The top sites for planning a UK road trip
The UK might be a relatively small country but it’s got more than its fair share of fantastic natural attractions. And with an extensive road network stretching from Land’s End to John O’Groats, a road trip is the perfect way to enjoy its splendid scenery.
If you’re planning a UK road trip this summer, you’ll find plenty of resources online to help you choose destinations and plan a route. You’ll even find inspiration for how to keep the whole family occupied on a long car journey. Here’s our pick of the best sites out there.
Choosing and planning a route
First, you’ll need to figure out where your road trip will take you. If you’ve only got a weekend to spare, look for destinations that are less than a two hours’ drive away – any further and you run the risk of spending a good chunk of your weekend stuck in your car. Alternatively, take a week or two off for a leisurely motoring holiday and you’ll be able to enjoy long, scenic drives in blissful corners of the UK, from the striking beaches of Cornwall to the rugged Outer Hebrides.
For more road trip inspiration, the Telegraph’s Britain’s best road trips has some excellent options from all across the UK, from Norfolk to the Scottish Highlands. And the Guardian’s list of road trips in Britain and Ireland has some handy maps so you can immediately visualise your journey. Alternatively, if you’re hoping to incorporate a range of destinations in your road trip, this thorough guide to road-tripping in Britain by blogger Emm in London has some excellent itineraries.
When you’ve settled on your schedule, you’ll need to make sure you take the best route. Satellite navigation equipment is an essential tool for finding your way around, but it also helps to have your journey mapped out in advance: the RAC route planner and AA route planner are great resources for forward-thinking road trippers, and the carwow trip planner lets you create and share your route with others, and browse theirs too.
The best family road trip entertainment
Whether you’re travelling with young children or grown adults, long car journeys can get dull and tiring at the best of times. That’s why planning your road trip entertainment is as important as organising the route you’re going to take. This list of top 10 road trip games includes some timeless favourites that passengers of all ages can get into. You can even make your own adjustments to suit your group of family and friends – for example, instead of counting how many Volkswagen Beetles you spot, you could look out for Minis instead. Or, if you have very young passengers in tow, make it even simpler and keep tabs on the number of red or yellow cars you drive past.
Audiobooks and podcasts are another great way to keep people entertained on a road trip. The BBC Podcasts and Downloads site has a wide range of programmes that make great in-car listening. And if you’re all big fans of music, get every passenger on the trip to create their own playlist in advance and alternate playing them – find out how to create the ultimate road trip playlist to get started.
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