Epic Road Trips &
Scenic Drives.
Windows down, playlist sorted. From coastal highways to winding mountain passes, here are the routes genuinely worth the mileage.
Counted from the guides listed on this page, September 2026
Which drive actually suits you?
Sixty-eight routes is a lot to wade through. Answer three questions and I'll point you at the three that fit. Every result links to a full guide with a map, not a teaser.
Pick an answer to all three and the results land here.
Quick Tips
Before you even put the keys in the ignition, run through these essentials.
Tinker's Tip: Navigation
Always download offline maps on Google Maps before you set off. Phone signal drops exactly when you need to make a crucial turn.
Good to know: Tolls
Several European countries want a vignette before you join the motorway, not after. Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia are the usual culprits. Current prices and where to buy them are further down this page.
Fact: Fatigue
Driving tired is just as dangerous as driving over the limit. Swap drivers every two hours or pull over for a proper break.
What's actually good to drive this month
Half of road tripping is turning up at the right time of year. This panel reads your device clock and updates itself, so it should never be telling you to chase the northern lights in June.
Loading the calendar
If this line never changes, your browser has blocked the script. The routes below are still worth a look either way.
10 Ways to Cut Your Road Trip Costs
Fuel prices might be out of your control, but there are plenty of other ways to keep the budget tight without ruining the trip.
Avoid toll roads. Tell your map app to 'avoid tolls'. It usually adds a bit of time but takes you on much nicer, completely free scenic routes. Check the vignette rules first, because in Slovenia and Austria the trap is joining an expressway without realising.
Pack a proper cool bag. Supermarket lunches save a fortune compared to buying sandwiches and snacks at motorway service stations.
Check your tyre pressure. Driving on under-inflated tyres drastically reduces your fuel efficiency. Check them before you load the boot.
Use a fuel comparison app. Prices fluctuate wildly depending on the region. Apps like Waze or local fuel trackers show you the cheapest petrol stations nearby.
Don't hire a sat nav. Hire companies charge a premium for GPS. A phone mount and offline Google Maps work perfectly.
Travel in shoulder season. Accommodation along popular routes is 20 to 30% cheaper in May or September compared to July and August. Put both sets of dates through the cost calculator and the gap is usually the biggest saving on this list.
Get a national park pass. If you are hitting multiple parks in the USA or Canada, an annual pass pays for itself after the third visit.
Book campsites early. If you are camping or taking a van, the cheapest and best pitches go first. Turn up on the day and you will pay premium rates.
Drive smoothly. Harsh braking and aggressive acceleration burn fuel fast. Stick to the speed limit and use cruise control on the long stretches.
Bring reusable cups. Many independent coffee shops and chains offer a discount if you hand over your own travel mug.
What will the drive actually cost?
Fuel is the bit everyone budgets for and the bit that rarely surprises them. It's the road fees that catch people out. Tick the countries you're crossing and the vignette prices below drop straight in, taken from the verified table further down this page.
Your numbers
Nothing is stored or sent anywhere. Change a figure and the total updates as you type.
Rough total
£0
€0 / $0
£0 each
- Fuel£0
- Beds£0
- Food£0
- Road fees£0
- Extras£0
Excludes flights, car hire and insurance. It's a planning figure, not a quote. Shift your dates into May or September and the bed line typically drops 20 to 30 percent, which is usually the biggest single saving on this list.
Tolls, vignettes and stickers
Nobody plans a road trip around paperwork. Then you hit a border, realise the motorway you're already on needed a sticker you don't have, and spend the next hour feeling clever about nothing.
Europe has two systems running side by side. Some countries charge you per kilometre at a barrier, which is annoying but obvious. Others sell you a flat-rate permit called a vignette, valid for a set number of days, and the only sign you've got it wrong is a camera you never saw. Guess which one catches people out.
