Most Scenic Drives in America

Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1, California)

Bixby Bridge, Big Sur cliffs, and the Pacific crashing below make this the drive every road-trip list opens with. It's the benchmark against which all other coastal drives get measured, and it earns that reputation mile after mile.

Length: 655 miTypical Drive Time: 1-3 daysBest Season: Apr-OctScenery Rating: 9.7/10

added by IJR

Going-to-the-Sun Road (Glacier National Park, Montana)

A engineering marvel carved into the Continental Divide, this road climbs to Logan Pass through glacier-carved peaks and mountain goats on the shoulder. It's only open a few months a year, which only adds to its mystique.

Length: 50 miTypical Drive Time: 2-3 hoursBest Season: Jun-SepScenery Rating: 9.6/10

added by IJR

Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia/North Carolina)

America's longest linear park, this 469-mile ribbon through the Appalachians is legendary for autumn color that draws leaf-peepers from every state. No commercial trucks, no billboards—just ridgeline after ridgeline.

Length: 469 miTypical Drive Time: 2-4 daysBest Season: Sep-NovScenery Rating: 9.3/10

added by IJR

Highway 12 (Scenic Byway, Utah)

Slicing through Grand Staircase-Escalante and Capitol Reef, this route features the infamous Hogback ridge where the road narrows to a knife's edge with drop-offs on both sides. Red rock drama at every turn.

Length: 124 miTypical Drive Time: 3-5 hoursBest Season: Mar-NovScenery Rating: 9.4/10

added by IJR

Route 66 (Chicago to Santa Monica)

The Mother Road isn't the most consistently scenic mile-for-mile, but its cultural weight and desert stretches through Arizona and New Mexico give it unmatched Americana romance. Neon signs and ghost towns tell the story.

Length: 2,448 miTypical Drive Time: 1-2 weeksBest Season: Mar-May, Sep-NovScenery Rating: 8.5/10

added by IJR

Overseas Highway (Florida Keys)

The Seven Mile Bridge floating over turquoise water is one of the most photographed stretches of asphalt in the country. It's the drive that makes you feel like you're driving on the ocean itself.

Length: 113 miTypical Drive Time: 3-4 hoursBest Season: Nov-AprScenery Rating: 9.1/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Trail Ridge Road (Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)

The highest continuous paved road in the U.S. climbs above 12,000 feet, putting you eye-level with tundra and elk herds. Snow can close it as early as September, which tells you how high and wild it really gets.

Length: 48 miTypical Drive Time: 2-3 hoursBest Season: Jun-SepScenery Rating: 9.2/10

added by IJR

Beartooth Highway (Montana/Wyoming)

Charles Kuralt called this 'the most beautiful drive in America,' and the switchbacks up to nearly 11,000 feet through alpine tundra near Yellowstone back up the claim. It's brutal in winter and breathtaking in summer.

Length: 68 miTypical Drive Time: 2 hoursBest Season: Jun-SepScenery Rating: 9.5/10

added by IJR

Cabot Trail (technically Canada, often cross-listed with US East Coast trips)

Often paired with New England road trips, this Nova Scotia loop around the Cape Breton Highlands offers dramatic coastal cliffs many American travelers add to their itinerary. Its inclusion is a nod to how road-trippers actually plan routes.

Length: 185 miTypical Drive Time: 4-6 hoursBest Season: Jun-OctScenery Rating: 9/10

added by IJR

Hana Highway (Maui, Hawaii)

With over 600 curves and 50-plus one-lane bridges through rainforest and waterfalls, this drive is as much an obstacle course as a scenic tour. The reward at Hana is almost secondary to the jungle spectacle along the way.

Length: 64 miTypical Drive Time: 2.5-4 hoursBest Season: Apr-OctScenery Rating: 9.3/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Park, Virginia)

Running the length of Shenandoah with 75 overlooks of the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley, this is the classic weekend escape from D.C. Fall foliage here rivals anything further south.

Length: 105 miTypical Drive Time: 3-4 hoursBest Season: OctScenery Rating: 8.9/10

added by IJR

Million Dollar Highway (US 550, Colorado)

Named either for its construction cost or the million-dollar views (accounts vary), this stretch through the San Juan Mountains has no guardrails on some sections and mining-town history baked into the cliffs. Not for acrophobes.

Length: 25 miTypical Drive Time: 45 minBest Season: Jun-SepScenery Rating: 9.2/10

added by IJR

Historic Columbia River Highway (Oregon)

One of America's first scenic highways, built in the 1910s specifically for the view, it strings together waterfalls including Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River Gorge. It basically invented the concept of the American scenic drive.

Length: 75 miTypical Drive Time: 2 hoursBest Season: Apr-OctScenery Rating: 9/10

added by IJR

Natchez Trace Parkway (Mississippi/Alabama/Tennessee)

Following a 10,000-year-old travel corridor used by Native Americans, traders, and Civil War armies, this quiet parkway trades dramatic peaks for deep history and Spanish-moss forest. It's the thinking traveler's scenic drive.

Length: 444 miTypical Drive Time: 2 daysBest Season: Mar-May, Oct-NovScenery Rating: 8.4/10

added by IJR

Seward Highway (Alaska)

Glaciers, the Chugach Mountains, and Turnagain Arm's beluga whales all crowd this route out of Anchorage, making it one of the few American drives where you might see wildlife bigger than your car. It's Alaska's calling card for road-trippers.

Length: 127 miTypical Drive Time: 2.5 hoursBest Season: May-SepScenery Rating: 9.4/10

added by IJR

White Mountain Trail (New Hampshire)

This loop through the White Mountains, including Franconia Notch, delivers New England's granite peaks and fall foliage in one tight package. The Kancamagus Highway section alone justifies the trip.

Length: 100 miTypical Drive Time: 3 hoursBest Season: Sep-OctScenery Rating: 8.8/10

added by IJR

Badlands Loop Road (South Dakota)

The eroded spires and canyons of the Badlands look like another planet, and this loop through the national park delivers that alien landscape in under an hour of driving. Sunset here turns the rock formations fluorescent pink and orange.

Length: 31 miTypical Drive Time: 1 hourBest Season: Apr-OctScenery Rating: 8.7/10

added by IJR

Denali Highway (Alaska)

Mostly unpaved and remote, this route offers unobstructed views of the Alaska Range with almost no services for over a hundred miles. It's the scenic drive for people who want their scenery earned, not handed to them.

Length: 135 miTypical Drive Time: 4-6 hoursBest Season: Jun-SepScenery Rating: 9.1/10

added by IJR