Thrillist Road Trips

Satisfy your urge for IRL exploration with Thrillist Road Trips. We'll help you find the best roadside oddities, funky towns, and beautiful scenery that's just a drive away.

Thrillist Road Trips: Roadside Oddities, Funky Towns & More

Phoenix

Nation

Photo by Mike Hipple for Thrillist

Travel

Explore adventure guides and design a custom itinerary for the destination of your choice in and around the city.

Best Travel Guides, Cool Hotels and Interesting Events - Thrillist

Deciding what to do with teenagers for a family vacation is challenging enough.

Alien Encounters and Ghostly Spirits on a Paranormal Road Trip Through the Southwest

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For such a small slice of the map, Northern Italy packs in a show-stopping mix of scenery.

An Action-Packed Road Trip Through Northern Italy

New Orleans

Houston

Shutterstock/William A. Morgan

Despite the many gripes you’ll hear about the Gulf states, few regions domestically can weave as rich a tapestry of musical and cultural creations, past and present, as Texas and Louisiana.

A Music- and Food-Filled Road Trip From Houston to New Orleans

Los Angeles

San Francisco

Photo courtesy the author 

One of the best things about LA is how easy it is to get the hell out of it.

A Food- and Drink-Fueled Road Trip from LA to Big Sur

Washington DC

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You’d think that living within walking distance from a lesbian-owned coffee shop, some of Brooklyn’s most popular gay bars, and more than one queer tattoo collective that I’ve had more than my fair share of being around the LGBTQ+ community.

A Really Queer Road Trip from New York City to Washington, D.C. 

Tess Crowley/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, the country’s semiquincentennial (an anniversary that sadly lacks the pithy brevity of 1976’s bicentennial) is already slowly crashing over the country in waves of red, white, and blue.

A Time-Travel Road Trip into Virginia’s Colonial Era 

New York

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While some kids spent their childhood playing with LEGO or hanging out at the local mall, I was on the couch watching rom-coms.

A Rom-Com–Inspired Road Trip From NYC to Kennebunkport, Maine

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“What are your vibes?” a girl asks me at Genna’s Lounge in Madison, Wisconsin.

Alien Encounters and Ghostly Spirits on a Paranormal Road Trip Through the Southwest

Chasing the supernatural — and the super kitschy — on a drive through the Arizona and New Mexico desert

An Action-Packed Road Trip Through Northern Italy

Experience the best of Lake Garda, the Dolomites, and Venice in just a few days

A Music- and Food-Filled Road Trip From Houston to New Orleans

Cultural exploration never sounded—or tasted—so good.

A Food- and Drink-Fueled Road Trip from LA to Big Sur

Everything to eat and drink as you drive from Central Coast wine country to the redwoods

A Really Queer Road Trip from New York City to Washington, D.C.

Cue up the Gaga and get ready to visit a ton of LGBTQ+–owned bookstores

A Time-Travel Road Trip into Virginia’s Colonial Era

From Washington D.C. to the Virginia coast, take a journey through Monticello, Mount Vernon, and living history museums full of costumed interpreters

A Rom-Com–Inspired Road Trip From NYC to Kennebunkport, Maine

Stare wistfully out the window and inhabit the spirit of a ’90s Julia Roberts

A Family-Friendly Road Trip Across Wisconsin

A three-day road trip itinerary for families to feel out the very best of this state