The best week-long road trips are the ones you can drive end to end in five to eight days without rushing: Iceland's Ring Road, Utah's five-park Southern Utah Loop, and California's Pacific Coast Highway each deliver a complete, satisfying loop or line in about a week. One week is the sweet spot of road tripping. It is long enough to feel like a real journey, short enough to fit a standard holiday, and exactly the right length for a route with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
This is a ranked list of ten drives sized for a single week, built from real catalog data: distances, durations, and the months each road is at its best. If a week feels like too much, our Weekend Drives hub gathers the one and two day trips, and if you have more time to spare, the Epic Long Drives collection covers the multi-week crossings. Everything below sits in the middle, and every entry links to its full route guide.
The 10 best week-long road trips at a glance
Here is the ranked shortlist. Distances, durations, and best-season windows come straight from each route's page, so you can plan a real seven-day itinerary rather than a hopeful one.
| # | Route | Country | Distance | Duration | Best season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland Ring Road | Iceland | 1,332 km | 7 to 10 days | June to August |
| 2 | Southern Utah Loop | United States | 740 km | 5 to 7 days | Mar to May, Sep to Nov |
| 3 | Pacific Coast Highway | United States | 1,055 km | 4 to 7 days | Summer to fall |
| 4 | North Coast 500 | Scotland | 830 km | 5 to 7 days | May to September |
| 5 | Baja California Highway 1 | Mexico | 1,700 km | 5 to 7 days | October to April |
| 6 | Route des Grandes Alpes | France | 684 km | 5 to 7 days | June to October |
| 7 | Uluru and the Red Centre | Australia | 1,224 km | 5 to 7 days | April to October |
| 8 | Namib Desert Circuit | Namibia | 1,400 km | 6 to 8 days | May to October |
| 9 | Adriatic Coastal Highway | Croatia | 250 to 280 km | 5 to 7 days | May to June, Sep |
| 10 | Costa Rica Parks and Wildlife | Costa Rica | 600 km | 5 to 7 days | December to April |
If you only do one
Drive the Iceland Ring Road. No other route packs a full week of raw, ever-changing scenery into one tidy loop the way Route 1 does: glaciers, black-sand beaches, geysers, waterfalls, and an iceberg lagoon, all strung along a single paved circle you return to where you started. It fits a week beautifully, needs no complicated logistics because the road always loops back, and rewards a standard rental car through summer, when the daylight barely ends and you can keep driving long after dinner. Book accommodation ahead in July and August, start each morning early to stay ahead of the tour coaches, and you have the most complete one-week road trip on Earth.
1. Iceland Ring Road, Iceland
Iceland's Route 1 loops the entire island in 1,332 km, and a week is the classic way to drive it. The Iceland Ring Road delivers Þingvellir's tectonic rift, the Strokkur geyser firing every few minutes, Seljalandsfoss and the black-sand beach at Vík, the blue icebergs of Jökulsárlón and neighbouring Diamond Beach, and whale watching out of Húsavík. Give it seven to ten days and go from June to August, when the highland weather settles and the light is nearly endless. A standard car handles Route 1 fine in summer, though the highland F-road shortcuts remain strictly 4WD only.
2. Southern Utah Loop, United States
No week delivers more sheer scenery per mile than Utah's red-rock circuit. The Southern Utah Loop links all five of the state's national parks, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches, across 740 km of hoodoos, slot canyons, and painted desert, with a detour to the mesas of Monument Valley. Five to seven days is enough to hike a signature trail in each park without a forced march. Drive it in spring or fall, March to May or September to November, because midsummer heat in Zion and Moab is punishing and higher roads can snow up in winter.
3. Pacific Coast Highway, United States
For a coastal week with a soundtrack of surf, California Highway 1 is hard to beat. The Pacific Coast Highway traces 1,055 km from San Francisco to Los Angeles past Bixby Creek Bridge, the redwoods and cliffs of Big Sur, McWay Falls, Hearst Castle, and the beaches of Santa Barbara and Malibu before the Santa Monica Pier. Four to seven days lets you stop for the sea-otter viewpoints and the seafood shacks rather than just photograph them. Summer and fall are best, but check for landslide closures around Big Sur before you set off.
4. North Coast 500, Scotland
Scotland's answer to Route 66 loops 500 miles through the emptiest, most dramatic corner of Britain. The North Coast 500 runs 830 km out of Inverness past the Torridon mountains, the white-sand beaches near Durness, the Bealach na Bà hairpins above Applecross, and a string of sea lochs and castles. Five to seven days suits it, and May to September is the window, when the single-track roads are at their most forgiving and the daylight is long. Fuel is scarce in the far northwest, so fill up in the larger towns and learn to use the passing places.
5. Baja California Highway 1, Mexico
For a week of desert meeting two seas, drive the length of the world's longest peninsula. Baja California Highway 1 runs 1,700 km from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas past Pacific surf breaks, the grey-whale lagoons of Guerrero Negro, the mission town of San Ignacio, giant cardón cacti, and the turquoise bays of the Sea of Cortez around Loreto and La Paz. Give it five to seven days and drive from October to April, when the heat eases and the whales arrive. You need a passport for the border, but no vehicle import permit is required anywhere on the peninsula.
