7 Road Trips Worth a Week in the US
Flights get you somewhere. A road trip gets you everywhere in between — the gas-station pie, the overlook nobody mentioned, the town you stayed in because you were tired — and none of that is on a boarding pass. It only works with a full tank, a packed trunk and nobody expecting you anywhere for seven days.
The United States has one of the largest road networks on Earth, and a handful of its highways are famous enough to be destinations in their own right. The trick is knowing which ones reward a full week and which are a pleasant afternoon that people oversell.
The seven drives here all pass the week test. Each one has enough stops, detours and small towns to fill five to seven days without ever feeling padded. Some are coastal, some climb mountains, and one follows the biggest river on the continent, with a week covering one stretch of it. They run from 50 miles to more than 2,000, from the Florida Keys to the Montana Rockies, and every one of them has a section where you'll pull over without meaning to.
Below, each road gets a plain explanation of what it is, where the time goes, what trips up first-timers and which stop is worth the detour. Skip around. Nobody needs all seven — pick the one that matches the week you have, not the one with the most famous name. Then start saving links.
Pacific Coast Highway
Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles is the drive people picture when they hear the words "road trip." Cliffs drop straight into the Pacific and the road bends around them. Every few miles there's a pullout that makes you forget you were trying to get anywhere. The Big Sur stretch in the middle — 90 miles of redwoods, sea stacks and the Bixby Creek Bridge — is the reason it lands on every list, and it earns the spot.
Treating it as a two-day drive turns it into a highway with nice views instead of a trip. Give it five days minimum: a night in Monterey for the aquarium and Cannery Row, two in Big Sur for the trails and the sunsets at Nepenthe, then a slow roll south through Cambria and San Luis Obispo with the afternoons left open.
Check Caltrans before you leave — Big Sur has closed repeatedly after winter storms, including a long stretch through 2023 to 2025 and again briefly in 2026, and the detour inland is long. For a hike at the end of the drive, the Southern California hikes worth saving are close by.
How many days does the Pacific Coast Highway take? Five days minimum from San Francisco to Los Angeles, seven with side trips. Two days is possible, but you'll spend most of it behind the wheel and skip the stops that make the drive worth doing in the first place.
Which direction should you drive the Pacific Coast Highway? North to south puts you on the ocean side of the road for the whole run, which means better views and easier pullouts, since most of the good ones are on your right.
Is the Pacific Coast Highway open all year? Mostly — but Big Sur closes after big winter storms, sometimes for months. Check the Caltrans site the week before you go and have an inland backup route ready.
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles along the spine of the Appalachians, from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. It was built for one thing: slow driving. There are no billboards, no commercial trucks, no stoplights and no gas stations, and the speed limit tops out at 45 mph, which is exactly the speed the overlooks were designed for. It's one of the calmest long drives in the country, and the road itself is the attraction rather than what's at the end of it.
A full week lets you do it right: side trips into Asheville for the food and the breweries, hikes off the overlooks at Craggy Gardens and Linville Falls, and a night or two in the towns just off the road — Floyd, Blowing Rock, Little Switzerland.
The thing that catches people is timing. Fall color arrives at different elevations at different times, and the ridge can be bare while the valleys are still at peak, so go by elevation reports rather than the calendar. The forest walks in this collection add more time under the trees once you're off the parkway.
Is there gas on the Blue Ridge Parkway? No — there isn't a single gas station anywhere along the 469 miles. Fill up at every exit town you pass, and never let the tank drop below half, since services off the parkway can be 30 miles apart.
When is the best time to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway? Mid-October is the classic answer, but check elevation-based foliage reports first. Peak color at 5,000 feet can arrive well before it reaches the towns down in the valleys.
How long does the full Blue Ridge Parkway take? At parkway speeds, the full run is 11 or 12 hours of driving end to end. Spread across a week, that leaves plenty of room for the overlooks, the trails and a long lunch in Asheville.
