2025 Readers' Choice Awards: Best road trip destination

Winner: USA

Why you love it…

Easy Rider, Thelma & Louise, Sideways, National Lampoon’s Vacation… The great American road trip is immortalised in pop culture and has become an iconic way to explore this vast country. Follow the most classic of highways, Route 66, between Chicago and Santa Monica, passing through deserts, valleys and towns where old-school Americana is on steroids. Or trace the Pacific Coast Highway between Seattle and San Diego, along the rugged west coast of Big Sur, through the Redwood National and State Parks and California’s Wine Country. Or hit a lesser-known road around Utah’s unearthly landscapes of red, rocky formations or wild Alaska’s soaring mountains, deep fjords and glaciers.

Hot tip…

Interstates are the most efficient way of getting from A to B, but the real beauty is off-the-beaten track. Plan where you’ll stay each night and factor in detours along the way.

Runners-up

New Zealand

It’s choose your adventure in NZ: north for surf beaches, geothermal landscapes and Māori culture, or south for soaring mountain ranges, iconic wine regions and dramatic fjords and sounds.

Italy

Whether you brave the Amalfi Coast’s narrow and winding cliffside roads or opt for the gentle country drives of Tuscany, an Italian road trip allows us to slowly and deeply explore this alluring country.

France

Peppered with grand chateaux, medieval villages, lavender fields and dramatic mountainous landscapes, we’re keen to swap the sparkling cities for France’s bucolic country roads.

Canada

Polar highways and snowy peaks, coastal roads dotted with villages and lighthouses, gold rush routes steeped in history. It’s all about the journey in Canada.

For all the winners and runners-up, visit our 2025 Readers’ Choice hub.