The 10 Best Road Trips in the USA

There's no better way to see this country than from the driver's seat. The United States has more miles of scenic highway, mountain passes, and coastline roads than any traveler could cover in a lifetime—but a handful of routes stand out. These are the drives people travel from all over the country for—often more than once.​

This list covers 10 of the best road trips in the USA, focusing on routes where the drive itself is the destination. Whether you're loading up for a week in the national parks or squeezing a long weekend out of a scenic state highway, these are the routes worth putting on the map. Pack smart, protect your interior—mud, sand, and wet gear have a way of following you back to the car—and enjoy the ride.

Few drives in the world match the Pacific Coast Highway for sheer scenery. The classic stretch runs from San Francisco south through Big Sur to Los Angeles, hugging the California coastline for nearly 400 miles. The drive offers ocean views, dramatic cliffs, and small coastal towns worth stopping in.​

Note: Sections of the highway—particularly through Big Sur—are known to close after winter storms or landslides, so checking road conditions before you go is a good rule of thumb. However, this drive is a bucket list road trip for everyone—not just Californians.

Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses the Continental Divide through Glacier National Park in 50 miles of mountain scenery. It’s a road filled with shock, awe, and sights that don't look real until you're seeing it with your own eyes. The road climbs to Logan Pass at 6,646 feet, with sheer cliff faces on one side and mountain views on the other. The drive is only open from late June through mid-October, depending on the snowpack—and it fills up fast once it does. Vehicles over 21 feet are restricted on the upper sections, so leave the trailer behind. Go early in the morning to beat traffic and improve your odds of spotting wildlife—such as mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and bears—along the way.

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles along the Appalachian mountains, connecting Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. With no commercial traffic, no stoplights, and a 45 mph speed limit, it's one of the most relaxing drives in the country. Around mid-October, when the leaves change to vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges, visitors arrive in droves from across the country—for good reason. Pull off at any of the dozens of overlooks along the route for a jaw-dropping view.

Utah's five national parks—Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches—sit within a few hours of each other in the southern part of the state, forming a connected loop of one of the best park road trips in the country. The landscape shifts dramatically from park to park, from Zion's towering sandstone walls to the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon to the red rock arches outside Moab. Add a day at Grand Staircase-Escalante if your schedule allows—some of the access roads are unpaved, so a capable vehicle helps, and so do Husky Liners all-weather floor liners when the red dirt starts following you back inside.​

Plan ahead: Timed entry permits are required at several parks during peak season.

The 25-mile stretch of U.S. 550 between Ouray and Silverton earns its reputation every time. The road climbs through the San Juan Mountains with no guardrails on the cliff-side drops—not a drive for anyone uncomfortable with heights, but an unforgettable one for anyone up for the adventure. The origin of the name is debated (construction cost, gold content of the fill dirt, and the view itself are all cited), but the road itself is undeniable. Drive it as part of the broader San Juan Skyway loop for a full day of some of the best mountain scenery Colorado has to offer.

The Beartooth Highway is often called one of the most beautiful drives in America, and it's hard to argue. The highway climbs from Red Lodge, Montana, to nearly 11,000 feet through the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness before descending into the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Snow is possible at the summit even in July. The road is typically open from late May through mid-October. Approaching Yellowstone this way—through high alpine tundra rather than the park's busier south and west entrances—makes for a genuinely different experience than most visitors get.

The Alaska Highway is in a category of its own. The route runs roughly 1,400 miles from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Delta Junction, Alaska—through boreal forest, mountain passes, and stretches of wilderness where services can be 100 miles apart or more. This is a trip that requires real preparation—a full spare tire (or two), extra fuel capacity, and a vehicle in good mechanical shape. The payoff is a scale of wilderness and solitude that's genuinely hard to find anywhere else in North America. If you're doing this one, your Husky Liners cargo liner will earn its keep—gravel roads, muddy pullouts, and gear-heavy packing are part of the deal.

The Natchez Trace Parkway follows a 444-mile corridor through the American South, tracing a path used for thousands of years by Native Americans, traders, and early settlers moving between Nashville and Natchez, Mississippi. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway, it's a no-commercial-traffic, no-billboard road—calm and unhurried in a way that's increasingly rare. The canopied tunnel roads through old-growth forest are among the most photographed stretches of any American parkway. It's a different kind of road trip than the mountain and coastal drives on this list, but a rewarding one—particularly in spring when the wildflowers are out.

The Olympic Peninsula loop covers roughly 300 miles around one of the most ecologically diverse landscapes in the country—temperate rainforest, rugged Pacific coastline, and the snow-capped peaks of Olympic National Park all within a single drive. The Hoh Rain Forest, Ruby Beach, and Hurricane Ridge are the marquee stops, but the route rewards slow driving and unplanned pull-offs. Several spur roads into the park are unpaved, and the weather on the coast is reliably wet—add Husky Low-Profile Vent Visors to keep your cab ventilated in any climate. The peninsula has a genuine sense of remoteness that's rare for a drive this accessible from a major city.

Trail Ridge Road crosses Rocky Mountain National Park at over 12,000 feet, making it the highest continuous paved road in the United States. Above the treeline, the landscape opens into a tundra that looks more like the Arctic than the American West—wildflowers in summer, elk and bighorn sheep year-round, and views that stretch for dozens of miles on a clear day. The road is typically open from Memorial Day through mid-October, snowpack permitting. Go on a weekday if you can—Rocky Mountain National Park requires timed entry reservations during peak season, and Trail Ridge fills up early.

Q: What is the most scenic road trip in the USA?

A: For coastal views, the Pacific Coast Highway is hard to match. For mountain driving, the Beartooth Highway and Going-to-the-Sun Road are in a class of their own. For sheer variety in a single trip, Utah's Mighty Five covers more landscape diversity than almost any other route in the country.​

Q: What is the best time of year to do a road trip in the USA?

A: It varies by route. Many of the best mountain drives—Going-to-the-Sun Road, Beartooth Highway, Trail Ridge Road—are only open from late spring through early fall. The Blue Ridge Parkway peaks in mid-October for fall foliage. The Pacific Coast Highway and Olympic Peninsula are drivable year-round, though coastal weather can be unpredictable in winter.​

Q: How do I prepare my vehicle for a long road trip?

A: Start with the basics—tire pressure and tread, fluid levels, brakes, and a working spare. For longer or more remote routes like the Alaska Highway, extra fuel capacity and two full-size spares are worth the investment. For a comprehensive list, check ​out our guide to preparing for a road trip. 

Q: What should I pack for a road trip through national parks?

A: A national parks pass (the America the Beautiful pass covers entrance fees at all federal lands for a year and pays for itself quickly), plenty of water, snacks, layers for variable weather, sunscreen, and a paper map or downloaded offline route as a backup to cell service. Timed entry permits are now required at several popular parks during peak season—check the National Park Service website before you go.​

Q: How do I protect my vehicle's interior on a road trip?

A: Mud, sand, wet gear, and pet hair are the enemies of a clean interior on any road trip. All-weather floor liners that cover the full footwell—like Husky Liners WeatherBeater or X-Act Contour liners—contain the mess and wipe clean in minutes. A cargo liner in the back keeps the trunk or truck bed from taking a beating from bags, coolers, and gear. It's a lot easier to hose off a liner at the end of a trip than to detail carpet.