Route 66
Route 66 is the one that comes with a soundtrack. It ran from Chicago to Santa Monica for 60 years before the interstates replaced it. What survives is a strange, wonderful mix of neon diners, ghost towns and roadside oddities nobody would build today — a leaning water tower in Texas, a motel of concrete wigwams in Arizona, the Cadillac Ranch half-buried nose-down in a field. It's less a road now than a scavenger hunt with 2,400 miles of clues, from the Gemini Giant in Illinois to the Santa Monica Pier.
Don't expect a continuous highway. Big stretches are gone, swallowed by Interstate 40, and you'll spend real time on modern freeway between the good parts. That's fine, because the point is the stops, not the pavement. Budget seven days for the full run, pick your must-sees in each of the eight states, and accept that you'll skip more than you visit.
Motels, fuel and diner breakfasts for a week across two-thirds of the country add up; the sweet spot for saving is booking the classic motor courts direct rather than through an aggregator.
Can you still drive all of Route 66? Not continuously. Most of the original road is still drivable in pieces, stitched together by interstate, and most travelers mix the two — old road where it survives, freeway where it doesn't.
How long does Route 66 take to drive? Seven days is a real minimum for the full run, and two weeks is comfortable. Anything shorter means picking a single region — Illinois to Missouri, say, or New Mexico through Arizona — and doing it properly.
Which state has the best Route 66 stretch? Arizona, by most accounts. The section through Seligman, Kingman and Oatman is the longest continuous surviving stretch, and it's the most fun to drive — burros wander the street in Oatman.
Going-to-the-Sun Road
Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses Glacier National Park in Montana in just 50 miles, and those 50 miles are some of the most dramatic pavement in North America. It climbs from the shore of Lake McDonald to 6,646 feet at Logan Pass, hugging cliff faces the entire way, with glaciers, waterfalls, the Weeping Wall and the occasional mountain goat in view for most of the ascent. There's a reason the park's historic red buses, run by its concessioner, stay busy all summer — plenty of drivers would rather look than steer.
Fifty miles doesn't sound like a week, but it is if you do it right. The road is the spine of the whole park, and the lodges, lakes and trails along and beyond it — Lake McDonald Lodge, the Highline Trail from Logan Pass, the Many Glacier valley — can fill seven days without repeating anything.
Glacier dropped its vehicle-reservation system for 2026, but Logan Pass parking is capped at three hours and the lot fills early. For a long hike from the pass, book a seat on the ticketed shuttle instead. If Glacier gets you hooked, these seven US national parks are worth saving for next time.
Do you need a reservation for Going-to-the-Sun Road? Not in 2026 — Glacier dropped timed vehicle entry. Logan Pass parking is limited to three hours, and a $1 ticketed shuttle on Recreation.gov serves the longer hikes from the pass, with tickets released 60 days ahead and nightly at 7 p.m. for the next day.
When is Going-to-the-Sun Road fully open? Usually late June through mid-October, and some years not until July. Snow at Logan Pass keeps the full road closed the rest of the year, though the lower sections open earlier for shorter drives.
Can RVs drive Going-to-the-Sun Road? Not the whole thing. Between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun, vehicles are limited to 21 feet long, 8 feet wide including mirrors and 10 feet tall. Larger rigs stop outside that stretch, and the ticketed shuttle covers the alpine section.
Overseas Highway
The Overseas Highway runs 113 miles from the tip of mainland Florida to Key West, hopping 42 bridges from key to key. At the Seven Mile Bridge there's nothing but turquoise on both sides and the old railroad span running parallel, and for a few minutes it feels less like driving and more like flying low.
You can do it in an afternoon — Florida City to Key West is about three hours with the Atlantic on your left and Florida Bay on your right. You shouldn't. The whole point is stopping at every key that looks interesting, which turns out to be most of them. Snorkel the reef at John Pennekamp in Key Largo, eat at a dockside fish house in Islamorada, walk the restored old bridge at Marathon — then land in Key West with time to enjoy it.
