This three-hour drive from Albuquerque to Taos via Santa Fe is known as the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway. Cruise down State Road 14, dotted with dusty pioneer trails and Western ghost towns like Los Cerrillos. From Santa Fe, the 56-mile road weaves through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains—a range of lush hillsides and orchards—and then passes through […]

Not all roads are created equal, and this 64-mile stretch, known as the Hana Highway or Road to Hana, is one of the most thrilling. It snakes along the northeastern coast of Maui with 600 curvy bends and 50-plus-wait-your-turn bridges (we suggest a Jeep Wrangler for this journey) taking you past towering coastal cliffs, plunging waterfalls, […]

Known as the “loneliest road in America,” this 3,200-mile stretch of blacktop that follows the same route as the Pony Express has captured the American imagination ever since its early stages of construction in 1926. It bisects the country, slicing through a dozen states, starting at Maryland’s Eastern shore and finishing in San Francisco, through […]

Known as the ALCAN, or Alaska-Canadian Highway, this 1,390-mile route in the Pacific Northwest was once rugged and hard to tackle, with several unfinished stretches when it first opened in the 1940s. These days, the journey is far smoother and takes around five days to drive, starting just over the border in British Columbia. Expect to […]

California’s PCH might be better known, but Oregon’s Highway 101 is just as jaw-dropping to drive, snaking down the shoreline from Washington State to the redwood forests and further south. Along the seven-hour route, there are superb beaches—Cannon Beach is particularly pause-worthy—as well as countless, often near-deserted state parks. The waters here are prime surfing terrain while […]

Stretching more than 2,000 miles along the Mississippi River from its start in Minnesota, the Great River Road passes through a whopping 10 states. But the most appealing stretch is its southern reaches, along the Natchez Trace Parkway, which follows an old Native American trail for more than 400 miles and features a number of ancient […]

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs for almost 500 miles through Virginia and North Carolina, along a picturesque route that’s lined by the soft green valleys descending from the Blue Ridge Mountains, and connecting the Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks at either end. Heavy mist wreaths the landscape at dawn and dusk, thanks to the altitude, so take […]

The 2,200-mile long Route 66 has been immortalized in countless rock songs, stories, and poems by everyone from Nat King Cole and Chuck Berry to John Steinbeck. Though it technically runs from Chicago to California, the best stretch is a two-day drive from St. Louis to the edge of Texas, via Lake of the Ozarks and Oklahoma […]

Rent a convertible and embrace every road trip cliché with a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH, a cliff-hugging, exhilarating 123-mile drive along the central California coast. Start in San Francisco and drive southbound, as you’ll be closer to the ocean, and allow four or five days if you don’t want to rush. Charming coastal […]

Driving down the Overseas Highway from Miami to Key West feels like slowly decompressing from the world at large. (The Seven Mile Bridge will make you feel like you’re soaring over the water.) The necklace of islands strung together by this 127.5-mile road vary markedly, moving from the Upper Keys, which seem like shards of the mainland cast off […]