Location: New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida
Distance: 3,992 kilometres
Explore America’s east coast top to tail on this 3,900-kilometre coastal drive, which starts in the birthplace of American liberty, Boston. From sleepy Cape Cod bay and through Plymouth, site of the 1620 pilgrim colony to working-class New Jersey, gritty Philly and showy Miami, this drive reveals the multifaceted nature of modern America like no other.
Perfect timing: East-coast winters can be brutal up north, with strong winds and below-zero temperatures rolling in from the Atlantic. Down south, hurricane season runs from June to November, so circle April and May in your calendar as the prime months for this mammoth drive.
Highlights:
If you’ve got the time, take a detour to Washington DC and Philadelphia. As for stopovers, try New England seafood and admire the colonial-era architecture.
Don’t miss stopping off at Cape Cod, New York’s MoMA and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Hemingway’s house in Key West.
In the Carolinas see Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers first took flight, and Fort Sumter in Charleston, where the first Civil War shots were fired.
As you encroach on New York, embrace the traffic as part of the experience. If it’s your first visit, take the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty for free, wander along Broadway and get your fashion fix in SoHo.
