Australia’s best road trips revealed

The great Aussie road trip has many faces – desert, rainforest, beach, outback and even vineyards. But what are Australia’s best road trips according to the travellers who have been there and those who aspire to visit? Rollin’ Car Insurance has crunched the numbers and produced a definitive list of Australia’s most popular road trips. They used internet searches, social media posts and Google ratings to whittle down the top 10. There are some obvious standouts on the list, plus a few surprises, and every state and territory rates a mention, bar one (sorry, ACT). So, where should you be setting your GPS to next? Drumroll…

1. Great Ocean Road

An oldie but a goodie, the iconic Great Ocean Road in Victoria traces one of Australia’s most dramatic coastlines, but did you know it has a storied wartime history, too? Officially extending 243km from Torquay to Allansford, the coastal road was hand built by more than 3000 returned WWI servicemen from 1919 to 1932. The route traces vertiginous cliffs and twists through ancient Otways rainforest before climaxing at the 12 Apostles on the aptly named Shipwreck Coast. It’s little wonder the GOR takes out the top gong as Australia’s best road trip, light years ahead of any other touring route, with a whopping 33 million TikToks, 1.8 million Instagram posts and almost 84,000 monthly web searches in Australia alone. While the road is accessible to all RVs, the hairpin bends will test your towing skills.

2. Grand Pacific Drive

If you’ve never heard of the Grand Pacific Drive, chances are you’ve seen it. The 140km route on the south coast of NSW is famous for its Sea Cliff Bridge, snaking over the water at Clifton. The bridge has appeared in commercials for Ferrari, Honda and Toyota and is a bucket-list drive, just an hour south of Sydney. The route is the equal shortest in this list, extending from the southern reaches of Royal National Park to Shoalhaven and passing through Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama. The coastal views are the best you will find this close to a capital city. Just mind you keep your eyes on the road, especially during whale season when the distractions intensify.

3. Great Beach Drive

Another cracker coastal drive, only this one has a twist. It’s literally on the beach and accessible to 4WDs only. If you’ve got an RV built for sand bashing, the Great Beach Drive should be high on your bucket list. Officially, the drive traces the water from Noosa on the Sunshine Coast to Rainbow Beach. Unofficially, it’s a 380km jaunt including an island hop over to K’gari and back again, pulling up stumps at Hervey Bay. Along the way you’ll pass through two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves – Noosa and Great Sandy – and the largest sand island on the planet, World Heritage-listed K’gari. The drive features some epic beach camps, secluded coves, riotously coloured dunes and a 150-year-old lighthouse. And that’s all before you get on the barge to K’gari, home to towering rainforests and the largest dune lakes in the world.

4. Sydney to Melbourne

Australia’s two largest cities happen to be less than 1000km apart, and if you live in either you are bound to make the drive between them at least once in your lifetime. But the journey doesn’t have to be a dull dash down the Hume. Instead, take the coastal route via Jervis Bay, Merimbula and Lakes Entrance, stopping at picturesque coastal communities along the way. If you have time for a detour to Sea Cliff Bridge, Mallacoota and Wilsons Promontory, all the better.

5. Gibb River Road

Aside from Cape York, no road trip has greater bragging rights than the Gibb River Road in WA. This infamous ‘caravan killer’ extends 660km between Derby and Kununurra in the Kimberley. The road follows the original stock route on an epic 4WD-only teeth rattler, taking in spectacular gorges, waterfalls, red-dirt wilderness and outback cattle stations. This journey should only be attempted with a robust off-road RV. If that’s not you, take the Great Northern Highway instead and visit the attractions at either end of the Gibb, including El Questro Station in the east, and Bandilngan (Windjana Gorge) and Dimalurru (Tunnel Creek) in the west.   

6. Epicurean Way

Not all road trips are made of beach and bulldust. Some, like the Epicurean Way in SA, are gentle foodie meanders on the doorstep of a capital city. This 223km road trip taking in the state’s big four wine regions, the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and the Barossa and Clare Valleys, is best tackled slowly. Bring an empty picnic basket, and preferably a designated driver, as you wend your way from Willunga, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, through to the rolling hills, farm gates and vineyards of the Barossa. The official journey ends in the Clare Valley, where you can enjoy a tasting at a 170-year-old cellar door, established by Jesuit priests in 1851.

7. Great Barrier Reef Drive

No, you can’t drive to the Great Barrier Reef, but don’t let the truth get in the way of a good marketing campaign. The official Great Barrier Reef Drive extends 140km from Cairns to Cape Tribulation, where the Daintree Rainforest famously meets the reef. This drive is light on accuracy – the reef is in fact 2300km from tip to toe – but big on wow factor. Along the way you pass cane fields that dissolve into misty mountain ranges cloaked in rainforest. Not just any rainforest, the oldest tropical rainforest in the world. Detour left to the wondrous Mossman Gorge or right for a day trip out to the reef – the largest living organism on the planet. Cross the crocodile inhabited Daintree River on the ferry before making the final push into Cape Trib and what feels like the end of the Earth.

8. Great Eastern Drive

Tasmania is a state made for road tripping, and the Great Eastern Drive ticks off some of the state’s biggest attractions in one itinerary. The 220km journey skirts the coastline from Orford, about an hour from Hobart, to St Helens in Tasmania’s north-east corner. Leave the RV on the mainland to explore Maria Island for a day before making your way to Freycinet National Park and the superlative Wineglass Bay. Continuing north, explore the seaside villages of Bicheno and Scamander before pulling in to St Helens, the gateway to the Bay of Fires. The saffron-daubed boulders of Binalong Bay and Swimcart Beach are a striking sight, even if the water is a little brisk.

9. Red Centre Way

No RV is properly initiated until it has a red-dust patina from the Red Centre Way. This iconic drive to the geographical and spiritual heart of Australia takes in the country’s most famous landmarks – Uluru and Kata Tjuta – as well as Kings Canyon and the West MacDonnell Ranges. Soak up the mighty monolith at sunrise, sunset and on a ride around the base, and walk amongst the towering domes of Kata Tjuta. At Kings Canyon, take the 6km rim walk tracing the cliff edge, then tackle the unsealed Mereenie Loop into the West Macs to explore the gorges and waterholes. The Red Centre Way is a 1135km loop starting and ending in Alice Springs, but you can avoid the corrugations by bypassing the Mereenie Loop and sticking to the bitumen, albeit with some hefty backtracking.      

10. Explorers Way

Traversing the length of the country from Adelaide to Darwin, the Explorers Way is the the grandaddy of Australian road trips. This epic, 4000km-plus journey cuts through the heart of Australia in the footsteps of John McDouall Stuart, who crossed the continent in 1862. The outback touring route includes a few detours to take in iconic sites like Uluru. Start your explorations in Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world, before crossing the border into the Northern Territory to tour Central Australia, including Uluru, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs and the West MacDonnell Ranges. Keep your eyes peeled for roaming camels as you continue northbound on the Stuart Highway, stopping in at Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles), Mataranka Thermal Pool, Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and Litchfield National Park, before arriving in Darwin to explore the Top End.

Read next: