Holiday guide
World’s greatest road trips
It’s the ultimate joy of the journey that fuels most successful road trips; the search for adventure on the road and the never quite knowing what’s going to be around the next corner.
The world’s nine best (and five worst) countries for a road trip
A driving holiday can be a pleasure – or a pain. Here are the best, and worst, places for a road trip around the world as well as here in Australia.
- Chris Moss
The 11 essential items you need to pack for a road trip
If you’re jumping in the car for your next holiday, there are certain items you are going to want to pack. Make sure you don’t pull out of the driveway without these essentials.
- Ben Groundwater
Ten of the world’s ultimate road trips (plus five closer to home)
Having your own set of wheels can be the ultimate ticket to freedom, the difference between following the crowd and travelling beyond the tourist traps.
- Lee Atkinson
Britain’s most dangerous road has become a global tourist attraction
At the foot of Bealach na Bà in the Scottish Highlands, you receive a stark warning.
- Greg Dickinson
America’s most famous road trip is now a ‘ghost highway’
Although it officially vanished 40 years ago, the remnants of Route 66 still offer a glimpse of the “real America”.
- Katrina Lobley
Forget the US: This is one of the greatest road trips you can ever do
Africa isn’t the location that always springs to mind for a car journey, but it’s one that will provide endless adventures and memories.
- Ben Groundwater
Buckle up: The world's 10 scariest drives for tourists
Want to test your driving skills and nerves without getting too wild? Then tackle these regular, surfaced tourist roads if you dare.
- Brian Johnston
‘No points of interest’: Driving the ‘loneliest road in the US’
In 1986, Life magazine described Nevada’s Route 50 as “totally empty”. Nevada tourism turned the put-down into a marketing slogan.
- Keith Austin
The spectacularly scenic South African drive most people miss
Weaving along the Drakensberg escarpment, South Africa’s Panorama Route delivers geological wonders and splendid views.
- Rob McFarland
‘I spent my entire Italian holiday madly searching for EV charging points’
I quickly became the trip laughing stock as I whiled away sunny days in search of a charging station – rumoured to be owned by the mafia.
- Ben Rowell
Epic drives to inspire your next European adventure
In this extract from Lonely Planet’s Epic Road Trips of Europe, we offer a selection of drives in different parts of the continent.
Catastrophes ruined our US holiday plan. We turned it into an epic adventure
I never planned to drive across the US. But when our leisurely rail journey is upended due to a strike, a road adventure of cultural contradictions begins.
- Roy Masters
Heading to Japan? The other form of transport to consider
Don’t be blinkered by Japan’s famed train system: there are good reasons to drive, and you might find it easier than you imagine.
- Brian Johnston
There’s never been a better time for a US road trip
“I was surprised,” Jack Kerouac writes in On The Road, “by how easy the act of leaving was. And how good it felt.”
- Craig Tansley
Six of the most spectacular road trips in Canada
From Newfoundland’s brutally beautiful landscapes to the ice roads of the Northwest Territories, you’re spoilt for choice in Canada.
- Brian Johnston
Scotland road trip: From Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye to Glasgow
The beauty of driving around Scotland is how close the cities are to the countryside. Castle, lochs and lush mountains abound, the traffic is light and there are no tolls.
- Michael Visontay