4 Winter Road Trips You Need To Take Right Now

Have the blizzards and bomb cyclones, the atmospheric rivers and Pineapple Express got you feeling the winter blues? Maybe you can’t “fly off to saint somewhere” like Jimmy Buffett. But a road trip to sunnier climes goes a long way to curing a bout of cabin fever.

California Highway One (South)

The legendary Big Sur portion of California’s Highway One is one of the classic American road trips. But not a lot of people know the fabled road also boasts a southern portion that stretches roughly 120 miles between San Clemente and Ventura.

Start the drive with a whale-watching cruise or paddleboarding adventure off Dana Point before checking into one of those cliff-top hotels along the Laguna Beach coast. Grab a gourmet meal at a waterfront restaurant in Newport Beach before a hanging ten in Huntington (“Surf City USA”).

Long Beach is home to the Aquarium of the Pacific, an amazing array of ethnic eateries, and the historic Queen Mary (currently closed for renovations but still available for selfies). Skirting the Palos Verdes Peninsula and its championship golf courses, Highway One runs through a series of surf cities — Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach — that epitomize Southern California beach culture.

Farther north are yacht-filled Marina Del Rey and Santa Monica with its famous pleasure pier before a long run along the posh Malibu coast to Point Mugu and finally the Ventura area with its historic Spanish mission and ferries to Channel Islands National Park.

Florida’s Overseas Highway

Over on the other coast, U.S. Highway One extends around 160 miles from downtown Miami to Key West. Many people drive it straight through, a four-hour journey in light traffic. But the trip can easily fill an entire week with overnight stops along the way.

Straight out of the gate comes Homestead, gateway to Biscayne National Park with its excellent kayaking, fishing, and desert islands, as well as the waterfront Flamingo section of Everglades National Park. Crossing the causeway to the Florida Keys, Key Largo harbors laidback boutique hotels (like the Kona Kai) and the best scuba and snorkeling in the continental U.S. at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

Several seagoing outfits on Islamorada offer day trips to two other fascinating state parks: History filled Indian Key and the botanical wonders of Lignumvitae Key. Farther down the island chain, Bahia Honda Key is renowned for its bird watching, white-sand beach, and the hulking remains of a vintage railroad bridge destroyed by the notorious Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Take a short detour onto Geiger Key, where Key West Eco Tours offers half day sails around the island or guided kayak or paddleboard tours of the local mangroves.

Wild West Texas and New Mexico

Never judge a book (or region) by its cover. In this case, the Chihuahuan Desert north of the Rio Grande River. Because there’s far more than what you see at first glance, including four national parks, numerous historic sites, and the best little art town in Texas.

Starting from El Paso or Las Cruces, road trippers can drive a huge loop through the region that starts with the otherworldly landscapes of White Sand and underground wonders of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico before flitting across the border to Guadalupe Mountain National Park with its classic desert scenery.

Continue south to Fort Davis with its historic U.S. Cavalry outpost, stargazing at McDonald Observatory, and the possibility of an overnight at historic Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park. Twenty minutes farther down Highway 17 is Marfa, famed for offbeat art galleries and strange alien lights.

But the ultimate prize is the Big Bend region, a blend of desert and forested mountain scenery with multiple hiking trails, scenic drives, Terlingua ghost town, and river trips along the Rio Grande ranging from half a day to several weeks.

Tucson to Tombstone

Between the exceptional Arizona Mexican cuisine, the eerie aviation graveyard at the Pima Air & Space Museum, and the elegant Mission San Xavier del Bac, Tucson excels at human attractions. But it’s the nature around the southern Arizona city that makes it such a compelling winter road trip destination.

Protected within the confines of Saguaro National Park, Sabino Canyon and Tucson Mountain Park, the cactus-studded Sonoran Desert around the city offers plenty of scope for wilderness hiking and horseback riding.

Road trippers can also undertake a looping road trip beyond the city limits that might include Kartchner Caverns, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, and the fantastic rock formations of Chiricahua National Monument in a “sky island” mountain range that’s home to the last-known wild jaguars in the U.S.

The old copper mining town of Bisbee or Tombstone with its Wild West heritage are the best overnight spots, before a return drive to Tucson via the Sonoita wine country and charming boutique vineyards like Rune Wines with its sunny outdoor terrace and endless desert views.