12 of the Most Scenic Drives in America for an Epic Road Trip

There is a specific kind of freedom I only ever feel on a two-lane road with the windows down, a full tank, and absolutely nowhere I have to be. The radio fades out somewhere past the last town. The scenery takes over, and the driving stops feeling like driving.

Some roads are just the way to get somewhere. And then there are the ones that are the somewhere. That open-road magic is the whole trip, the kind you plan a vacation around and talk about for years afterward.

Below, discover twelve of the most jaw-dropping scenic drives in America, from a highway that climbs into the clouds in Montana to one that runs straight out across open ocean in Florida. Pick the one that pulls at you, and start plotting.

1. Going-to-the-Sun Road, Montana

This is the one that makes people gasp out loud. Fifty miles of engineering carved straight into the flank of Glacier National Park, past waterfalls that spill onto the pavement and hairpin turns with nothing but sky on the far side.

At the crest sits Logan Pass, 6,646 feet up on the Continental Divide, where mountain goats wander the parking lot and alpine wildflowers run for acres. Give yourself the whole day, because you will stop constantly, and you should. Pro tip: go early, since parking at the pass fills fast.

Where: Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses Glacier National Park, Montana, for 50 miles between West Glacier on the west end and St. Mary on the east. Start at the West Glacier entrance and climb toward Logan Pass. The full road is typically open late June through mid-October.

2. Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

If Going-to-the-Sun is a burst of drama, this is the long, slow exhale. America’s longest linear park unspools for 469 miles along the crest of the Appalachians, and I cannot think of a better place to watch autumn actually happen.

The speed limit tops out at 45 mph, which is entirely the point, and overlooks arrive every few minutes. Do not miss the Linn Cove Viaduct near Grandfather Mountain, an S-curve of concrete that seems to float around the mountainside without touching it.

Where: The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Pick up the southern end near Cherokee, North Carolina, and drive north, or dip on and off at any milepost.

3. Pacific Coast Highway (Big Sur), California

Ocean on one side, redwood-cloaked cliffs on the other, and the constant feeling that the road is showing off. The Big Sur stretch of California’s Highway 1 is the postcard everyone pictures when they imagine a coastal road trip.

Its signature is Bixby Creek Bridge, a graceful 714-foot arch soaring 260 feet above a canyon that spills into the sea. Time your drive for late afternoon, when the marine fog burns off and the light turns gold on the water.

Watch for sea otters bobbing in the kelp beds below and gray whales spouting offshore in season. It is the kind of coastline that makes you invent reasons to pull over.

Where: Highway 1 through Big Sur runs roughly 90 miles between Carmel and San Simeon, California. Start in Carmel-by-the-Sea and head south; Bixby Creek Bridge appears about 15 miles in, with a small pullout for photos.

4. Overseas Highway, Florida

No drive on this list feels less like being on land. The Overseas Highway carries US 1 out across the open water of the Florida Keys, leapfrogging island to island on 42 bridges with turquoise sea shimmering on both sides.

The showstopper is the Seven Mile Bridge, nearly seven miles of pavement suspended between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. It is honestly the closest thing to sailing you can do from behind a steering wheel, and the payoff at the end is Key West.

Where: The Overseas Highway follows US 1 for about 113 miles from Key Largo to Key West, Florida. Begin in Key Largo at Mile Marker 106 and count the green markers down toward zero as you drive southwest.

5. Beartooth Highway, Montana to Wyoming

The newsman Charles Kuralt once called this the most beautiful drive in America, and standing at the top, it is hard to argue with him. US 212 zigzags up a wall of switchbacks to Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet.

Up there waits a world of alpine tundra, snowfields lingering into July, and glacier-carved lakes the color of a swimming pool. Marmots whistle from the rocks and the horizon just keeps unrolling.

The road then delivers you straight to Yellowstone’s quiet northeast gate, which is a heck of a way to end an afternoon on the road.

Where: The Beartooth Highway runs 68 miles along US 212 from Red Lodge, Montana, to Cooke City, Montana, dipping into Wyoming at the pass. Start in Red Lodge. This one is seasonal, open only from late May through mid-October.

6. Million Dollar Highway, Colorado

This is the drive that thrills you and steals your breath in the same instant. The stretch of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton hugs sheer San Juan cliffs with few guardrails, climbing over Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet.

The reward for your steady hands is some of the most staggering high-country scenery in the Rockies, all rust-red peaks and plunging gorges dusted with old mine works.

Two beautifully preserved mining towns bookend the route, so you can start and finish the day with a warm meal and an unhurried wander down a historic main street.

