Our Top 3 Destinations for a Self Drive

Updated: Sep 29, 2023

Self drives can be incredibly convenient. You can have all of your accommodations, tours and excursions, and even some dining worked out in advance, but then you also have the freedom to make changes in the spur of the moment as well. Self drives work best for those who are independent, flexible, who don't need every second planned, and won't be upset if there is a small (or even semi-large) hiccup along the way. If you're contemplating a self-drive - here are the top 3 countries we think are fantastic.

Iceland

As long as you're traveling in the summer or very early fall Iceland is a wonderful self-drive destination. In Iceland you don't need to hike very far to see incredible sights. Every few miles you'll find cascading waterfalls, lava fields, and black sand beaches. It's easy to stop, park, walk just a bit and then marvel at the truly indescribable natural wonders around you. Traveling around the aptly named Ring Road makes the island easy to navigate, signs are plentiful, and there are apps to keep track of weather and that will sent you alerts in case the legendary Icelandic weather starts acting up.

Ireland

Ireland is an ideal self-drive destination for a few reasons. First - it's not a huge place, and you can get to all of the big destinations like Dublin, Galway, the Connemara region, and Northern Ireland fairly easily. In addition it is the ideal destination for meandering around and getting a bit lost along the way. Stops in small villages like picturesque Adare can lend themselves to longer than you think. I always suggest NOT planning every moment of a self-drive around Ireland because you just never know how long you will want to poke around the bookshop, walk along the beaches of the Dingle Peninsula, or talk to the locals at the pub. And since you never know when it is going to rain it's always good to be able to make a change in your day on the spur of the moment. Note that for this one you will need to drive on the left side of the road - but we have tips to help you with that!

New Zealand

New Zealand is home to incredible attractions that are accessible by road - and many of those roads will take you through spectacular scenic drives all along the way. The two islands of New Zealand offer the chance to explore beaches, mountains, wildlife sanctuaries and glaciers. Depending on your interests you can immerse yourself in Maori culture, explore prehistoric cave systems, traverse geothermal landscape, or tour some of the now iconic Lord of the Rings filming locations (there are 150 nationwide). To give you a US state size comparison - New Zealand is closest in size to Colorado. If you were to drive around the whole thing by sticking as much as possible to the coast it would be around 3100 miles and take you about 4 weeks (and you'd need to take the ferry between the North and South islands - so you're going to have to make some choices here - but what an incredible array of options you have to choose from!