Discover
Destinations told one at a time, each with the trip that goes with it — ready to make your own.
Mountains and passes
Seven passes, lakes at 1,800 metres and villages with decorated façades, in the only Swiss canton with three official languages. A week on a loop from Chur, with a stretch through Italy, from Tirano to the Stelvio Pass.
Mountains and passes
Three mountain roads closed in winter, stave churches and the fjords of western Norway, listed by Unesco. Six days from Oslo to Bergen, from the Jotunheimen plateau to the inner reaches of the Sognefjord.
Wide open spaces
Five national parks, from the lowest point in North America to the giant sequoias. A two-week loop from Los Angeles, through the Mojave Desert, Death Valley, the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite.
Wide open spaces
From Chaves, a stone’s throw from Galicia, to Faro, on the edge of the Ria Formosa, a single road crosses the whole of Portugal through its interior. Eight days of vines, pine woods and cork oaks — provided you leave the motorway to those in a hurry.
Wide open spaces
A ten-day loop from Quebec City on Route 132, around the Gaspé Peninsula. Lighthouses, cliffs, treeless summits and Percé Rock, between the St Lawrence River and the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Wide open spaces
In northern Montenegro, the Durmitor massif strings together glacial lakes, high passes and some of the deepest canyons in Europe. This trip goes round it in five days from Podgorica, from Ostrog Monastery to the Tara bridge.
Mountains and passes
The Transalpina is the highest road in Romania: it crosses the Carpathians at 2,145 metres, at the Urdele Pass. This four-day trip follows it from Oltenia to the citadels of Transylvania.
Wide open spaces
Fortresses at the water’s edge, gorges more than a hundred kilometres long and Roman ruins all along the river. Five days one way across eastern Serbia, from Belgrade to the vineyards of Negotin.
Coast and islands
A week on a loop from Dubrovnik, through three countries, two of them outside the European Union. The Croatian coast, the karst of Herzegovina and the Bay of Kotor, with three old towns on the UNESCO list.
Wide open spaces
Lakes at the bottom of glacial valleys, single-track passes and villages of grey stone, in the north-west of England. A five-day loop from Kendal, in the country of Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter.
Heritage and culture
Two Ottoman towns on the UNESCO list, limestone gorges, and springs of turquoise or warm water. Six days on a loop from Tirana, from the Adriatic plain to the mountains of southern Albania.
Coast and islands
East of Genoa, the mountains fall into the sea and the coast becomes a string of headlands, tiny harbours and terraced vineyards. Five days from Genoa to Lerici, by way of Portofino, the five villages of the Cinque Terre and the Gulf of Poets.