and visit an old steam engine. A road trip along Route 66 is not necessarily jam-packed with must-see sights, but the drive itself is the experience.
Spending time in the car with your fellow road tripper/s, eating an American hamburger and drinking ice cream soda at a classic diner, visiting a fun classic tourist attraction, and sleeping in a simple but clean family-run motel are the hallmarks of a Route 66 trip.
2. East Coast, Australia
Best time to go: December – March
This road trip is best enjoyed in summer, or perhaps winter for most of us Europeans! The stunning East Coast of Australia is the beach-lover’s paradise. Riding along the coast, there will be no shortage of mesmerising ocean views, spectacular sunsets and once in a lifetime surfing opportunities.
Immerse yourself and your road trip mates in the iconic sights of Byron Bay, Fraser Island and the Great Barrier Reef, as you make your way from continental Sydney to tropical Cairns. Give the wine and cheese in Hunter Valley a taste, get up close to koalas at an animal hospital, splash about in pristine swimming holes, and cruise around the picture-perfect islands of the Whitsundays.
A popular way of transport for this road trip is with a campervan – this will allow you to spend as much time as possible exploring your surroundings without having to worry about where you will sleep. With an app indicating all the campsites along the way, you will never be far from all your necessities!
3. The Pan American Highway
Best time to go: December – March (as these are the warmest months at the starting point in Ushuaia)
This is the ultimate road trip ever – A once in a lifetime voyage. Spanning across a massive 48,000km starting in Ushuaia, Argentina’s southernmost point to Alaska this is by far the world’s longest driving route (broken only in Panama by the rainforested Darien Gap.
You will near certainly encounter almost every ecosystem and habitat on Earth and witness the changing landscape and climate as you make your way from one end of the world to the other.
This epic journey beings at Ushuaia, the world’s most southern city and meandering through 14 countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua up through the States and Canada and ultimately ends in Alaska.
This road trip is one of the more difficult ones and thus requires a lot of preparation. One of the most challenging sections of the route lies in Costa Rica, where it rises to 3,335m at the ominously named Summit of Death. This summit marks the highest elevation of the trip and is definitely the thrill-seeker’s dream however it may not be the best option for those who experience altitude sickness.
Author: Anna Popova