Best road trips: notes from the writer who drove them all

Writer Sarah Woods drove 50 of the world’s most famous road trips. Here’s the inside track on five of the best

One of the greatest joys of a road trip is the scenery, like the rust-red ruggedness of Mojave National Preserve on Route 66 (Shutterstock)

There is something utterly seductive about the prospect of a road trip. They needn’t always be long but they should always be scenic in a way that allows the journey to slowly unfold.

From the driver’s seat I have felt every season on my skin through my open window: the warm showers of South America’s wet season on the Pan American Highway; the bone-chilling cold of Canada’s ice fields; and the stifling airless heat of the desert.

Of course, not all road trips are effortless – far from it – but I have learned to view mechanical failures, cavernous potholes and navigational mishaps as part of the entertainment. Wildlife – however big, fierce and reluctant to move – is always exciting company.

Whether you drive for the thrill or for the peace, for the rush or for the space and the thinking time, or simply to get there, settle back and enjoy the ride.

Ring Road, Iceland

Crags, chasms, twisted rocks and mammoth boulders characterise the Ring Road’s untamed splendour: an unreal landscape studded with gullies and jutting spits of black rock and sparkling gin-clear glacial lagoons. Also known as Route One, or Highway One, the Ring Road loops over 1,330km right around the island.

Drivers will need their wits about them on blind summits, single-lane bridges and skinny passes where powerful gusts of wind can make every twist and turn hazardous

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Some of the country’s most popular tourist sights are reached via this national road, such as the waterfalls of Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss. Yet it is the eerie calm of Jökulsárlón, a tranquil glacier lagoon about 370km east of Reykjavík, that draws many people to this route. It is also often sought by film crews for movie locations, TV commercials and pop music videos – it was here that the mythical land of Westeros was recreated for Game of Thrones.

Iceland's Ring Road circles the country's most famous sights, including Thingvellir, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet (Promote Iceland)

Drivers will need their wits about them on blind summits, single-lane bridges and skinny passes where powerful gusts of wind can make every twist and turn hazardous. You’re unlikely to achieve speeds of anything much over 40mph – progress is slow as you skirt around gnarled rocks, fossilised molten lava, charred trees and shimmering lakes. About 30km of the Ring Road’s length still remain unpaved, so make sure your seatbelt is pulled tight and prepare for a rollicking ride across rough stones.

Great Ocean Road, Australia

The Great Ocean Road is not just simply a beautiful road trip that makes your heart sing. It's also the largest First World War memorial in the world. Though plans for an ocean road were proposed as early as 1880, they only gained real impetus towards the end of the First World War. As part of a programme of repatriation and re-employment of returned soldiers, the idea of road creation in sparsely populated areas took hold.

Australia's Great Ocean Road passes cool surf hangouts and provides plenty of opportunity to taste fresh seafood (Camille Gerstenhaber)

From downtown Melbourne, the start of the Great Ocean Road is a scenic hour’s drive to the seaside town of Torquay. Here you’ll find a sign denoting the route’s official beginning, together with Australia’s top surf hangouts, including oh-so-cool Bell’s Beach, host of the annual Rip Curl Pro.

On a route as mellow and meandering as the Great Ocean Road stretch, there is plenty of opportunity to taste farm-fresh produce, seafood and cool-climate wines. Tour operators all along the Great Ocean Road offer exciting excursions, including scuba diving on wrecks and reefs, sea-kayaking and hiking, guided wildlife walks to spot kangaroos and forest birds, and fishing in rivers and lakes.

Specialist operators also offer full-on three- or four-day hiking expeditions such as the magnificent 104km Great Ocean Walk. Numerous points en route offer a wide variety of overnight accommodation from dirt cheap campsites and budget motels to self-catering apartments, high-end hotels and spa resorts.

The biggest risk on this trip? It’s rushing the experience: an all-too-common mistake.

Garden Route, South Africa

Following a route around Africa’s southernmost tip, the Garden Route comprises 200km of temperate forest beneath the ragged peaks of the Tsitsikamma and Outeniqua mountains. The fertile soils of the region produce some of South Africa’s most fantastic wines. Swirling a luscious plum-coloured full-bodied Pinotage around a glass to breathe in the deep aromas of raspberries and black cherries is heavenly under South African sunshine. The sound of melodic birdsong echoes around a corridor of leafy vines.