The four below are the ones I get asked about most, and the four most likely to bite a UK driver doing a loop through the Alps. I checked all of these against the official operator sites in September 2026.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| Country | What you need | Cost | Buy it from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Motorway vignette, sticker or digital. Alpine sections like the Brenner charge extra on top. | 1 day €9.60 10 days €12.80 2 months €32.00 Year €106.80 |
ASFINAG toll shop |
| Switzerland | Motorway vignette. Annual only, so a single afternoon costs the same as fourteen months. | CHF 40 Valid 1 Dec 2025 to 31 Jan 2027 |
Border posts, post offices, petrol stations, or online |
| Slovenia | E-vignette tied to your number plate. No sticker exists any more. Cameras do the checking. | 7 days €16.00 1 month €32.00 Year €117.50 Car class 2A, up to 1.3m above the front axle |
evinjeta.dars.si |
| France | No vignette, but you need a Crit'Air air quality sticker for low emission zones, including Paris and Lyon. Motorway tolls are paid per journey at barriers. | €3.11 plus postage Lasts the life of the car |
certificat-air.gouv.fr only |
Money saver: The Crit'Air sticker costs €3.11 from the government site. Resellers advertise the identical sticker at £15 to £35 and rank well on search, which is the entire business model. Order from certificat-air.gouv.fr and nowhere else, at least three weeks before you go, because it arrives by post.
The four questions I get asked every summer
Do I need an international driving permit for Europe?
Not with a UK photocard licence. GOV.UK is clear that you do not need an IDP to visit and drive in the EU, Switzerland, Iceland or Liechtenstein. You just carry the licence itself.
Two exceptions catch people. Paper-only licences, and licences issued in Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar, can still need one. And outside Europe an IDP is often mandatory, including in the United States, Japan, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, so check before a long-haul hire.
What do I need stuck to the car itself?
A UK identifier. If your number plate already shows UK with the Union flag, you're done for most countries. If it shows anything else, a Euro symbol, a Scottish or Welsh flag, the old GB, or no flag at all, you need a UK sticker on the back.
Spain, Malta and Cyprus want the sticker regardless of what's on the plate. Old GB stickers stopped being valid in September 2021, so dig that one off before you go. Carry your V5C log book too, and a VE103 if the car is hired or leased.
Can I just avoid the motorways and dodge the lot?
Sometimes, and it's often the nicer drive anyway. Setting your map app to avoid tolls usually adds time and takes you through villages you'd never otherwise see. That's half the appeal of a road trip.
The trap is Slovenia. The Ljubljana ring road is expressway, so people join it without thinking and get caught by a camera on a road they assumed was ordinary. Same in Austria, where short border stretches are exempt but the road you actually want usually isn't. If in doubt, buy the short vignette. Sixteen euros is cheaper than the alternative.
What happens if I'm caught without one?
Switzerland is the simplest to describe and the most painful. Drive a Swiss motorway without a vignette and it's a CHF 200 fine plus the CHF 40 you were trying to avoid. Buying one afterwards doesn't help.
In France, entering a low emission zone without a valid Crit'Air sticker is a €68 fine for a car. Austria charges a substitute toll on the spot, with an administrative fine if it goes unpaid, and hire companies will happily pass any camera penalty back to you months later with an admin fee bolted on.
Good to know: 2026 is the last year Austria sells the physical windscreen sticker. From 2027 the vignette is digital only, tied to your plate. If you've been buying one at a petrol station on the way down every summer, that habit has an expiry date.
Tinker's Tip: Buying a digital vignette means typing your registration into a form on a phone at a service station. I got one character wrong in Slovenia once and technically drove ninety minutes uncovered. Take the photo of your plate before you start typing and check it against the confirmation email.
Sources checked
- GOV.UK, Driving in the EU, for licence, IDP, UK identifier and insurance requirements.
- ASFINAG, toll sticker and digital vignette, for Austrian vignette rules and the 2027 switch to digital only.
