The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have. – Anna Quindlen
What’s better than the open road and a sense of adventure? Put pedal to the metal with these most iconic road trips.
We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us
1. Coast-to-coast – USA
When you think of epic road trips, one country over all the others must spring to mind: the USA. There’s no place that quite competes with USA for the ultimate long distance road trips. One of the biggest countries in the world, the US is packed with astounding natural wonders, incredibly diverse landscapes – from deserts to forests and dramatic mountain ranges to rugged coastlines – and cities full of culture.
The greatest road trip of them all has to be the coast-to-coast journey from New York (the capital of cool) to San Francisco. Thousands of kilometres long, this route takes you through some of the best the US has to offer, from the live music bars of Nashville and New Orleans, the vast open spaces and friendly people of Texas and New Mexico, the surreal desert landscapes of Utah, the breathtakingly vast Grand Canyon, the neon flash of Las Vegas and the glitter of Los Angeles, and finally, the mist-swathed redwood trees and high cliffs of the Pacific Coast Highway, which takes you to San Francisco.
2. Garden Route – South Africa
Stretching across parts of the Western and Eastern Cape, the Garden Route is undoubtedly South Africa’s most popular road tripping route, and it’s easy to see why. A meandering stretch of 300 kilometres between Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay along the scenic southeastern coastline of the country, the route offers beautiful scenery – golden beaches, forests, lagoons and inland lakes, mountains and rolling hills – and is jam-packed with heart pumping adventures including bungee jumping, caving, surfing on world-renowned waves and ostrich riding (how’s that for an unusual mode of transport?). There are also loads of other more sedate outdoors activities such as multi-day hikes, zip lining and wildlife watching in game parks.
3. Great Ocean Road – Australia
Spend at least a week driving the 250-kilometre stretch of road that hugs Australia’s southeastern coast, which takes you past pounding surf (and some world-class surfing breaks), cascading waterfalls, pockets of beautiful rainforest, whale watching spots, laidback seaside towns and trees inhabited by koalas as you traverse the dramatic ocean cliffs. Explore deserted beaches and forests, visit some local wineries and don’t miss the Twelve Apostles – a collection of craggy limestone pillars off the shore of Port Campbell National Park – which are easily viewed from the boardwalks that run around the cliff tops.
4. The Romantic Road – Germany
One of Germany’s oldest tourists routes attracts two million visitors a year with its 350 km scenic route through the forests and mountains of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Start in the north at historic Würzburg, which is home to an 18th-century baroque palace and vineyards, and make your way winding south to Bavaria, experiencing Germany’s most romantic sights and a cross-section of history and culture with fairytale castles, Gothic cathedrals, cobblestoned medieval villages with old timbered houses and beautiful countryside. The road ends in Füssen, at the foothills of the Alps, where you are rewarded with dramatic mountain scenery as well as Germany’s most famous castle – King Ludwig II’s iconic and spellbinding Neuschwanstein. The best time to do the road trip is in summer and late autumn, when there are festivals and pageants offering entertainment, regional food, and, of course, lots of beer.