"The university town of Durham makes a perfect first stop, with attractive architecture and an incredible food truck scene"
Wild things
the buffalo of Yellowstone; Yellowstone’s Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin
Whether you’re a music lover, a food and wine buff or an outdoor obsessive, there’s a road trip match-in-heaven waiting for you in the USA, says Alex Walker
As soon as you hit the road, it’s clear why the road trip originated in the USA. The rewards of hitting the highways are immediate, with endless possibilities for outdoor adventures, culinary delights, cultural highlights and sumptuous self-care.
Drive time: approx 263 miles / 7 hours (non-stop)
The Grand Teton-Yellowstone Loop
Natural habitat
Grand Teton’s National Elk Refuge provides sanctuary for one of the largest elk herds in Wyoming
Drive time: approx 400 miles / 5 hours (non-stop)
North Carolina wine country, Raleigh to Asheville
Durham
Raleigh
Asheville
En route to the foodie hub of Asheville (which is also home to a booming cider scene if you need a break from the vino), you can cross the Mile High Swinging Bridge, the highest swinging bridge in the USA, and then make a beeline for Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the country’s most-visited winery, for good reason: the 8,000 acres of garden and vast mansion make this a wine tasting to remember.
Drive time: approx 800 miles / 14 hours (non-stop)
San Francisco to Seattle
Take time to linger
San Francisco, home of the famous Golden Gate Bridge, is an undisputed cultural heavyweight
The Yellowstone to Grand Teton Scenic Loop drive manages to tick off the highlights of the enormous Yellowstone National Park and combine it with the wilds of Grand Teton National Park, rolling majestically through eastern Idaho, north-western Wyoming and central Montana.
Grand Teton’s Jackson Hole is the only commercial airport located within any US national pak, so start out at Jackson, and drive north, through Caribou-Targhee National Forest, and past the National Elk Refuge, where you can pause to observe elks from boardwalks and decking areas.
For nature lovers and outdoors adventurers, Grand Teton is a vast playground of hiking, biking, kayaking, swimming and climbing, so plan to linger for at least a few days.
This route covers the Teton and Mesa Falls scenic byways, as well as scenic routes within Yellowstone National Park. Most of Yellowstone’s highlights are concentrated on the lower loop of Grand Loop Road, including Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, Hayden Valley and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
During the winter months, some park roads close due to snowfall, and in summer national parks can be crowded, but the shoulder seasons of early spring and late autumn are comparatively crowd-free.
Musical routes
downtown Nashville; New Orleans’ French Quarter
San Francisco
Drive time: approx 680 miles / 8 hours (non-stop)
Nashville to New Orleans on Highway 61
The legendary Blues Highway is an unforgettable journey for music-lovers, taking in three major Southern music cities – Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans – all with their own flavour, but rich with iconic sights, recording studios, vinyl stores and music venues.
Your journey starts in Nashville, known as “Music City” with more than 120 honky-tonks and live music venues to choose from. Leaving Nashville, you’ll head for Memphis via Jackson, another hard-partying, music-loving town.
Jackson sits geographically between Nashville and Memphis; it also musically blends the honky-tonks of Nashville’s Lower Broadway with Beale Street’s blues hangouts in Memphis. And in Memphis, you’ll find Elvis Presley’s kitsch monument, Graceland, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, formerly the home of Stax Records, while a visit to Sun Records lets you honour the artists who launched their careers there, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Pause in Tunica, at the Blues Visitors Center & Museum, and in Clarksdale for the Delta Blues Museum, which even features Muddy Waters’ former home. Then wind up your musical pilgrimage in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, a culturally diverse gumbo of Spanish, French, Cuban and Creole influences.
Tunica
Nashville
New Orleans
Memphis
Graceland
Jackson
Drive time: approx 350 miles / 5 hours (non-stop)
The Boston to Philadelphia revolution trail
If you want to combine the West Coast’s most striking natural scenery with three of the USA’s most culturally enriching and creative cities – San Francisco, Portland and Seattle – then this is the road trip for you. Sure, the Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles is arguably America’s most iconic road trip, but driving north of San Francisco packs in many more highlights for culture lovers.
San Francisco is an undisputed cultural heavyweight, worth lingering over for a few days, with the bucolic delights of Sausalito, the redwoods of Muir Woods and the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma just a short drive out of the city, and all glorious stops on your journey. Then there’s Mount Shasta, Crescent City for more redwoods, and the magnificence of Crater Lake and the Toketee Falls when you hit Oregon.
