America has an enduring love affair with the motor car and despite years of being restricted to a measly 56 mph, more relaxed laws in the last two decades together with still cheap petrol or ‘gas’ as Americans love to call it, have ensured that the love affair continues.

One of the rites of passage for American youngsters is the road trip, either alone or with friends or family; road trips to Americans are what walkabouts are to the Aboriginals in Australia.

So for any budding road-tripper with their first car or for travellers planning a road trip for their holiday, which are the best, most exciting, most challenging or simply the most enjoyable road trips USA?


New England
One favoured by the oldies or romantic couples, New England in the fall is a fabulous place to grab a hire car, preferably one where you can roll down the roof and just marvel at how nature can manage all those colours. Many of the routes are short so you could pair up a couple for a day or do several over a couple of days. Our favourites are Route 169 from Woodstock to Canterbury which passes through typical New England towns with their village greens, rolling hills and historic buildings. Try too the 27 mile Acadia National Park loop which takes you in a circle combining stunning countryside with dramatic coastal scenery.

Appalachian Trail
Also passing through New England, the Appalachian Trail is a renowned walking route that travels south from Maine to Atlanta, Georgia but drive it and there’s a huge variety of scenery on view as you pass through New England, skirt by New York seeing its skyscrapers in the distance, climb the Presidential Range of mountains including Mount Washington, one of the snowiest places in the US and finally finish the journey of well over a thousand miles, by passing through national park after national park on the way to steamy Atlanta.

The Mighty Mississippi
Another route you might think would be better done by other means of transport is the great Mississippi River but it’s just as easily done and equally fascinating, travelling the length by car. Start from Lake Itasca in Minnesota and you can travel the length of it, over 2,500 miles, to the Gulf of Mexico. You’re going to have to allow a long vacation to do it but you’ll pass through some of the most historic regions of America and learn more about the slave trade as well as the Mississippi riverboats.

Route 66
Whilst in many parts the original route 66 doesn’t exist now, several cities and counties have tried to preserve this stretch of road which fuses together music and motoring. Travelling from Los Angeles to Chicago you’ll cross the country in a diagonal that cuts through the heart of the USA. Along the route you’ll find traditional motels to stay in and the eponymous roadside diner for a taste of real American food.

The Great Pacific Highway
If ever there was a road that showed contrasts it’s the Pacific coast highway which stretches 1,500 miles from the northern shores of Washington State to San Diego in California. You’ll pass from the damp dense forests of the northern states to the ‘cool’ forest of the giant redwood trees, some of the largest living objects on earth, and then on to the eternally sunny Californians with their Spanish feel cities and warm climate. All the time, the Pacific will be but a stone’s throw away.

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