Top Classic American Road Trips

1.Route 66

Illinois / Missouri / Kansas / Oklahoma / Texas / New Mexico / Arizona / California

The original 'Main Street of America,' Chicago to Santa Monica — the single most iconic road trip in the country, synonymous with American car culture, neon motels and Mother Road nostalgia.

2.Pacific Coast Highway

California

600+ miles of cliffside Pacific coastline from San Francisco to San Diego — the definitive American coastal drive and a near-universal bucket-list pick.

3.Going-to-the-Sun Road

Montana

A 50-mile engineering marvel over Logan Pass through Glacier — glacial lakes, hanging valleys and the Continental Divide make it one of the most jaw-dropping drives on earth.

4.Blue Ridge Parkway

Virginia / North Carolina

'America's Favorite Drive' — 469 miles of Appalachian ridgelines linking Shenandoah to the Great Smokies, peerless for fall foliage.

5.Road to Hana

Hawaii (Maui)

600+ curves and 50+ bridges past waterfalls, rainforest and black-sand beaches — the quintessential Hawaiian drive and a glaring omission from any American road-trip list.

6.Overseas Highway

Florida

113 miles island-hopping across 42 bridges (including the Seven Mile Bridge) from Miami to Key West — driving across the open ocean.

7.Trail Ridge Road

Colorado

The highest continuous paved road in the U.S., cresting above 12,000 ft across the alpine tundra of the Rockies.

8.Beartooth Highway

Montana / Wyoming

Switchbacks to nearly 11,000 ft on the way to Yellowstone's NE gate — Charles Kuralt called it 'the most beautiful drive in America.'

9.Oregon Coast Highway

Oregon (US-101)

363 miles of sea stacks, lighthouses, dunes and rainforest down the full Oregon coast — a classic Pacific Northwest drive missing from the list.

10.Million Dollar Highway

Colorado

Cliff-hugging, guardrail-free switchbacks through the San Juan Mountains — one of the most thrilling mountain drives in the country.

11.Skyline Drive

Virginia

105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge with 75 overlooks of the Shenandoah Valley — the genteel northern complement to the Parkway.

12.Seward Highway

Alaska

125 miles past Turnagain Arm, glaciers and the Kenai mountains — an All-American Road and one of Alaska's signature drives.

13.Natchez Trace Parkway

Tennessee / Alabama / Mississippi

444 commercial-free miles along an ancient Native American and pioneer trail from Natchez to Nashville — history and Southern scenery.

14.Tail of the Dragon

North Carolina & Tennessee (US-129)

318 curves in 11 miles at Deals Gap — a legendary driving and motorcycling pilgrimage that any enthusiast would expect to see.

15.San Juan Skyway

Colorado

A 233-mile loop through the San Juans linking Durango, Ouray, Telluride and the Million Dollar Highway — a complete Rocky Mountain circuit.

16.Scenic Byway 12

Utah

An All-American Road over slickrock, hoodoos and the Hogback ridge connecting Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef — red-rock Utah at its best.

17.Cherohala Skyway

Tennessee & North Carolina

43 miles climbing above 5,400 ft between Tellico Plains and Robbinsville — Blue Ridge-caliber views with a fraction of the traffic.

18.Avenue of the Giants

California (Humboldt Redwoods)

31 miles through the world's tallest trees in Humboldt Redwoods State Park — often called the finest forest drive on earth.

19.Historic Columbia River Highway

Oregon

America's first scenic highway, threading waterfalls (including Multnomah Falls) and cliffside viewpoints through the Columbia River Gorge.

20.Newfound Gap Road

Tennessee & North Carolina (Great Smoky Mountains)

The dramatic 33-mile crossing of Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most-visited national park's signature drive, dedicated by FDR.

21.Mount Desert Island Loop Road

Maine

Acadia's 27-mile Park Loop Road past Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and Cadillac Mountain — the first place to see sunrise in the U.S.

22.Cades Cove Loop

Tennessee (Great Smoky Mountains)

An 11-mile one-way loop through a historic mountain valley ringed by peaks — the park's premier wildlife-viewing and pioneer-history drive.

23.Monument Valley Scenic Drive

Arizona / Utah

The Forrest Gump highway into the Navajo Nation's iconic sandstone buttes — the most photographed view of the American West.

24.Kancamagus Highway

New Hampshire

34 miles through the White Mountains with no services — a New England fall-foliage legend over Kancamagus Pass.

