Travelling in autumn is great for loads of stuff, from brisk (and wet and rainy) hikes to taking in gorgeous views of orangey foliage. But it’s also a great time to hit the road. After all, how better to both shelter from the elements and take in some sweet views than in a nice, warm, big-windowed moving box?
And we at Time Out love a good road trip. From the romantic and popular to our very own ultimate list, we love exploring the UK by road as much as anyone.
If you were on the lookout for yet another road trip ranking, we’ve got just the thing. Car company Dacia has apparently identified the most epic UK road trips, which it did by asking a panel of ‘travel experts’ about the country’s finest drives before ranking them according to the results of a public vote.
The winner of the UK’s most epic road trip went to the North Coast 500. A familiar name in lists of the UK’s finest drives, the NC500 is a 500-mile loop that starts and ends in Inverness and features mirror lochs, limestone cliffs and fairytale castles.
Second place went to The Coastal Way in Wales, which snugly hugs the coastline of Cardigan Bay through the Welsh countryside of Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Gwynedd. Third place went to The Jurassic Coast, a stretch of coastline running from Poole to Lyme Regis.
Here are the top ten most epic road trips in the UK, according to Dacia.
- The North Coast 500, Scotland
- The Coastal Way, Wales
- The Jurassic Coast from Poole to Lyme Regis, England
- Cheddar Gorge through the Mendip Hills, England
- Causeways Coastal Route, Northern Ireland
- Kendal to Keswick in the Lake District, England
- The Cotswolds to Bath, England
- Cat and Fiddle route (A53 then A54 followed by the A537) in the Peak District, England
- Ribblehead Viaduct, North Yorkshire, England
- Snowdonia’s Llanberis Pass, Wales
So buckle up, crank up the playlist and embark on the great open road this autumn!
ICYMI: these gorgeous shots triumphed at the 2023 Landscape Photographer of the Year awards.
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