Our number one favourite way to travel is by doing a road trip. We love the adventure of exploring lots of different places in one trip and the freedom to stop and start whenever we please. Add to that a great playlist and epic views, and we’re truly in our element.
On Bridges and Balloons, we create detailed road trip itineraries, featuring all the places we stayed, the routes we took and the beautiful sights we discovered along the way.
As with all our travel itineraries, they’re filled with special places to stay, incredible nature, and plenty of cute and creative businesses. From iconic bucket list road trips to off-the-beaten-path treasures, we’ve got itineraries to suit all tastes.
How to plan a road trip
I know I repeat this a lot on Bridges and Balloons, but a successful trip will look different for different people
Some people get satisfaction from ticking off all the “must-sees” and packing in as much as they can. While others take a more leisurely pace and won’t lose sleep over missing big attractions.
We tend to lean more towards the latter, taking our time to soak in the vibes and only going to the attractions we really want to visit, rather than the ones we think we should.
Our guide to how to plan a road trip is filled with tips that you can adapt depending on your priorities. It’s filled with ways to save money, time and sanity!
Family road trips
Some people think we’re crazy for road tripping with young kids, but it remains our favourite way to travel – even with little ones in tow.
The key thing when road tripping with kids is avoid packing in too much and keeping the drive times manageable.
We’ve put together all our best advice in this guide to how to road trip with kids.
And we also have a road trip survival guide with lots of ideas for keeping kids entertained.
Road trip packing essentials
Like with most packing, it can be tricky knowing what to take on a road trip and it’s always tempting to overpack, especially as you can stuff things in the car (which we’ve done frequently!). But if you don’t want to end up playing Tetris every time you load the car, you need to be a bit more savvy.
We’ve put together a road trip packing list and here are some of the essentials.
Aeropress
A fantastic luxury item for making a quick coffee at beauty spots
Torch
A torch is an essential travel item, no matter how you’re travelling.
Packing cubes
Packing cubes are the secret to successful packing!
Emergency kit
Make sure your car is stocked with essentials for an emergency
Portable stove
A stove will come in handy camping or if you just want to stop for an al fresco meal or coffee.
Coolbox
Keep your goods cool on the road with a sturdy cool box. Some even plug in to the car.
Our top road trip destinations
We’ve done some of the world’s most iconic road trips, including the Pacific Coast Highway in California, New England and a one-month road trip in New Zealand. I could drive those routes over and over again!
And we’ve also done lesser-known destinations, like road tripping through Slovenia, exploring less touristed areas of the USA, and putting together what we think is the most colourful road trip in Europe!
Explore all our road trip itineraries, categorised by destination below.
UK: Best UK road trips | Best Scotland road trips
Europe road trips: Amalfi Coast, Rome and Tuscany road trip | Best Europe road trips | France road trip planner | Best France road trip itineraries | France: Provence road trip | France: West coast road trip | Best Greece road trips | Best Italy road trips | Iceland road trip |Best Portugal road trips | Slovenia road trip | Best Spain road trips | The most colourful road trip in Europe (France, Italy and Switzerland)
USA: Boston to Maine road trip | Ultimate California road trip | Florida Keys road trip | New England road trip | Oregon road trip | Pacific Coast Highway | San Francisco to Seattle | Southern USA road trip | The best USA road trips
Africa road trips: Cape Peninsula road trip
Australasia road trips: New Zealand North Island road trip | New Zealand South Island road trip