- oesterreich.gv.at, vignette for vehicles up to 3.5t, for the 2026 Austrian price list and validity dates.
- ch.ch, Swiss motorway vignette, for the CHF 40 price, the 1 Dec 2025 to 31 Jan 2027 validity and the CHF 200 fine.
- DARS e-vinjeta, the official Slovenian operator, for e-vignette classes and durations.
- service-public.gouv.fr, Crit'Air certificate, for the €3.11 price, with orders placed at certificat-air.gouv.fr.
Classic Routes
The legendary drives that live up to the hype. Perfect for when you want to plan an entire holiday around the journey itself.
UK & Ireland Road Trips
From the rugged Scottish Highlands to the dramatic coastal routes of Ireland. World-class scenery right on the doorstep, and no ferry booking required for most of it.
European Road Trips
The Amalfi Coast, the Romantic Road, and the high Alpine passes. Driving in Europe is an experience all of its own. Check the vignette rules above before you set off.
Italy, Malta, Sicily
Germany & Austria
Spain, Portugal, France...
Scandinavia & Nordic
Central & Eastern Europe
North American Road Trips
Route 66, the Pacific coast and the Canadian Rockies. Long distances, cheap fuel, and the kind of empty highway you cannot get anywhere in Europe.
South America Road Trips
Thin on the ground for now, and that is honest rather than modest. Chile's Carretera Austral is the one to start with: gravel, glaciers and ferries, and a week that feels like a month.
Asia Road Trips
Driving in Asia asks more of you than driving in Europe does. Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia and the Indian Himalaya all reward it, as long as you build in far more time per kilometre than the map suggests.
Africa Road Trips
Two routes here, both genuinely doable in a hire car. South Africa's Garden Route is the gentle introduction. Morocco's High Atlas is the one that gets under your skin.
Oceania Road Trips
New Zealand's South Island and Australia's Great Ocean Road. Enormous scenery, easy driving on the left, and distances that look small until you drive them.
Road Trip Playlists
Because handing over the auxiliary cord is a huge responsibility. Soundtracks engineered for the open road.
🔥
Nick's Playlist
"The editor's picks. Yes, it's all bangers."
Best for: Any drive, any country, any time you need the mood lifted immediately.
🎸
Classic Anthems
"The ones that were built for this"
Best for: Long motorway stretches, US highway drives, anyone who wants zero arguments.
🌊
Coastal Vibes
"Sun, salt, and something with a decent bassline"
Best for: Amalfi Coast, PCH California, South Africa Garden Route, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.
⛰️
Mountain & Epic Scenery
"Big landscapes need big music"
Best for: Austrian Alps, Norway fjords, Swiss mountain passes, Transylvania.
🎺
Country & Region-Specific
"When the music should match the map"
Best for: Any European road trip where immersion matters.
🎙️
Podcasts & Audiobooks
"Not everyone wants music for 8 hours straight"
Best for: Solo drivers, long motorway sections, overnight hauls.
The departure checklist
Eighteen things, split into four piles. I've forgotten items from every one of these piles at some point, and the warning triangle one cost me forty euros on a French hard shoulder. Tick as you go.
Paperwork
The stuff that turns a roadside chat into a fine.
The car
Twenty minutes on the drive beats two hours on a hard shoulder.
In the boot
Several of these are legally required in parts of Europe.
The night before
Five minutes each, and they all save an argument.
When the Trip Doesn't Go to Plan
Even the best-planned trips can go sideways. Here is what to do when they do.
Road Trip Planning Answers
Practical tips to keep you on the road and out of the mechanic's garage.
How many hours should I drive per day?
Should I hire a car or take my own?
What are the essentials for a road trip?
Do I need a vignette to drive in Europe?
Do UK drivers need an international driving permit in Europe?
What does a European road trip actually cost?
When is the best time of year for a road trip?
Time to start mapping it out.
Grab our free Travel Starter Kit and use our planning tools to map out your next road trip, block by block.