25.Great River Road

Minnesota to Louisiana

3,000 miles tracing the Mississippi from its headwaters to the Gulf — the great north-south river journey through America's heartland.

26.North Cascades Highway

Washington (SR-20)

A 140-mile byway past Diablo Lake and 300+ glaciers through 'the American Alps' — one of the most rugged scenic drives in the country.

27.Vermont Route 100

Vermont

216 miles up the spine of the Green Mountains past covered bridges, farmstands and ski towns — the definitive New England foliage road trip.

28.Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway

Colorado (formerly Mount Evans)

The highest paved road in North America, climbing above 14,000 ft to a Fourteener summit past mountain goats and alpine lakes.

29.Olympic Peninsula Loop

Washington

A loop circling Olympic National Park's rainforests, mountains and wild Pacific coast — three ecosystems in one drive.

30.Hells Canyon Scenic Byway

Oregon

A 218-mile loop overlooking North America's deepest river gorge — remote, dramatic Snake River country.

31.Chain of Craters Road

Hawaii (Big Island, Volcanoes National Park)

19 miles dropping from 3,700 ft to the sea across lava fields, craters and petroglyphs in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

32.Mohawk Trail

Massachusetts (MA-2)

New England's first scenic auto road (1914), 'hairpin turn' and all, climbing the Berkshires toward Mt. Greylock — a foliage classic.

33.A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway

Florida

Florida's Atlantic coastal drive past historic St. Augustine, beaches and barrier islands — the East Coast's answer to the PCH.

34.Pikes Peak Highway

Colorado

19 miles to the 14,115-ft summit that inspired 'America the Beautiful' — a famous toll road and hill-climb course.

35.Texas Hill Country (Willow City Loop / Highway 16)

Texas

A 13-mile ranch-road loop off Highway 16 that erupts with bluebonnets each spring — the signature Texas Hill Country wildflower drive.

36.Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway

South Dakota

Pigtail bridges, granite tunnels framing Mount Rushmore and the Needles Highway — a Black Hills engineering showpiece.

37.Black Hills Loop

South Dakota

A grand circuit linking Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park and Wind Cave — the full Black Hills road-trip experience.

38.Mount Washington Auto Road

New Hampshire

A 7.6-mile climb to the highest peak in the Northeast, home to some of the world's worst weather — and the famous 'This Car Climbed Mt. Washington' bumper sticker.

39.Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail

Alabama (US-80)

A 54-mile All-American Road retracing the 1965 Voting Rights March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge — the most significant Civil Rights drive in America.

40.Red Rock Scenic Byway

Arizona

An 8-mile All-American Road through Sedona's red-rock cathedrals — short but among the most photographed vistas in the Southwest.

41.17-Mile Drive

California

A coastal loop past the Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach and Pacific surf — a polished California classic.

42.Chief Joseph Scenic Byway

Wyoming

46 miles over Dead Indian Pass with sweeping Absaroka views — a stunning, lesser-known approach to Yellowstone and the Beartooths.

43.North Shore Scenic Drive

Minnesota

A drive along Lake Superior's rugged North Shore past Split Rock Lighthouse and waterfalls — the Midwest's great inland-sea coastline.

44.High Road to Taos

New Mexico

A mountain backroad through historic Hispanic and Pueblo villages and adobe churches between Santa Fe and Taos.

45.Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway

New Mexico

An 84-mile loop around Wheeler Peak through Taos, Red River and Eagle Nest — high-desert and alpine New Mexico in one circuit.

46.Turquoise Trail

New Mexico

A back-road alternative between Albuquerque and Santa Fe through old mining and artist towns like Madrid along the Sandia Mountains.

47.Apache Trail

Arizona

A rugged historic route through the Superstition Mountains and desert canyon lakes east of Phoenix.

48.The Loneliest Road

Nevada

Nevada's stark, empty stretch of US-50 across the Great Basin — a Western road trip defined by sheer solitude.

49.Talimena Scenic Drive

Oklahoma / Arkansas

A ridgetop drive over the Ouachita Mountains — the South's best-kept fall-foliage secret.

50.Creole Nature Trail

Louisiana

An All-American Road through Cajun bayous, marshes and Gulf beaches teeming with gators and birds — 'Louisiana's Outback.'

51.Alaska Highway

Alaska

The legendary 1,400+ mile wilderness route to Alaska — the ultimate North American overland adventure.

52.Extraterrestrial Highway

Nevada

The desolate highway past Area 51 and the alien-themed town of Rachel — a quirky, only-in-America cult road trip.