Road Trips Across the U.S. That You’ll Never Forget

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From the stunning coastline of the Pacific Coast Highway to the Great River Road, the United States has so many Road Trip options.

These maps of the United States will introduce the most iconic road trips across the nation.

Five Crows-nation roads that you’ll never forget

With so much to see across the United States, there are infinite options for road travel. The cross-nations’ paths below are particularly unforgettable because they go through picturesque parks, historic places, and attraction-filled settlements.

1. Border-To-Border Highway: U.S. Route 93

U.S. Route 93 goes north-south from Arizona to the U.S-Canadian border. You can get on the highway near Wickenburg directing northbound, pass through a forest of Joshua trees, and stop for a night of places in Las Vegas.

Attractions through which the road passes: Forest of Joshua trees Great Basin National Park, the top-secret Area 51, Twin Falls (the gateway to Snake River Canyon), Shoshone Falls, Perrine Bridge, Bitterroot National Forest, Flathead Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Flathead National Forest, Stillwater State Forest, Glacier National Park.

2. The Southern Coast-To-Coast Highway: Interstate 10

Interstate 10 is the southernmost cross-nation highway in the American Interstate Highway System and is best experienced in the winter and spring. The route spans from Los Angeles, California, to Jacksonville, Florida, starting by the Pacific Ocean and Route 1 in Santa Monica.

Eastbound, Interstate 10 passes through the cities of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Quartzsite, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, Baton Rouge, Panhandle, and attractions Coachella Valley, Salton Sea, Joshua Tree National Park, Big Bend National Park.

3. Great Northern Route: Seattle to Boston on Interstate 90

Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Seattle to Boston 3,020 miles.

The highway begins west near CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field in Seattle, then crosses Lake Washington on a floating bridge, passing Snoqualmie and Snoqualmie Pass through the Cascade Mountains. Interstate 90 passes through Spokane, Idaho, and Montana, intersecting the Continental Divide over Homestake Pass close to Butte.

The route continues east through Sioux Falls, southern Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Then it leads into Illinois, Chicago, and Ohio to the coasts of Lake Erie. Interstate 90 passes through Pennsylvania until reaching Buffalo, New York, and finishes near the Logan Airport in Boston.

4. The Great River Road

The Great River Road follows the Mississippi River for more than three thousand miles through 10 U.S. states from northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana.

Attractions through which the route passes: Itasca State Park and 630-foot Gateway Arch in St. Louis, not counting the museums, historic sites, and parks.

5. Interstate 80

The highway starts in San Francisco and stretches cross-country to Teaneck in New Jersey.

The 2,900-mile road passes through cities such as Sacramento, Reno, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City. You can also visit Lake Tahoe, the Great Salt Lake, and Niagara Falls.

The optimal road trip stopping at major American landmarks

Dr. Randal S. Olson created the ideal road trip around the main American Landmarks in only 13,699 miles or 22,046 km of driving using the genetic algorithm, which would satisfy 3 conditions:

• The trip must make at least one stop in all 48 states in the contiguous U.S.
• The travel would only stop at National Parks, National Natural Landmarks, National Historic Sites, or National Monuments.
• The trip must be taken by automobile and never leave the United States

1. Grand Canyon, AZ
2. Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
3. Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
4. Yellowstone National Park, WY
5. Pikes Peak, CO
6. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
7. The Alamo, TX
8. The Platt Historic District, OK
9. Toltec Mounds, AR
10. Elvis Presley’s Graceland, TN
11. Vicksburg National Military Park, MS
12. French Quarter, New Orleans, LA
13. USS Alabama, AL
14. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL
15. Okefenokee Swamp Park, GA
16. Fort Sumter National Monument, SC
17. Lost World Caverns, WV
18. Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, NC
19. Mount Vernon, VA
20. White House, Washington, DC
21. Colonial Annapolis Historic District, MD
22. New Castle Historic District, Delaware
23. Cape May Historic District, NJ
24. Liberty Bell, PA
25. Statue of Liberty, NY
26. The Mark Twain House & Museum, CT
27. The Breakers, RI
28. USS Constitution, MA
29. Acadia National Park, ME
30. Mount Washington Hotel, NH
31. Shelburne Farms, VT
32. Fox Theater, Detroit, MI
33. Spring Grove Cemetery, OH
34. Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
35. West Baden Springs Hotel, IN
36. Abraham Lincoln’s Home, IL
37. Gateway Arch, MO
38. C. W. Parker Carousel Museum, KS
39. Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion, IA
40. Taliesin, WI
41. Fort Snelling, MN
42. Ashfall Fossil Bed, NE
43. Mount Rushmore, SD
44. Fort Union Trading Post, ND
45. Glacier National Park, MT
46. Hanford Site, WA
47. Columbia River Highway, OR
48. San Francisco Cable Cars, CA
49. San Andreas Fault, CA
50. Hoover Dam, NV

The optimal Road trip stopping at popular U.S. cities

Dr. Randal S. Olson also created the optimal road path for city slickers, taking into account the TripAdvisor Rating of U.S. cities. The road trip through the TripAdvisor-rated best cities to visit looks as follows.

This road journey will more-or-less follow the same route as the optimal road trip stopping at major American landmarks and covering 12,290 miles or 19,780 kilometers around the United States.

1. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
2. Wichita, Kansas
3. Denver, Colorado
4. Albuquerque, New Mexico
5. Phoenix, Arizona
6. Las Vegas, Nevada
7. San Francisco, California
8. Portland, Oregon
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Boise, Idaho
11. Park City, Utah
12. Jackson, Wyoming
13. Billings, Montana
14. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
15. Omaha, Nebraska
16. Des Moines, Iowa
17. Minneapolis, Minnesota
18. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
19. Chicago, Illinois
20. Indianapolis, Indiana
21. Louisville, Kentucky
22. Columbus, Ohio
23. Detroit, Michigan
24. Cleveland, Ohio
25. Manchester, New Hampshire
26. Portland, Maine
27. Boston, Massachusetts
28. Providence, Rhode Island
29. New Haven, Connecticut
30. New York City, New York
31. Ocean City, New Jersey
32. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
33. Wilmington, Delaware
34. Baltimore, Maryland
35. Washington, D.C.
36. Virginia Beach, Virginia
37. Charlotte, North Carolina
38. Charleston, South Carolina
39. Orlando, Florida
40. Atlanta, Georgia
41. Nashville, Tennessee
42. Birmingham, Alabama
43. Jackson, Mississippi
44. New Orleans, Louisiana
45. Houston, Texas
46. Little Rock, Arkansas
47. Branson, Missouri

America’s Most Popular Road Trips According to Social Media

From an analysis carried out by Europcar on over 47 million social media posts, America has come out top for the most popular road trip destinations in the world.

The research findings are displayed in an interactive route planner which plots out the most popular routes and features navigable points of interest where road trippers can jump out and get their best Instagram snaps! Explore the map here:

The study also reveals that Seattle to San Diego is the most popular route worldwide, with 88,899 posts, followed by Los Angeles to Las Vegas (74,176 posts) and Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon (73,430 posts). Further highlights include:
– California is the most popular state (1,193,082 posts), followed by Florida (346,047 posts)
– San Francisco is the top city to visit on a road trip, with 310,318 posts

#westcoast is the most popular hashtag to be used alongside #roadtrip in the world, with 197,468 mentions

USA destinations dominate the top 10 road trip cities worldwide, apart from only two spots, which are taken by Lisbon (6th) and Venice (10th).

For Americans traveling abroad, our study also looked at the most tagged routes across the rest of the world. In our global results, Australia came second to the US, with neighboring Canada coming third. European road trips also performed strongly, with France, Italy, the UK, Spain, and more features.

Cross-country roadside attraction road trip

The Trustedchoice team created the road map connecting roadside attractions themselves and making them the destinations. The peculiarity of this map is that no matter where you start, the whole thing’s one big loopy loop that will take you right back to where you started.

1. Seattle Gum Wall (Seattle, WA)
2. World’s Largest Pig Hairball (St. Benedict, OR)
3. Salvation Mountain (Calipatria, CA)
4. Area 51 Alien Travel Center and Alien Cathouse Brothel (Amargosa Valley, NV)
5. Hole N” The Rock (Moab, UT)
6. The Thing (Dragoon, AZ)
7. World’s Largest Pistachio (Alamogordo, NM)
8. Cano’s Castle (Antonito, CO)
9. World’s Largest Ball of Twine (Cawker City, KS)
10. The Blue Whale (Catoosa, OK)
11. Cadillac Ranch (Amarillo, TX)
12. Kliebert’s Turtle and Alligator Farm (Ponchatoula, LA)
13. Peavy’s Monster Mart (Fouke, AR)
14. Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail and Museum (Weldon Spring, MO)
15. World’s Largest Baseball Bat (Louisville, KY)
16. World’s Largest Cedar Bucket (Murfreesboro, TN)
17. Mammy’s Cupboard (Natchez, MS)
18. World’s Largest Brick (Montgomery, AL)
19. World’s Largest Chicken Wing (Madeira Beach, FL)
20. Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue (Plains, GA)
21. Peachoid Water Tower (Gaffney, SC)
22. World’s Largest Chest of Drawers (High Point, NC)
23. Foamhenge (Centreville, VA)
24. Farnham Colossi-Land of Giants (Unger, WV)
25. Lawyer’s Farm Transformers (Thurmont, MD)
26. Fountain of Youth (Lewes, DE)
27. Lucy the Elephant (Margate City, NJ)
28. World’s Largest Jack-in-the-Box (Middletown, CT)
29. Fighting Seabee (North Kingstown, RI)
30. The Paper House (Rockport, MA)
31. Redstone Rocket (Warren, NH)
32. Lenny the Chocolate Moose (Scarborough, ME)
33. Giant Gorilla (Leicester, VT)
34. Cardiff Giant (Cooperstown, NY)
35. The Largest Burger in the World (Clearfield, PA)
36. Giant Horseshoe Crab (Blanchester, OH)
37. The (Former) World’s Largest Cherry Pie Pan (Charlevoix, MI)
38. World’s Largest Ball of Paint (Alexandria, IN)
39. World’s Largest Catsup Bottle (Collinsville, IL)
40. UFO Landing Port (Poland, WI)
41. Paul Bunyan Statues (Everywhere, MN)
42. Iowa’s Largest Frying Pan (Brandon, IA)
43. World’s Largest Ball of Stamps (Boys Town, NE)
44. World’s Only Corn Palace (Mitchell, SD)
45. Enchanted Highway (Regent, ND)
46. (Occasionally) Talking Penguin Statue (Cut Bank, MT)
47. America’s Smallest Town (PhinDeli Town Buford, WY)
48. Idaho Potato Museum (Blackfoot, ID)