8 route & road-trip ideas
A journey through Appalachian scenery can connect Asheville, the US 23 corridor, Pikeville, Charleston and Marietta. Build it as a flexible regional trip, with time for towns and viewpoints rather than a fixed set of old turn-by-turn directions.
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The Country Music Highway is Eastern Kentucky s heritage route. The sites and sounds along the byway capture all aspects of the region s history, including Native American culture, pioneer settlement, coal mining, country music, crafts, architecture, the Civil War, and natural resources.
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Throughout history, the Mississippi River influenced many lives: the Dakota, Chippewa, and Hopewell cultures; early French voyagers; African-Americans seeking freedom on the Underground Railroad; and many more. Through its charming river towns and metropolitan cities, historic sites and cultural artifacts, today s Great River Road still links resources, people, and history.
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The Lincoln Heritage Scenic Highway travels through six communities as it winds its way through the knobs of Kentucky. This corridor is a national destination unto itself and exhibits significant historic and cultural resources around every turn. From the town of Hodgenville, through New Haven and Bardstown, on through Springfield and Perryville to Danville, the 71.2 miles of the Lincoln Heritage Scenic Highway proudly display the history and culture that the region was built upon.
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The Old Frankfort Pike Historic and Scenic Byway extends over 15 miles through a memorable historic landscape in Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region. Old Frankfort Pike invites the traveler on an extraordinary drive through miles of countryside that were once typical of the Kentucky Inner Bluegrass, but rarely survive today with such cohesion and integrity. Here, traditional diversified agriculture and the international equine industry thrive and coexist in a unique landscape that has evolved over the past 200 years.
Explore this route →One of the nation s special natural areas, Red River Gorge offers stone arches, caves, cliffs, ravines, and waterflows. Designated as a National Natural Landmark, a National Wild and Scenic River, and a National Geological Area, the landscape of this part of Kentucky offers scenic, natural, and recreation experiences.
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The Wilderness Road Heritage Highway is an important historic route and was crucial in the West s settlement and during the Civil War. Today places like Cumberland Gap National Historic Park preserve that history. The route also leads to Renfro Valley, the famous country music venue, as well as Berea, Kentucky s crafts capitol.
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Running along a ridge of land between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, Woodlands Trace is a beautiful, easy drive in rolling terrain with opportunities to pull off and explore on your own or at developed interpretive facilities. This outdoor setting includes the seasonal splendors of nature, with blossoming trees and flowers, a green canopy, brilliant fall foliage, and the open view in the forest in the winter.
Explore this route →Multistate routes appear in each relevant state. Some entries describe a byway, others a selected stretch or a broader road trip; routes can overlap.