The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips

by Reader's Digest Association

An illustrated collection of some of the most scenic places to take a road trip in the United States, with recommended towns to visit, maps, and information on trip length, the best time to go, and other traveling tips

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Geography, Coffee Table Books, Outdoors, Recreation

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.

The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but has grown to include a diverse range of magazines, books, music, DVDs and online content.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful coffee table size book. The routes are clearly mapped out & places to visit along the way are described. It's truly a great book. I really liked the layout & plentiful color pictures.

[carl theaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

While roaming around the library looking for travel info on the Dakotas I blundered on this book. Reminded me what fun you can have wandering around the library.

Cherry picked a few of the drives for a soon to occur road trip to the Badlands, and while one usually thinks of the ‘cake-pan’ shaped states of middle America as boring, I figure every place has its charms, and it did have a long scenic drive along sand dunes in Nebraska, which we must drive through.

The book has a few pages on each drive for about every state, noting points of interest along the way, be they scenic or man made. The map is high level, so the book isn’t all you need, but it’s great inspiration. I'll definitely be checking it out again for future trips.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful book! The purpose is laid up right at the outset (Page 5): "One of America's most popular pastimes is, quite simply, going for long, leisurely drives in the country--and that's what this book is all about." Through this volume, we see 120 separate trips, each described in enough detail (normally 2-4 pages with a map) to decide if that tour might make sense to you.

Let's look at a few examples. One from my own experience--many years ago--is California's Big Sur Coast (pages 74-77). The trip starts at Monterey, goes on to Carmel-by-the-Sea to Big Sur (what a view from the highway, as I recall!) to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle, ending in San Luis Obispo.

I'm from Illinois, and there is precious little here from my home state! One is a trip from Galena to Port Byron; the other is a drive through the Shawnee Hills National Forest.

I also lived in Western New York for many years. This tour ends at Niagara Falls, one of my favorite spots. The tour starts at the Eisenhower Lock along the Saint Lawrence River and winds through Ogdensburg (with its wonderful Remington Art Museum) to Thousand Island and on to Rochester and Old Fort Niagara with an end in Niagara Falls. I have seen many of these sites and can attest to the delight I would experience if I traveled the full length of this route.

In the end, a delightful book to read and to provoke the imagination as to what the various trips would be like.

[Richp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book in terms of covering its subject. It has maps and photos and an index. It is worthwhile as a travel guide (but should be supplemented by better maps and detailed info on places to eat and stay), and also as a coffee table or bathroom book (although in the last role one needs more time to finish a drive than a normal sitdown).

[Jarrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense, well-researched guide is just the catalyst one needs to spark your wanderlust.
I appreciated the expertly crafted descriptions paired with a highly detailed map for each road trip. This made it easy to follow along on the journey.
While the size makes it unwieldy to take along with you, this can get you started on the planning process.

Highly recommended.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will most definitely get the wanderlust while looking at this beautiful and thick coffee table book. While many of the tours are too lengthy for a short trip (unless you don't mind breezing through without deeper explorations), they're certainly inspiring!

[LynnG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well organized, good maps and illustrations. Though these tend to be shorter, day trip type drives, which isn't exactly what I am looking for right now

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this as a retirement gift for a co-worker who had just bought a 5th wheel with the intent of traversing the country. It looked like a great book for someone like me whose idea of the perfect vacation is a long road trip down beautiful roads, so I bought it in the kindle version (more on that later).

The book contains 120 very interesting drives, starting in the northwestern-most point of the US (Alaska) and working its way to to the southeastern-most point (Key West.) I had already taken 6 or 7 of them, and they were indeed beautiful. On our southwest road trip this fall we used the book to visit some places we would have otherwise missed (like Cedar Breaks National Monument, Snow Canyon State Park and a remote section of Zion). All of these places were amazing and worth the total price of the book.

It is a bit older and so some of the info may be somewhat dated, but I think it is a great book. I also recommend the print version and using the laptop while on the road wasn't quite as easy.

[raccoon reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is split into four sections: the western US, the rocky mountain states, the central states, the eastern states. I focused mostly on the last two. While this book may inspire you, it won't be your final planning guide by a long shot. It's just simply too much information to shove into one book. The book is a hefty chunk, don't get me wrong, but it will probably just provide "oh! that's interesting" or "oh lets go there!" moments only.

I do think it was very thorough in listing most of the scenic drives, though I'm not sure it lists all of them. I could be wrong. A good addition to this book would be websites. Most of these drives have their own websites. I read the 2005 version, so perhaps if there is a newer version it has this? I do not know. Either way do check it out if you want to be inspired :)

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for dreaming of trips, most of which would need to be supplemented with hiking (mentioned but not included). Of course the spectacular country out west will wow you, but lots of lesser-known spots (the Sunken Trace in Mississippi, the Loess Hills of western Iowa) make a travel slut like me want to set off immediately. This is more for inspiration than actual trip planning, so the few errors I found don't matter that much.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

We travelled to California and had several of the drives in the book become 'destinations' for us. Good reading about various locations / sights / hints for vacations.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a friends copy. Must by this one.

[Danette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take me to any of the locations.

[Cheryl Schibley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big picture book and scenic drives.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous suggestions for the RV traveller. I wish I had the time to travel all of them.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course I want to go on all of them!