Avoid Friday afternoons: traffic on the mostly two-lane road backs up for miles, and one fender-bender can freeze the whole thing for hours. Leave early, go midweek. The overlooked Caribbean getaways collection is the natural follow-up once the Keys have you thinking about islands.
How long is the drive on the Overseas Highway? About three and a half to four hours without stops from Miami to Key West, though nobody should do it that way. Spread the drive across two or three days with a night in the Middle Keys, and spend the rest of the week in Key West and the Lower Keys.
What is the best stop on the Overseas Highway? The Old Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon. You can walk 2.2 miles out over open ocean on the restored span to Pigeon Key — the best view on the whole drive — and the walk is free; exploring Pigeon Key itself carries a small admission fee.
Is the Overseas Highway dangerous to drive? No. It's slow, two lanes most of the way, with heavy traffic and few passing zones. Patience matters more than skill.
Great River Road
The Great River Road follows the Mississippi for more than 2,000 miles, from a knee-deep stream at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico below New Orleans. It touches 10 states and passes through river towns with more 1850s brick than stoplights — Galena, Hannibal, Natchez. Nobody rushes on this road, because there's nowhere to rush to and the river sets the pace whether you like it or not. Lock and dam tours, riverboat museums and county-seat courthouses fill the afternoons, and the catfish and walleye fill the evenings.
Two thousand miles isn't a week, so pick a section. The upper river through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa has the limestone bluffs, the eagles and the prettiest towns. The lower river through Mississippi and Louisiana has the antebellum history, the blues and the food.
Either one fills seven days comfortably; the full run takes two to three weeks. Choose based on what you want the week to feel like, then follow the green pilot-wheel signs.
How long does the Great River Road take to drive? The full route is a two- to three-week commitment. One week covers a single region well — the upper river or the Deep South — which is how most people do it, and nobody feels shortchanged.
What is the best section of the Great River Road? The upper river through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa gets the most praise for scenery, with tall limestone bluffs and bald eagles in winter. The lower section wins for history, music and cooking.
Is the Great River Road well marked? Mostly. Green signs with a white pilot wheel mark it in all 10 states, but the route jogs between highways often and signs go missing, so keep a map loaded.
Scenic Byway 12
Scenic Byway 12 links Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef across 123 miles of southern Utah, and it's the drive that surprises people most. It crosses slickrock desert, climbs past 9,000 feet over Boulder Mountain through thick stands of aspen, and at the Hogsback runs along a knife-edge ridge with the canyon dropping away on both sides — no guardrail, no shoulder, just the road and a very long view.
Treating it as a connector between two parks misses the point. It's the main event. Between the two ends sit Grand Staircase-Escalante, the town of Boulder with its improbable farm-to-table restaurant, slot canyons you can walk into straight from the road, and night skies dark enough to see the Milky Way from the driveway.
Give it the full week. Base in Escalante or Boulder, drive sections in both directions because they look different each way, and hike something every day — Lower Calf Creek Falls and the Escalante River trail are both reachable from the pavement. Sunset from the Hogsback belongs on any list of the best places to watch the sun go down.
Where does Scenic Byway 12 start and end? It runs from US-89 near Bryce Canyon in the west to Torrey, just outside Capitol Reef, in the east — 123 miles total, though the detours to Escalante's slot canyons and Boulder Mountain add plenty more.
How long should you spend on Scenic Byway 12? A full day is the minimum to drive it with stops. A week lets you hike the canyons, visit both national parks properly and see the Hogsback in morning and evening light.
Is Scenic Byway 12 scary to drive? The Hogsback section is narrow with steep drops on both sides, but it's short, well paved and lightly trafficked. Most drivers find it thrilling rather than frightening. Go slow.
Organize Your Road Trip Research With Miimu
Seven roads, 56 guides, and a packing list you'll actually use — that's too much to keep in browser tabs until the week finally opens up. Sign up for Miimu to save this whole bundle into a living road trip collection, sorted by route. Add the stops you find later, drop the ones that fall through, and have the full plan ready the moment the calendar clears. Then go drive it.