The Bloukrans Bridge is a well-known stop on the Garden Route; daredevils flock here to perform the world's highest bridge bungee jump (Shutterstock)

Pass dinky little beach towns and seaside parlours by the shore, pretty little bays with glassy waters and gentle surf home to astounding numbers of sharks. We stopped off for fresh juices and home-ground coffee at Hermanus, a lovely little town that claims it is the easiest place in the world to spot whales from land between July to January each year.

Pass dinky little beach towns and seaside parlours by the shore, pretty little bays with glassy waters and gentle surf home to astounding numbers of sharks 

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You can also take the asphalted stretch from George up to Oudtshoorn. Here, the madcap antics of ostriches baffled us, pecking furiously at anything in their way and sprinting round in crazy circles. A sign proclaiming Oudtshoorn as the ‘ostrich capital of the world’ helps make sense of it. But these bizarre feathered beasts are nothing compared with our next activity – cage diving with enormous crocodiles.

Fifteen minutes in the enclosure with a massive reptile with hundreds of razor sharp teeth and a killer mentality was quite long enough – even though the guys that ran the joint assured me the croc was very well-fed. Controlled by an overhead monorail, the feeling of dangling, suspended above the crocs, turned my legs to jelly. Never had a glass of wine that evening been more deserved.

Route 66, US

Legions of road-trippers dream of getting their kicks on Route 66, usually bathed in glorious sunshine in an open-topped Corvette. Millions, like me, have been captivated by this legendary long-distance route. Slicing through the heart of the US on a diagonal course between Chicago and Los Angeles, Route 66 is blessed with archetypal American kitsch.

From dusty saloon bars and rusty truck stops to neon-lit signs and roadside diners, Route 66 navigates a historic road traversed by adventurers from every walk of life. From old travellers and dreamers to fugitives and schemers, Route 66 offers everything from lowlife to the high life (as well as plenty of wildlife).

Stopping to eat at a vintage roadside diner is a Route 66 rite of passage (Shutterstock)

Oklahoma businessmen Cyrus Avery is known to many as the father of Route 66. Avery lobbied for a route that would wind 3,862km through the most romantic and celebrated portions of the American West to connect the small Midwestern towns of Illinois, Missouri and Kansas with the big cities of Los Angeles and Chicago. And when you grasp that it contains such diverse landscapes as the Grand Canyon, the south-west desert, the small-town Midwest heartlands and the high-rise towers of Chicago, well, it almost makes you gasp for breath.

In a gleaming eight-berth Winnebago, with a Beach Boys CD for company, I drove this iconic road tailed by a line of hand-polished Mustangs, Fords and Chevys. As I cruised through each classic mile of authentic Americana, crossing a trio of time zones, it felt like I was on a shortcut to freedom.

Atlantic Ocean Road, Norway

With its seductive curves, Norway’s Atlantic Ocean Road looks deceivingly slick and smooth for an unsheltered strip of North Atlantic coastline. Don’t make the all-too-common mistake of following Sat Nav suggestions for alternative stretches – these skip the Atlantic Ocean Road altogether, so you’ll miss out on the incredible swoops, dips, sweeping arches, straddling causeways and ambitious swirls battered by brutal seas.

The Atlantic Ocean Road has incredible swoops, dips, sweeping arches, straddling causeways and ambitious swirls battered by brutal seas

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Officially, the Atlantic Ocean Road starts at Utheim on Averoya, close to the little village of Karvag. But according to Scandinavian drivers’ polls, the Atlantic Ocean Road has a favourite stretch. You’ll instinctively know where, as it requires no signage. Suddenly, the route zigzags sharply across a slalom series of eight low bridges that jut out over the ocean. A panorama of fjords – intensely coloured in jewel-tone blues and emerald greens – form a dramatic contrast to the chalk-white and silver of the mountains. Your chest tightens a little and your heartbeat quickens as you traverse this roller-coaster road, but with the end in sight you find yourself slowly beginning to exhale. Check your face in the rear-view mirror now and you’ll see a smile as wide as an over-stretched hammock.

Norway's Atlantic Ocean Road offers hairpin thrills and 'drunken' bridges (visitnorway.com)

The most famous, and much-photographed, bridge is the Storseisundet. Known locally with fondness as ‘the drunk bridge’, due to its unusual lopsided lean, it arcs high over the sea at a dizzying angle and is an absolute blast to drive. Feeling brave? Then open the window while you drive alongside the windswept seas to feel powerful spritzes bouncing against the skin of your cheek.

The 50 Greatest Road Trips of the World, by Sarah Woods, is published by Icon Books (£8.99)