If You're A Car Lover & Want To Take A Crazy Road Trip: These Are The Ones To Take
For car lovers who crave more than just beautiful views, these road trips offer raw adventure, technical challenges, and unrelenting landscapes. Spanning high-altitude highways, volcanic ridges, and jungle corridors, each route promises adrenaline, solitude, and stories worth telling.
Dempster Highway, Canada – 456 Miles
The Dempster Highway cuts through Canada’s Arctic wilderness from Dawson City to Tuktoyaktuk. This all-gravel road crosses the Arctic Circle, spans permafrost, and tests drivers with sub-zero temperatures, wildlife crossings, and river ferries. It’s a gritty, remote trek through the northern frontier.
Karakoram Highway, Pakistan–China – 810 Miles
Soaring above 15,000 feet, the Karakoram Highway is the world’s highest paved international road. Drivers confront glaciers, landslides, and narrow cliff-hugging turns. From Hunza Valley to the Khunjerab Pass, this historic trade route offers jaw-dropping Himalayan views and intense altitude driving.
Mahnoorrana11, Wikimedia Commons
Bamako to Timbuktu, Mali – 435 Miles
This legendary desert crossing takes you across the edge of the Sahara from Mali’s capital to the mythical city of Timbuktu. Most of the route is unpaved, isolated, and riddled with sandstorms, requiring robust 4x4s and navigation skills. It’s a route straight out of an explorer’s dream.
M Poudyal from York, United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons
Leh–Manali Highway, India – 297 Miles
This high-altitude Indian route traverses the Himalayas, climbing over five mountain passes above 16,000 feet. Expect hairpin turns, river fords, rocky stretches, and oxygen-thin air. Remote monasteries, yak herders, and snowy peaks mark one of the world’s most dramatic and risky drives.
Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons
Skeleton Coast Drive, Namibia – 311 Miles
Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is a desolate stretch along the Atlantic Ocean where desert dunes meet shipwrecks and shifting fog. Starting from Swakopmund, drivers venture north through the sandblasted wilderness with no fuel stops for hundreds of miles. Lions, jackals, and eerie beauty await.
Trans-Taiga Road, Canada – 370 Miles
The Trans-Taiga Road in northern Quebec is the most remote road in North America, ending hundreds of miles from the nearest town. It’s entirely unpaved and peppered with potholes, moose, and isolation. You’ll need spare tires, extra gas, and a sense of adventure to complete it.
Axel Drainville, Wikimedia Commons
Canning Stock Route, Australia – 1,150 Miles
Considered one of the toughest 4WD tracks on Earth, this remote desert route crosses Western Australia’s outback through sand dunes, ancient wells, and aboriginal lands. Drivers must carry all supplies and fuel, often going days without seeing another human. It’s brutal, vast, and unforgettable.
Peter WH (talk), Wikimedia Commons
Paso de los Libertadores, Chile–Argentina – 105 Miles
Linking Santiago and Mendoza, this mountain pass climbs through the Andes with over 30 hairpin bends known as Los Caracoles. Drivers navigate snow, tunnels, and extreme elevation changes. The Andes’ towering peaks and sheer drops make every mile a thrill.
Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway), Russia – 1,260 Miles
Stretching across Siberia, the Kolyma Highway was built by Gulag prisoners and remains one of the world’s coldest, most dangerous routes. Extreme snow, icy rivers, and vast emptiness define the road from Yakutsk to Magadan. In winter, it's passable only by frozen rivers.
Missy Leone, Wikimedia Commons
Cahaba River Backroads, USA – 150+ miles (Alabama, USA)
While not a marked highway, the network of muddy, forested backroads along Alabama’s Cahaba River is an off-roader’s paradise. With water crossings, slick red clay, steep hills, and abandoned ghost towns, it’s Southern grit for the daring weekend warrior.
Driving Along Cahaba River Natural Landscape In Bibb County Alabama #Country Roads, SOUTHERN LIFE
Southern Scenic Route, New Zealand – 372 Miles
Though paved, this route through Fiordland and the Catlins in New Zealand’s South Island feels wild and untouched. Misty fjords, waterfalls, craggy coastlines, and cliff-top roads with no guardrails make it thrilling. Expect rain, shifting light, and cinematic drama around every bend.
The Southern Scenic Route, South Island, New Zealand, Southland NZ
Pan-American Highway (Darien Gap bypass), Colombia–Panama – ~150 Miles (off-grid)
The infamous Darien Gap is an impassable jungle stretch that interrupts the Pan-American Highway. Adventurous overlanders must ship vehicles by boat or fly them, while bikers and hikers brave swamps, rivers, and dense rainforest illegally. The danger is high—and so is the bragging right.
Panama to Colombia: The Darien Gap, SKETCHY Bridges & Near Assault., Toyota World Runners
Salar de Uyuni to Laguna Colorada, Bolivia – 223 Miles
This surreal high-altitude Bolivian route crosses the world’s largest salt flat and continues through volcanoes, geysers, and crimson lakes. It’s bumpy, unmarked, and isolated at over 14,000 feet. With flamingos, steaming vents, and mirror-like reflections, it’s like driving on another planet.
Valdiney Pimenta, Wikimedia Commons
Fairy Meadows Road, Pakistan – 10 miles (extended trek access, paired with Karakoram Highway)
Often considered the most dangerous road in the world, the track to Fairy Meadows veers off from the Karakoram Highway and winds up narrow ledges without guardrails. Although short, the risk, combined with the Karakoram’s adventure, forms an unforgettable extended route into the Himalayas.
Savannah Way, Australia – 2,062 Miles
Crossing from Queensland to the Northern Territory, this rugged transcontinental route blends gravel roads, river crossings, croc-infested billabongs, and true bush country. It passes through outback towns, aboriginal lands, and untouched savannahs. You’ll need satellite comms and serious supplies.
Ruta 5 & Atacama Desert Loop, Chile – 800+ Miles
Chile’s Ruta 5 and surrounding Atacama Desert roads traverse one of the driest places on Earth. Sandstorms, altitude, and moonscape terrain challenge drivers, who are rewarded with salt flats, flamingo lagoons, and eerie ghost towns from the nitrate boom era.
Marcus Dall Col marcusdallcol, Wikimedia Commons
Tizi n’Tichka Pass, Morocco – 120 Miles
Cutting through the Atlas Mountains, this winding route from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate snakes along cliffs with endless S-curves and panoramic views. Steep gradients, shifting weather, and a lack of barriers make it an exhilarating if perilous Moroccan escape.
AbdelCharaf, Wikimedia Commons
Baja 1000 Route (Baja Peninsula), Mexico – 1,000 Miles
This legendary off-road racing route crosses deserts, beaches, rocky ridges, and cactus-covered valleys. Though the race happens annually, the route is open year-round to 4x4 adventurers. It’s dusty, fast, and full of heart-pounding terrain along the Pacific and Gulf coasts.
Szxycj at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Which Of These Road Trips Are You Taking This Year?
These road trips are for the bold—for those who embrace remoteness, risk, and rugged terrain. They demand endurance, preparation, and the right vehicle. But in return, they offer untamed beauty, true adventure, and driving stories that few will ever match. If the road calls, these are the ones to answer.
Rameez Javed, Wikimedia Commons
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