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Road Trips
The longest drivable route according to the Guinness World Records, the 47,958 kilometer Pan-American Highway journeys through dense jungles, arid deserts and cold mountain passes from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska right down to Tierra del Fuego in the lower reaches of Argentina.
Linking Torquay in the east and Warrnambool in the west, motorheads will love the 243 kilometer-long Great Ocean Road, which skirts around Australia’ s southeastern coast, past the famous limestone pinnacles of the Twelve Apostles, the stunningly-beautiful coast of the Bass Strait a constant companion.
There is nothing quite like having the open road ahead, the sense of discovery, the anticipation of new encounters, the camaraderie of the journey. For travellers who like to stick to the slow lane with the window down, here are our picks of the ultimate road trips.
With whales and waterfalls, blue glaciers and searing mountains, Alaska’ s Seward Highway reaches from the city of Anchorage, across the wilderness of the Kenai Peninsula, to the harbor town of Seward on Resurrection Bay, and the awesome landscapes en route remain some of the state’ s most popular attractions.
At just eight kilometers long, it’ s the sharp turns and wild nature that earned Norway’ s Atlantic Road a place on this list. Connecting the towns of Kristiansund and Molde, this visually stunning drive zig zags through a picturesque rural landscape and frog leaps between islands across low bridges, from which whales and seals can be spotted.
For intrepid travellers, the national highway of Ruta 40 runs more than 5,000 kilometres parallel to the Andes mountain range in western Argentina, crossing national parks and azure rivers, and rising from zero to 16,000ft above sea level.
The highest motorable route in the world, while cruising the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan, check out Indo-Greek ruins from the conquest of Alexander the Great outside the capital Islamabad. After winding through the corridor between Afghanistan and Kashmir, keep eyes peeled for a sighting of wild snow leopards near the Chinese border.
The gateway to the ominously-named Death Valley National Park, Nevada Highway 374( pictured) is a gruelling old gold mining route which leads adventurous travellers through successive sections of desolately-beautiful desert and arid mountainous passes, with rarely a soul in sight. www. jetsetter. hk