The Best UK Road Trips & Scenic Drives
The UK has some of the world’s most scenic drives. Breathtaking coast and countryside combine, to offer amazing scenery, culture and activities. Let us take you on a journey around this little island they call Great Britain with our guide to the UK’s most scenic drives.
The North Coast 500
One of the newest routes in the UK, the North Coast 500 road trip loops around the very top of Scotland. Beginning and ending in the city of Inverness, this incredible 500-mile coastal route takes typically a week to complete.
Such is its rapidly rising popularity however, that the narrow roads can see frequent traffic jams. Road trippers can also struggle to find places to stay and to eat along the route at busy times of year.
So where else can you go for a scenic drive which can be easily reached and achieved over a few days or even a day trip?
National Parks – protecting the most scenic drives in the UK
We are very fortunate to have a plethora of National Parks encompassing beautiful countryside and coastal views, where you can visit countless historic places and stay in plenty of picturesque villages.
But if it wasn’t for Victorian writers and poets like Wordsworth and Byron, these unspoilt lands wouldn’t exist. The romantics, inspired by rugged landscapes such as the Lake District with its great natural beauty, had the vision to help protect some of the finest ’untamed’ countryside from being spoiled by industry and housing development.
However, it wasn’t until 1949 that Britain’s National Parks were established to fully protect and manage these stunning areas.
It is no surprise then, that many of Britain’s most popular scenic drives are to be found in and around the fifteen National Parks which, in order of size, are as follows:
1. Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland
2. Lake District, North West England
3. Yorkshire Dales, North England
4. Snowdonia Mountains, North West Wales
5. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, Central Scotland
6. South Downs, South East England
7. Peak District, Central England
8. North Yorkshire Moors, North England
9. Brecon Beacons, South Wales
10. Northumberland, North East England
11. Dartmoor, South West England
12. Exmoor, South West England
13. Pembrokeshire Coast, South West Wales
14. New Forest, South England
15. Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, East England
For more information about places to visit and things to do in each National Park area click here: https://www.nationalparks.uk/parks/
Most of the land in the designated National Parks is actually privately owned. But development is limited, in order to maintain and preserve the special character and to protect animal and plant life.
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty – perfect for a day drive!
But what if you don’t have time to make the most of exploring all that a National Park has to offer? Happily, the UK also has forty-six ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONBs).
Generally these cover smaller areas designated for conservation and so are ideal for a scenic day out or weekend drive.
Being so many and so diverse, AONBs offer everything from windswept moors and hills, to beaches and coastal villages. In no particular order, here are a few of our Into The Blue favourites for inspiration:
- The Jurassic Coast, Dorset
- High Weald, Kent & Sussex
- Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire
- Forest of Bowland, Lancashire
- Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland
- Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland
- The Malvern Hill, Worcestershire & Herefordshire
- The Cotswolds, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire & Somerset
Our absolute favourite is the Cotswolds. Covering over 800 square miles and six counties, it’s also the largest AONB. The whole area is packed with glorious countryside, charming towns and villages and welcoming country pubs.
Such delightful places with such old-school charm deserve to be explored in a classic car. And that is exactly what you can do with our Classic Car Hire packages! Who wouldn’t delight in taking something quintessentially British, like a Jaguar MkII (think Morse!), for a drive around scenic Cotswold villages, with a picnic hamper in the back?
