Trip of a Lifetime: Unmissable Global Road Trips
Explore the World via the Open Road
Words by ESM Travel Editors Photo by Rich Hay
Road warriors, get ready to log some miles. This list of dreamy international road trips will have you planning your next excursion ASAP.
New Zealand
Photos by Josh Withers and Boon Panthalany
Although a country in its own right, New Zealand is technically an island — two in fact. The North Island is home to the capital city of Auckland as well as the city that may be far more important to some, Hobbiton. While the bucolic landscape and temperate climes of the North Island make it more populous and filled with farm-fresh products that can be picked up along nearly any roadside, the geography pales in comparison to this island’s southern counterpart.
The top of the South Island begins in the Marlborough region that produces world-famous Sauvignon Blanc wines, but these sweeping vineyards quickly give way to some of the most ethereal landscapes that the world has ever put on the map. Imposing ice formations like Fox Glacier that are situated down the road from volcanic plateaus. Rugged mountains lead down to a coastline that finishes as a scenic fjord and skirts miles of coastline where the color of the sands undulate between gold, black, and pink. Renting a car is perhaps the most assured way to allow yourself the indulgence of a hike along the mirrored surface of Lake Wanaka or a stop to observe the flocks of albatross, colonies of sea lions and broods of yellow-eyed penguins that inhabit the area around the showstopping Victorian architecture of Dunedin. Whatever you do, make sure you have enough time to see it all.
-By Jessi Devenyns