The towns Eugene and Bend are quirky, creative hubs, with street art tours and microbreweries that make them a great stopover. Portland, however, is about as arty as American cities come, with indie movie theatres, contemporary art galleries, craft museums and countless comic-book stores. After crossing the border into Washington state, Mount Rainier National Park is just 85 miles southeast of Seattle, for a final blast of natural scenery before rolling into the cool, cultural capital of Seattle.
The USA is a land of contrasts, one best explored on two or four wheels.
With borders now open, discover the States’ endless possibilities for adventure and plan your own epic road trip story in 2022.
Ensure that you check travel restrictions and requirements before you travel.
For history buffs, Boston and Philadelphia are two of the most rewarding cities in the United States to visit. New York is obviously the big-hitter today, but both Boston and Philadelphia were, for a time, the largest cities in America, and they’re heavy with historical significance, with plenty of battle sites and buildings dating back to colonial days.
Boston was, of course, the site of the Boston Tea Party, and the American Revolution began with the battles of Lexington and Concord in the outskirts of the city. Philadelphia, meanwhile, was the meeting place for the Founding Fathers, and the place where the Declaration of Independence and (later) the Constitution were drafted and signed, and home of the Liberty Bell. Best of all, the five-hour drive between these two historic heavyweights takes you through the states of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
It’s worth making short detours to see the historic and picturesque New England towns of New Haven, Hartford, Providence and Newport, the latter with its vast historic mansions and history as an 18th-century port city with many colonial-era buildings.
Philadelphia
Boston
New York City
Telegraph Media Group Creative Director: Jonathan Clayton-Jones, Picture Editor: Alex Kelly, Commissioning Editor: Hannah Hopkins, Words: Alex Walker, Sub Editor: Tim Cumming, Project Manager: Jason Desir, Web Editor: Katherine Scott
Image credits: Getty, Shutterstock, Brand USA
For more information and to book, go to visittheusa.co.uk
Paid for by
Standard car rental in the US usually comes with basic insurance, but costs in the case of damage or theft can run to thousands of pounds. You can buy a super collision damage waiver from your car rental agent, but an excess insurance policy from a third party is usually cheaper. As well as a valid driver’s licence, you’ll need an international driving permit (£5.50 from the Post Office), plus photographic ID if you only have a paper UK licence.
In terms of accommodation, campgrounds, hotels and lodges can get booked out months in advance in high season, especially around the national parks. If you don’t want to commit, look for properties with good cancellation policies. Some of the bigger chains allow you to ditch your booking up until 2pm on the day of check-in, which makes all the difference when you need to change plans.
Getting around in the usa
Jackson Hole
Caribou-Targhee
Grand Loop Road
Old Faithful
Blowing Rock
Lexington
For years, California has been the go-to destination for epicurean road-trippers, but North Carolina is the destination on the lips of in-the-know travellers who want to savour southern gastronomy, tour ridiculously photogenic wineries and explore artsy towns like Asheville and Raleigh.
The university town of Durham, a half-hour drive from Raleigh, makes a perfect first stop, with attractive architecture and an incredible food truck scene. Then it’s onwards to Lexington, where barbecue is a competitive sport.
After all that classic southern feasting, you’ll need a fix of the great outdoors, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the state’s most scenic drives, with spectacular hiking and biking routes. The town of Blowing Rock makes the perfect spot for a picnic lunch, on a cliff 4,000ft above sea level, overlooking Johns River Gorge. After that, a visit to Grandfather Mountain Winery kicks off the High Country Wine Trail, with tastings at some of the highest vineyards on the east coast, all with glorious views.
Arts galore
Portland has indie movie theatres, contemporary art galleries, craft museums and comic-book stores
San Francisco
Seattle
Portland
Bend
Crater Lake
Iconic sites
Boston was the site of the Boston Tea Party, and the American Revolution began in the outskirts of the city
Historic cities
Philadelphia was the meeting place for the Founding Fathers, and is home to the Liberty Bell
After all that classic southern feasting, you’ll need a fix of the great outdoors, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the state’s most scenic drives, with spectacular hiking and biking routes. The town of Blowing Rock makes the perfect spot for a picnic lunch, on a cliff 4,000ft above sea level, overlooking Johns River Gorge. After that, a visit to Grandfather Mountain Winery kicks off the High Country Wine Trail, with tastings at some of the highest vineyards on the east coast, all with glorious views.
And as we emerge from lockdowns and travel restrictions, travellers are seeking to reconnect with their passions, hobbies and loves on holiday, with road trips that feel more like personal pilgrimages.
So whether you’re a solo traveller on a post-lockdown adventure, a family finally getting that unforgettable international escape, or a group of friends on that longed-for reunion trip, there is a life-changing road itinerary for you. Just allow yourself enough time at each stop to soak it all up…these are not trips you want to rush.
