Summer is picking up speed in the UK, and the heatwave isn’t showing any sign of stopping. But if you’ve used up all your cash and annual leave on your holiday in Magaluf, what’s the next best thing? That’s right. It’s a road trip, baby.
So you’ve got your allocated driver – check. You’ve got the snacks – check. You’ve got the specially selected road-trip playlist (come on, we’ve all got one) – check. But with seemingly infinite options in the UK, where are you actually gonna go?
Easy. The best road trip in the whole of the UK has just been named, and it’s the North Coast 500. The Scottish loop was crowned number one in a new report carried out by Euro Car Parts. Oh, it’s also the third best in the whole of Europe.
NC500 does a huge loop of 500 miles, starting and ending in Inverness, and you get to see the very best of Scotland’s coastal scenery along the way. Not one you want to do in a day, obviously – it’s recommended you put aside five to seven days for the trip to really take it all in. But hey, if you really want to make a holiday of it, go for three weeks!
The route was launched in 2015 by the North Highland Initiative to rival Route 66 in the USA, and there are a ton of great Instagram opps along the way, from Achmelvich beach to the Suilven mountain range. It follows the A835 towards the west coast, up the coastline through the North West Highlands, and finally down the east coast via the A9.
Following close behind the NC500 are the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland and the Atlantic Way in England, which were crowned second and third best in the UK respectively.
Now read our pick of the 11 best road trips in the UK according to us.