USA road trips: 6 incredible routes for your next American adventure

Which USA road trip is right for you?

The brilliant thing about a USA road trip is that it can be almost any kind of holiday you want it to be.

You can drive between huge national parks and desert landscapes, follow the California coastline, combine theme parks with the Florida Keys, travel through some of America's great music cities, or spend your days exploring pretty New England towns.

And you don't necessarily need to know exactly where you want to go before you start planning.

The first thing I'd think about is what you actually want the trip to feel like. Lots of scenery and outdoor adventures? Cities, food and music? Beaches and a slower pace? A family trip with plenty going on?

Because once you know that, choosing the route becomes much easier.

California: the classic road trip

San Francisco → Yosemite → Monterey & Carmel → Santa Barbara → Los Angeles → San Diego

If you've never done a USA road trip before, California is an easy place to start.

You can begin with a few days in San Francisco before heading inland to Yosemite, then make your way back towards the coast and travel south through Monterey and Carmel, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, finishing in San Diego.

What I like about this route is how much variety you get within one trip.

You've got cities, national parks, beaches, little coastal towns and some incredible drives in between.

Around two weeks gives you a good amount of time to enjoy the different stops without feeling as though you're permanently checking out of one hotel and racing to the next

And you don't have to follow the standard route exactly. Napa or Sonoma could be added if you'd like some time in wine country, Palm Springs could work brilliantly, or you could extend the trip to include Las Vegas.

That's the beauty of doing it as a tailor-made trip. The route can be built around what you actually want to see.

Arizona & Utah: for the incredible scenery

Las Vegas → Zion → Bryce Canyon → Page → Monument Valley → Grand Canyon

If it's the huge landscapes and open roads that make you want to do an American road trip, I'd look at Arizona and Utah.

Starting in Las Vegas gives you a few days of bright lights, restaurants and entertainment before everything changes completely.

From there, you can head towards Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon before continuing to Page, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon.

And this is one of those trips where the driving isn't simply how you get to the next place.

It's part of it.

There will be stretches where the landscape outside the car is every bit as impressive as the destination you're heading towards.

I'd allow roughly 10 to 14 nights depending on how much you want to explore each area.

If you're including national parks, it's important to check the arrangements for the particular parks you're visiting too. Entry systems, permits and reservations can vary and sometimes change from one season or year to another.

Florida: much more than Orlando

Orlando → Gulf Coast → Everglades → Miami → Florida Keys

Florida works so well for a road trip, particularly for families, because you can make each part of the holiday feel completely different.

You could start with Orlando and spend a few days at the theme parks, then pick up your car and head towards the Gulf Coast for some beach time.

From there, continue south towards the Everglades and Miami before driving through the Florida Keys all the way to Key West.

The drive through the Keys is one I'd want to take my time over. You're travelling along the Overseas Highway with the ocean around you, crossing bridges and passing through the different islands as you go.

And after the madness of Orlando, ending the trip somewhere like the Keys can be a lovely change of pace.

You don't have to move constantly either.

I'd much rather give you a few nights in each place than have you packing the car every morning just so we can say you've visited another stop.

Route 66: the ultimate American road trip

Chicago → St Louis → Oklahoma → Amarillo → Santa Fe → Arizona → Los Angeles

If there's one journey that really deserves the words “American road trip”, it's Route 66.

The historic route runs from Chicago all the way to Santa Monica, taking you through eight states and almost 2,500 miles of America along the way.

But this isn't a trip I'd try to rush.

Part of the appeal is everything in between the big-name stops: old-school motels, roadside diners, neon signs, tiny towns, quirky roadside attractions and stretches of landscape that change completely as you travel west.

You can start among the skyscrapers of Chicago, travel through Missouri and Oklahoma, cross the Texas Panhandle, spend time in New Mexico and Arizona and eventually reach California and the Pacific.

And you don't necessarily have to drive every single mile of the historic road either.

Route 66 was officially removed from the US Highway System in 1985, so today you're following a mixture of historic Route 66 sections and modern roads. That actually gives us plenty of flexibility to build the trip around the places you most want to experience rather than feeling that you have to religiously follow every original section.

If you want to drive the full Chicago-to-California journey, I'd be looking at around three weeks rather than trying to cram nearly 2,500 miles into a fortnight.

But if you don't have that long, we can also take one section of Route 66 and combine it with a wider Southwest or California itinerary.

Nashville to New Orleans: for music, food and atmosphere

Nashville → Memphis → Mississippi → New Orleans

This is a completely different type of USA road trip.