Where: The Million Dollar Highway is the roughly 25-mile section of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado. Start in Ouray, nicknamed the Switzerland of America, and drive south over Red Mountain Pass.

7. Road to Hana, Hawaii

The Road to Hana is living proof that the journey can beat the destination. More than 50 miles of Maui’s Highway 360 wind through dense rainforest on 620 curves and 59 bridges, most of them only a single lane wide.

Every turn opens onto something new: a roadside waterfall, a black-sand cove, a tunnel of green bamboo. Slow way down and pull over often, because this is a drive you savor rather than finish. Did you know? Many of those little bridges are nearly a century old.

Where: The Road to Hana follows Hawaii Highway 360 for about 52 miles from Paia to the town of Hana on Maui’s rainy eastern coast. Start in the laid-back surf town of Paia and follow the mile markers east.

8. Trail Ridge Road, Colorado

There is a moment on Trail Ridge Road when the trees simply stop, and it hits you that you have climbed clean above the timberline into open tundra. It is the highest continuous paved road in the country, cresting at 12,183 feet.

Eleven of its miles run above 11,000 feet, where elk graze the meadows and the air turns thin and startlingly clean. The whole spine of the Rockies unfolds around you, and every pullout is another postcard you will want to stop for.

Where: Trail Ridge Road carries US 34 for 48 miles across Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, from Estes Park in the east to Grand Lake in the west. Start in Estes Park. The high road is open late May to mid-October.

9. Needles Highway, South Dakota

I love a drive with a sense of humor, and this one squeezes you through solid granite on purpose. The Needles Highway threads 14 miles through Custer State Park, past towering rock spires the locals simply call the needles.

The most famous is the Needle’s Eye Tunnel, a slot barely wider than your side mirrors, so fold them in and take it slow. Keep an eye out for the park’s famous bison and friendly burros along the way.

The route ends at Sylvan Lake, a glassy jewel ringed by boulders that looks like it was arranged for a movie set.

Where: The Needles Highway follows State Highway 87 for 14 miles through Custer State Park, South Dakota. Start near Sylvan Lake or the town of Custer and ease your way through the tunnels and pigtail curves.

10. Scenic Byway 12, Utah

Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 is what you get when a road trip runs through the middle of a geology textbook. Over 124 miles it crosses red-rock canyons, slickrock domes, and cool pine forest, changing character every few miles.

The nerviest, most thrilling stretch is the Hogback, a knife-edge ridge with sheer drops falling away on both sides and hardly any shoulder to speak of. Best of all, the byway links Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef, so the bookends are as spectacular as the drive itself.

Where: Scenic Byway 12 runs 124 miles from near Panguitch to Torrey, Utah, connecting Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef. Start at the Bryce Canyon end and drive northeast through Escalante and over Boulder Mountain toward Torrey.

11. Park Loop Road, Acadia, Maine

New England does its scenery differently, and Acadia’s Park Loop Road is the proof: pink granite headlands, dark spruce forest, and the cold blue Atlantic all threaded onto one 27-mile ribbon.

You can watch the surf boom up through Thunder Hole, picnic on the lawn beside glassy Jordan Pond, and drive right to the 1,530-foot summit of Cadillac Mountain.

For much of the year, that summit is the very first place in the whole country to catch the sunrise, so set an early alarm and bring coffee.

Where: The Park Loop Road runs 27 miles through Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Start in Bar Harbor and follow the mostly one-way loop clockwise past Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Cadillac Mountain.

12. River Road (FM 170), Texas

Every great American list deserves a Texas star, and ours climbs the Big Hill. Known as El Camino del Rio, the river road, this desert two-laner traces the Rio Grande along the edge of Big Bend Ranch State Park.

It dips through dry arroyos and crests one of the steepest paved grades in the state, a spot where you seem to launch straight into the sky. On one side, canyon walls glow amber at sunset; on the other flows Mexico.

There is a shaded roadside picnic area built into the rock where you can stop and soak it all in. It is lonesome, wide open, and the kind of drive you replay in your head for years.

Where: The River Road follows FM 170 for about 50 miles between Lajitas and Presidio in far West Texas. Start in Lajitas and drive west along the Rio Grande through the heart of Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Start Planning Your Great American Road Trip

Whatever direction you point the car, the best drives all share one quiet magic: they turn the miles between here and there into the whole reason you left home. The scenery is not something you pass on the way to the trip. It is the trip.

So pick the route that tugs hardest at you, double-check the seasonal opening dates, pack far more snacks than you think you need, and go find your own favorite stretch of American highway. Just do me one favor and roll the windows down at least once.

Featured image: Biviana via Linn Cove Viaduct