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THE BEST ROAD TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING PERSONAL ONES PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, THE DISCOVERER and I identified exemplary road trips ranging from South Africa’s Garden Route to our own Pacific Coast Highway. Today we start on the other U.S. coast and conclude in the antipodes, appropriately on the other side of the road.
Coastal Maine’s Route 1. Back when Wife Dottie was Editor of Northern New England Journeys, we visited the magazine’s Portland home office and then enjoyed what the Discoverer describes as “magnificent coastal scenery and delicious lobster.” We started in Portland and, like the Discoverer, headed Down East along the coast to Damariscotta, Owls Head and its Transportation Museum, and Camden. And, yes, the lobster rolls were great.
Grossglockner High Alpine Road—Austria. “One of Europe’s greatest seasonal drives,” the Discoverer says, “can be found in beautiful Austria. The Großglocknerstraße (Grossglockner High Alpine Road) provides drama in the form of an endless succession of switchbacks and hairpins as you slowly make your way up the pass from Heiligenblut am Großglockner.”
Austrian High Alps. Credit: PosiNote/Shutterstock from the Discoverer.
My Austrian Alps adventure came in another season during Innsbruck’s Christkindlmärkte Altstadt with a drive to and around Hochgurgl. Whilst there, I attempted a few kilometers up the Timmelsjoch Pass into Italy (closed because of an avalanche).
The Top Hotel Hochgurgl, the highest of the Relais & Chateau chain. Below, my (partial) advance onto the Timmelsjoch.
The Atlas Mountains—Morocco. “If you want a feast for the eyes,” the Discoverer writes, “you must plan a road trip through the Atlas Mountains. These gorgeous peaks stretch from Morocco through Algeria to Tunisia, but the best way to see them is on Morocco’s well-kept road system…. Heading up the mountains, you will have to maneuver the switchbacks on Tizi n’tichka Pass….”
Back around 1991, pal Ron Wakefield and I twice conquered the Tizi n’tichka in new 3-Series BMWs as part of an Ouarzazate/Marrakech round-trip drive.
An exciting 130 miles of newly paved roads funded by BMW (or so it was rumored at the time).
Southern Scenic Route—New Zealand. The Discoverer describes this South Island route from Queenstown to Dunedin as “a delightful vacation experience.” On the other hand, both of my visits to New Zealand were work-related: one to the North Island’s 1999 Rally New Zealand, part of the World Rally Championship; the other a followup trip to South Island for winter-tire testing in August at the Waiorau Snow Farm.
The view along State Route 8 on the way from Christchurch to Wanaka. Below, on State Route 75’s sidetrip to Akaroa.
“Adrenaline junkies,” the Discoverer says, “flock to Queenstown, extreme sports capital of the world.” Working stiffs got our kicks driving up and down the ice-and-snow-packed twisties to the Snow Farm. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023
Simanaitis Says 
In the late 80s, we rented a little hatchback in Queenstown, and drove back to Christchurch via the west coast starting on Route 6. When the pavement suddenly became a narrow dirt road, my buddy frantically pored over the map to see where we had gone wrong. Just at that moment, I noticed a “6” nailed to a tree. Later, we encountered our first one lane bridge (stop, look, and scoot!)
Gorgeous scenery, and a great drive. Lucky us; it must have been the only day in history it didn’t rain on the west coast.
The drive up Großglockner in Austria is beautiful…in theory. In practice, you will find yourself behind a long line of cars inching up the road, with one or more mobile homes at the front of the line.
Then at the top, the walk to the peak of Großglockner (Austria’s highest peak) will be roughly the same. A human traffic jam to get to the top and spend roughly 7 seconds looking around before the next hiker gets impatient.
Austria is 70% alps. We (my wife and I) have found more joy going where the tourists aren’t. A few hundred meters difference in the height of the mountain makes no difference to us. It is not like we can sense it anyway.