6. Route des Grandes Alpes, France
If your ideal week is a mountain pass every hour, this is the drive. The Route des Grandes Alpes crosses the French Alps in 684 km from Lake Geneva to the Riviera at Menton, climbing 16 passes including the Col de l'Iseran at 2,770 m, one of the highest paved roads in Europe, through the Vanoise, Queyras, and Mercantour national parks. Five to seven days gives you time for the villages and the viewpoints between climbs. It is strictly a summer route: many passes are closed by snow from October to June, so aim for the June to October window and carry chains just in case.
7. Uluru and the Red Centre, Australia
For a week deep in the Australian outback, few drives feel as elemental. Uluru and the Red Centre circles 1,224 km from Uluru itself, the most soulful place in Australia, through the domes of Kata Tjuta, the yawning walls of Kings Canyon, and the icy waterholes of the West MacDonnell Ranges around Standley Chasm and Ormiston Gorge. Five to seven days lets you catch sunrise and sunset over the rock and still make the gorges. April to October is the season, when the desert days are warm rather than dangerous, and most of the circuit is sealed for a conventional car.
8. Namib Desert Circuit, Namibia
The world's oldest desert makes for one of its most photogenic weeks. The Namib Desert Circuit covers 1,400 km from Windhoek to the 300 m apricot dunes of Sossusvlei, the bleached camel-thorn skeletons of Deadvlei, the sand-swallowed ghost town of Kolmanskop near Lüderitz, and the billion-year-old gorge of Fish River Canyon. Six to eight days suits the distances, and May to October is the dry, cooler season. Roads inside Sossusvlei are gravel and sand, so a high-clearance vehicle is wise, and you should carry extra water and fuel across the long empty stretches.
9. Adriatic Coastal Highway, Croatia
For a slower, sunnier week, the southern Dalmatian coast rewards short driving days and long lunches. The Adriatic Coastal Highway covers just 250 to 280 km from Split to Dubrovnik along the Jadranska Magistrala, past the Venetian core of Trogir, the beaches of the Makarska Riviera, the oyster beds and old walls of Ston, and the marble streets of Dubrovnik, with island ferries a short hop offshore. Five to seven days leaves plenty of time to swim and island-hop. Come in May to June or September to sidestep the peak-summer crowds and heat around the ferry ports.
10. Costa Rica Parks and Wildlife, Costa Rica
To spend a week among sloths, volcanoes, and cloud forest, point the car across Costa Rica. Costa Rica Parks and Wildlife runs 600 km from San José to the Arenal Volcano's lava fields and hot springs, the misty canopy of Monteverde, and the rainforest beaches of Manuel Antonio, threading a country that holds roughly five percent of the world's species. Five to seven days is enough for two or three parks at an unhurried pace. December to April is the dry season, and because many lodge and park roads are unpaved and rutted, a high-clearance 4WD or AWD is strongly recommended.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best road trip for one week?
The Iceland Ring Road is the best single week-long road trip for most people. Its 1,332 km loop returns to where it started, so the logistics are simple, and it packs glaciers, waterfalls, beaches, and geysers into seven to ten days of driving. If you prefer red rock to ice, Utah's five-park Southern Utah Loop is the closest rival.
How many kilometres can you realistically drive in a week?
For an enjoyable trip, plan on roughly 150 to 250 km of actual driving per day, which works out to somewhere between 800 and 1,700 km over a week depending on how much you stop. The routes on this list range from the compact 250 km Adriatic coast to the 1,700 km run down Baja, so pick a distance that leaves time for the places rather than just the road.
Do you need to book a week-long road trip in advance?
Book your rental car and any peak-season accommodation ahead, especially in Iceland, Utah, and along the Pacific Coast Highway in July and August, where beds sell out. The driving itself needs little planning, but a few routes have practical steps to sort first, such as a passport for the Baja border crossing and a high-clearance vehicle for Namibia and Costa Rica.
What is the best week-long road trip for first-timers?
The Pacific Coast Highway and the Southern Utah Loop are the friendliest first road trips. Both are paved, rated easy, well signposted, and lined with towns, fuel, and food, so you are never far from help. They also flex easily: you can shorten or extend either one without unravelling the whole route.
Can you do a week-long road trip in an electric car?
Several of these work well in an EV. The Iceland Ring Road, Southern Utah Loop, Pacific Coast Highway, North Coast 500, Route des Grandes Alpes, and Adriatic Coastal Highway all have workable charging coverage along the way. The remote desert and outback routes, Baja, the Red Centre, and the Namib circuit, are best left to a combustion or hybrid vehicle for now, given the long gaps between services.
Plan your week-long road trip
Pick a route, size it to your seven days, and build in time to actually stop. For the full stop-by-stop detail on the top pick, read our Iceland Ring Road guide, browse the shorter Weekend Drives collection if a week is more than you have, or plot your own seven-day route on the interactive map.
