6 Scenic road trips to take from London

Say goodbye to 6am Ryanair flights, and hello to freedom. On a road trip you’re in charge; deciding the route, timings and how often you pull over for a snack break. Here are six of the best to take from London this year. Drive it for: walks, pubs and scenery. Length: 191 miles. While the A39 doesn’t have the most romantic of monikers, the route itself is rather different. Snaking through some of the most divine West Country landscapes, it sews up the pastoral outskirts of Bath, the fringes of the Mendips, the pony-studded wilds of Exmoor and the dramatic granite cliffscapes of Hartland peninsula, before plunging down through west and central Cornwall to the harbour of Falmouth.

The details: Bath is about a 2.5 hour drive from London, and Falmouth is around 5.5 hours. Drive it for: seafood, history and Belle Époque glamour. Length: Around 310 miles. With a starting point just three hours from London — far closer than Cornwall, or the Lake District — the northern reaches of France provide a dose of road trip exotica that can be tackled in as little as a long weekend. Making your way along the coast from Calais to Cherbourg, you can stop off at pretty centres like Boulogne-sur-Mer, Honfleur, Deauville and Barfleur to scoff ultra-fresh seafood towers, admire Belle-Époque architecture and dip your toes in the Atlantic surf off of golden beaches.

For the history-inclined, there are numerous WWII sites, Proustian hotspots in resorty Cabourg, and a *certain* medieval stitchwork to behold (maybe you’ve heard of it: the Bayeux Tapestry). For those with more time, slight detours to Rouen, with its grand cathedral and Joan of Arc links, and Caen — home to a castle built by William the Conqueror — provide further attraction. Drive it for: pintxos, wine and Michelin star menus.

Length: Around 250 miles. For hungry, and thirsty, travellers, few Euro road trips can beat one through Spanish Basque Country: home of silky Rioja wine, smoky parrilla barbecue, moreish local tapas and more than 20 Michelin-starred restaurants. Begin in gateway Bilbao, with its grand riverside Ribera Market, striking out to fishing village Getaria and onwards to resort town San Sebastián, where the tangle of old town streets buzzes with gourmet pintxos (tapas) bars and Michelin-starred haunts.

The short driving stretches in between all of your bases (ever more than an hour or two) afford epic changing panoramas, from seaside cliffs and beaches to rolling vineyards backed by snow-capped mountains, making it a feast for the eyes as much as the stomach. Drive it for: beaches, chocolates and culture. Length: Around 370 miles. Drive it for: castles, greenery and great wine. Distance: Around 210 miles.

Seat of medieval kings, the Loire Valley is strewn with grand châteaux, manicured gardens, patchworks of vines and dense forests ripe for cycling or hiking adventure — all bisected by the longest river in France. Begin your road trip at the waterway’s mouth in Nantes, where quirky public art pieces meet 15th-century Château des ducs de Bretagne and glass-roofed shopping mall Passage Pommeraye. Then pick your way along the banks of the Loire River towards Orléans — one of France’s oldest cities — via a series of intriguing stops.

The details: Overnight car ferries run from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo, from which Nantes is a little over a two-hour drive. Alternatively, travel via the Eurotunnel. Read our full review of Loire Valley Lodges. Drive it for: castles, lochs and whisky tasting. Distance: 516 miles. Scotland’s most famous road trip is bucket-list stuff, but you’ll need a week or more to do properly. Beginning in the atmospheric old core of Inverness, you’ll sweep up to tip top of the UK mainland at John o’ Groats before heading west and south along the webbed fingers of the loch-carved west Scottish coast. It’s the dramatic scenery that you’re here for, studded with castles, carns and standing stones, and fringed with golden beaches and rolling green slopes. Not to mention some very fine whisky distilleries: book in a visit at the likes of Old Pulteney, Glen Garioch or Wolfburn, and bring along a friend who’s happy to play designated driver.