There are no beaches to chase and you don't need hiking boots. This one is about music, food, history and some fantastic cities.

Start in Nashville with live music and honky-tonks before heading to Memphis for Beale Street, Sun Studio, Graceland and some very good barbecue.

Then continue south through Mississippi towards New Orleans.

I'd definitely leave enough time for New Orleans rather than treating it as somewhere to spend a night or two at the end.

The French Quarter might be the part everyone recognises, but the city has so much more to it, from its food and live jazz to its neighbourhoods, architecture and completely unique atmosphere.

Around 10 to 14 nights would give you time to enjoy the journey and include some smaller stops along the way rather than simply driving from one big city to another.

If you like the idea of a USA road trip but national parks and long days hiking aren't really your thing, this is one I'd seriously consider.

New England: for a slower road trip

Boston → Massachusetts → Vermont → New Hampshire → Maine

New England is probably the route I'd choose if your idea of a road trip involves pretty towns, coastal drives, mountains, lighthouses and stopping because somewhere looks lovely rather than because it's on a sightseeing list.

Autumn gets most of the attention, and understandably so. The fall colours through places such as Vermont and New Hampshire are gorgeous.

But you don't have to travel in autumn.

Summer can be brilliant for combining Boston with the coast, Cape Cod and Maine, with beaches, seaside towns and plenty of opportunities to stop for seafood along the way.

It's also a route that suits taking things a little slower.

You don't need to plan something enormous every day. Some of the appeal is simply having the freedom to explore as you go.

How many stops should you include?

This is where I'd be quite strict.

Just because we can fit another stop in doesn't necessarily mean we should.

It's very easy to look at a USA map and underestimate the distances involved. A journey that seems reasonable when you're planning it at home can feel very different when you've already spent the previous day driving too.

And every time you change hotel, you're not only accounting for the driving time. You've got packing, checking out, parking, stops along the way and checking in again at the other end.

I don't think a good road trip is about squeezing in as many places as possible.

It's about getting the balance right between seeing plenty and actually having time to enjoy where you are.

Do you have to start and finish in the same place?

No, and sometimes I'd deliberately plan it so you don't.

Flying into one city and home from another can make a road trip flow much better.

For example, you could fly into San Francisco and home from Los Angeles or San Diego rather than driving all the way back north just because that's where your return flight leaves from.

The same applies to Nashville and New Orleans.

It isn't always the best or cheapest option, and we need to consider things such as flight schedules and one-way car hire charges, but it's something I'd always look at when planning the route.

I'd rather compare the options than automatically build a circular journey that wastes a day of your holiday.

What sort of hire car do you need?

Possibly a bigger one than you think.

Four people might technically fit in a particular car, but four people plus four suitcases and hand luggage is another matter entirely.

If you're going to spend quite a few hours travelling between stops, comfort matters.

I'd look at the number of passengers, luggage space, the type of driving you're doing and how long you're going to be in the car rather than simply choosing the cheapest category available.

And before travelling, you'll need to check the current driving requirements for the states you're visiting and the conditions set by your particular car hire company.

When is the best time to do a USA road trip?

That depends entirely on the route.

A New England road trip in autumn is a completely different proposition from Arizona and Utah in the height of summer.

California can work at several points in the year, while Florida has its own weather patterns and seasonal considerations.

National parks can also be affected by weather, road closures and seasonal access.

So I wouldn't choose the dates and the route independently of one another.

If your dates are fixed, I'd look at which routes work best at that time of year.

If the road trip itself is the priority and your dates are flexible, we can do it the other way around and work out the best time to go.

How far in advance should you book?

For a more complicated road trip, earlier is usually better.

You're not booking one hotel and one flight.

We might be looking at international flights, several hotels, car hire, national parks, experiences and perhaps different arrival and departure airports.

And some of the places you might want to stay have far fewer hotels than a big city.

School holidays and popular travel periods can reduce the options further.

It doesn't mean you can't plan something closer to departure, but having more availability gives us much more freedom to build the route we actually want rather than designing it around what's left.

Where would I start?

Not with the hotels.

I'd start with you.

Tell me how long you've got, who's travelling, roughly when you want to go and the things you'd really love to experience.

You might already have a list of places you want to visit.

Or you might simply say, “We really fancy doing a USA road trip.”

Both are absolutely fine.

From there, I can work out a route that makes sense, look at how long you need in each place and piece together the flights, hotels, car hire and experiences around it.

Because the best USA road trip isn't necessarily the one that covers the most miles.

It's the one where every stop feels worth making.

Danielle x