The excitement of the open road, setting your own pace and schedule, halting and beginning as you need, and the thrill of exploring new destinations - there are many such countless reasons to plan an international road trip.
Here, we will share a short list of some of the best destinations to explore via a road trip, to give you some motivation for your next experience. These are road trips we've selected from a plethora of options across all over the world, and we're sure they'll make you want to travel more!
Let's get started with some of our favourite road trips in the world without further ado.
Highway 66 is basically the route that defines road trips in the USA as one of the original highways that spanned the country from one end to another. This was and still is one of the most famous roads across the United States, covering more than 2,000 miles through eight states. You can pick segments of the now renamed road to explore or traverse the who;e distance from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Driving Highway 66 today is a mix of staggering scenery, visiting rural America, idiosyncratic side of the road attractions, along with a window into the past, and a view of how the changing vehicle scenes can truly showcase all the parts of the USA.
Along the way, you'll find everything from interesting museums to diners that still look like they did in their glory days to windswept towns that are now abandoned. This is frequently referred to as the world's best road trip, and we strongly recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to drive it do so.
Talk to our travel advisors about Rent a car through AVIS International on how to plan the perfect Route 66 trip and look at detailed one and two-week Route 66 road trip itineraries if you're thinking about driving the route.
This drive is one of the top five of many travellers' wish lists for road trips they wanted to take and it is for good reason that this is so. For those who are unfamiliar with this road trip, it is a 150-mile stretch of road in the state of Victoria that begins in Melbourne and heads west along the state's south coast.
Along the way, you can see beaches, rainforest, and amazing rock formations, among other things. It's a short trip that can be done in a few days, but if you're in that part of the world, it's definitely worth adding to your list.
The dreamy landscapes of Scotland ensure that it's a lot of fun to explore the country by road. One of the favourite ways for many is to rent a car and drive up into the highlands.
There are a lot of beautiful places to visit on a road trip, from the breathtaking drive through Glencoe to the incredible Isle of Skye landscapes.
The North Coast 500, a 500-mile road trip through some of Scotland's most stunning coastal scenery, is perhaps the best way to experience the country.
This driving route winds its way around the north coast from Inverness. En route you'll find many stunning sights, from Iron Age structures, through to white sandy sea shores, amazing lochs, dazzling mountains and winding streets.
To get you started on planning a trip along the North Coast 500, talk to our team of travel advisors for the best options. If this route piques your interest, we at Zahara Holidays can provide everything from appropriate car rentals, to a multi day North Coast 500 itinerary or suggestions for the best lodgings along the North Coast 500.
Although most of New Zealand is ideal for road trips, we contend that the west coast of the south island, particularly the drive to Milford Sound, has some of the country's best scenery.
Glaciers, beaches, and rain forests abound on the country's west coast, making it a worthy substitute for Middle Earth. Furthermore, the 75 mile drive from Te Anau into Milford Sound along Milford Street (Public Expressway 94) is without any uncertainty the most stunning feature of the route.
This winding street brings you into Fiordland Public Park, an UNESCO world legacy recorded site which is likewise the biggest public park in New Zealand. Mirror Lakes and The Chasm are two of the drive's highlights, but the drive is really about the incredible mountain scenery here.
Milford Sound, a picturesque fjord that is home to Mitre Peak, a spectacular mountain that rises a mile straight up out of the water, is the Milford Road's final destination. Taking a boat tour of the Sound is the best way to see this and you can learn more about visiting Milford Sound by talking to our travel advisors.
If you don't have time for a long road trip like Route 66 but still want a great road trip with beautiful scenery and a lot of small towns to see along the way, this coastal highway from San Francisco to Los Angeles is a good option.
This road trip is the ideal starting point for our two-week California itinerary because it introduces you to some of the state's wonders, including giant redwoods, beach-crashing waterfalls, and quaint towns with boutique shops and seafood restaurants.
The majority of the country is covered in vast wilderness areas, making it ideal for a road trip that truly takes you away from everything. The drive up through the "Red Center," from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north, is, in our opinion, one of the best road trips in Australia.
This drive, which is right around 2,000 miles long, takes you on a journey to see the immensity of this staggering country. There are various features en route. Coober Pedy, an opal mining town where many people live underground, and the Devil's Marbles, a series of boulders that look like a huge game of marbles, are two examples.
Obviously, Uluru, the enormous sandstone formation in the middle of Australia that is a spectacular spot to watch the sunset from, is one of the main attractions of this road trip. The closeby Rulers Gully is likewise certainly worth the visit.
The Wild Atlantic Way is a stunning road trip that runs along Ireland's west coast for more than 1,600 miles, from Malin Head in the north to Kinsale in the south.
This truly epic driving route can take several weeks to complete. It's home to north of 1,000 attractions, going from palaces, to breathtaking scenery, to ancient places of worship, towns, and more.
But don't worry if you don't have weeks; you can always tackle shorter segments of the route. Each of the five sections of the route has enough attractions to keep you busy for at least a week. Naturally, participating in the entire adventure will undoubtedly be an unforgettable experience if you have ample time. We recommend taking at least two weeks to complete the route, but if you want to fully appreciate it, you'll need three to four weeks.
Iceland has become incredibly famous as a traveller's delight, and one of the more popular activities in Iceland is to go on a road trip around the Ring Road.
This route, which goes around the entire country and is more than 800 miles long, is where you'll find some of Iceland's most stunning natural sights, like huge waterfalls, volcanic landscapes, and black sand beaches. In addition, you can see whales and puffins, can try the local cuisine, learn about Icelandic culture, and, of course, swim in stunning geothermal waters.
We recommend driving Iceland's ring road for at least eight days, but more extensive trips can be much longer with the option of numerous detours. Even though many of the sights are on the route, there are many notable places to see in Iceland that are a little bit off the main ring road, so taking a little bit more time will definitely be worth it.
One thing to keep in mind is that driving the ring road in the winter can be quite difficult due to the possibility of road closures and an overall challenging driving experience. Instead, you might want to check out itineraries for Iceland as an alternative that are great all year round.