South Asia
8 curated road trips
- Bhutan Lateral RoadBhutan's only east-west highway traverses the entire Himalayan kingdom, prayer flags over mountain passes, ancient dzongs above rivers, Tiger's Nest clinging to a 900m cliff, and a country that measures Gross National Happiness.
- Srinagar–Manali HighwayOne of the world's highest motorable roads, from Kashmir's lakes and Mughal gardens over three mountain passes above 4,000m, through the moonscapes of Ladakh, to the green Kullu Valley. Staggering altitude, staggering beauty.
- Kathmandu–Pokhara HighwayThe Prithvi Highway connects Nepal's two great cities through the Trisuli River gorge, Himalayan foothills, and the Pokhara Valley, with Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and Manaslu towering impossibly close above the road.
- Guwahati to TawangIndia's northeast is a wild frontier of remote tribal states on the Chinese and Burmese borders, the testing drive from Guwahati in Assam to the Tawang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh rises from the Brahmaputra floodplain through Himalayan foothills to the 4,170 m Se La pass, then drops into the Tawang Valley's serene Buddhist culture. A Protected Area Permit is required; road crews dynamite fallen rocks as you drive.
- Crossing the Khardung LaLadakh has more tricks up its sleeve than the drive in from Srinagar or Manali, a highway seemingly built from rock and ice struggles north across the 5,359 m Khardung La, said to be the world's highest motorable pass (at a similar elevation to Everest Base Camp). On the far side the Nubra Valley is a piece of suspended animation: a sandy basin dotted with Buddhist monasteries, sea buckthorn thickets, and occasional dromedary camels.
- Karakoram HighwayOriginally part of the ancient Silk Road, the Karakoram Highway crosses the world's three highest mountain ranges, the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Pamir, from the Hunza Valley in Pakistan to Kashgar in China, peaking at 4,693 m at the Khunjerab Pass. Chiselled from bare rock and ice over 20 years by Chinese and Pakistani labourers, it remains one of the most extraordinary feats of road engineering ever attempted.
- Land of Kings, RajasthanThe great Rajasthan circuit from Delhi, through the Pink City of Jaipur, the blue city of Jodhpur below the Mehrangarh Fort, the golden sandstone citadel of Jaisalmer rising from the Thar Desert, and Udaipur's lake palaces reflected in the Pichola. India's most spectacular royal road trip through the land of maharajas.
- Emerald Island, Sri LankaSri Lanka's extraordinary island circuit, Colombo's colonial fort, Kandy's sacred tooth relic and tea highlands, Sigiriya's lion-rock fortress above the jungle, the Cultural Triangle's ancient kingdoms at Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, and the pristine east coast beaches of Trincomalee. More history and nature per kilometre than almost anywhere on earth.