Lonely Planet - Epic Drives of the World

E pic road trips are a source of stories and happy memories for years to come. And, on one occasion, they sparked the idea of Lonely Planet itself. When Tony and Maureen Wheeler set out from England to drive to Afghanistan in 1972 and then journey onward to Australia, they didnt realise that at the end of the trip their experiences and insights would be the basis for Lonely Planets first guidebooks.

They were far from the first people to drive halfway around the world. In 1968 a group of six British grandmothers bought two second-hand Land Rovers, packed some supplies in Tupperware and drove from London to Australia, passing through Turkey, Iran and India via the Khyber Pass. Go all the way back to 1903 and H. Nelson Jackson, Sewall K. Crocker and their dog Bud took 63 days to drive across the USA from New York to San Francisco.

No matter who you are youthful or more mature, solo or with a family in tow the open road is irresistible to travellers.

This book is intended to offer fresh inspiration for your next road trip. We asked our global network of travel writers for their suggestions and selected 50 of the best drives the world has to offer. Their stories cover almost every corner of the world. The classic routes are well represented with the likes of Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway in the US, the Great Ocean Road in Australia, and Icelands Ring Road. Coastlines are a magnet to the roaming motorist our authors cruise along the coasts of Norway, Ireland, the Cote dAzur, the Adriatic, the Baltic and beyond. The adventurous wont be disappointed: we feature drives in Vietnam, Bhutan and Nepal, we cross the Kalahari, and Tony Wheeler introduces the Gibb River Road in Western Australias Kimberley region. There are also easy-going excursions, for instance around Scotlands Isle of Skye, that are no less beautiful or memorable.

Weve tried not to discriminate against any driver: we have routes written and ridden by motorcyclists and even a tour of Northern California by electric vehicle. A few of these drives take a day but others can be enjoyed over a weekend, a week or more. Most of the drives that made the grade are recognised routes from the Going-to-the-Sun Road across the Rockies in Montana to the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland with regular signposts to minimise the chance of going wrong. A few, especially those in the more remote reaches of Australia, Asia and South America, require some logistical planning, a degree of mechanical experience (at least check that youre carrying a spare wheel and a jack!) and a more intrepid attitude. With the sophisticated mapping apps available today, weve avoided providing turn-by-turn directions. The most important role of these tales from the road is to inspire you to pack an overnight bag and hop behind the wheel to explore somewhere new.

Road trips can be a way of linking together a string of highlights, such as southern Utahs unbeatable series of national parks, making a musical pilgrimage or simply cruising through beautiful scenery, stopping where you please. What they have in common is that the road tripper is always independent. Want to take a detour (and we suggest some gems) or stay an extra day? Go right ahead. Its all about the journey. Driving a car need not be a mode of transport that insulates you from your surroundings: if you stop regularly, explore, encounter local people and their culture, youll have as rich and rewarding an experience as you could hope for.

The main stories in each regional chapter feature first-hand accounts of fantastic drives in that continent. Each includes a factbox to start the planning of a trip when is the best time of year, how to get there, where to stay. But beyond that, these stories should spark other ideas. Weve started that process with the more like this section following each story, which offers other ideas along a similar theme, not necessarily on the same continent. Drives are colour coded according to difficulty, which takes into account not just how long, remote and challenging they are but the logistics and local conditions. The index collects different types of drive for a variety of interests.

Justin Foulkes | Lonely Planet

exploring the east coast of New Zealand in a VW campervan

Matt Munro | Lonely Planet

a classic Ford Galaxy on the Pacific Coast Highway