Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but failing that there’s always data: according to Instagram, Australia’s Great Ocean Road is the most beautiful road trip in the world, followed by California’s Big Sur, then Jebel Hafeet in the United Arab Emirates. How did they figure it out? By analysing the number of Instagram photos taken per mile.
Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way and the Causeway Coast also made the list – at Nos 8 and 19, respectively.
With many people still being wary of international travel and staycations continuing to rise in 2021, Pentagon Motor Group was curious to discover the most beautiful bucket list journey’s that travellers can tick off without leaving the comfort of their car. The research involved analysing over 7 million Instagram hashtags associated with the world’s most popular road trip destinations and calculating how many Instagram pictures are shared per mile of the journey; the country with the most Instagram posts per mile being crowned the most picturesque in the world.
The results reveal that Australia’s Great Ocean Road is the most beautiful road trip route in the world; covering 157 miles of road in the land down under, The Great Ocean Road has an impressive 1,321,570 hashtagged images of it on Instagram, meaning that nearly 8,418 pictures are taken per mile. Stretching alongside the south-eastern coast of Australia between the cities of Torquay and Allansford, the beautiful route was constructed in 1932 and has continued to be one of the most popular tourist excursions in Australia.
Top 20 Most Beautiful Road Trips
1. Great Ocean Road, Australia – 8,418 pictures per mile
2. Big Sur, USA – 5,226 pictures per mile
3. Jebel Hafeet, United Arab Emirates – 4,840 pictures per mile
4. Hai Van Pass, Vietnam – 4,298 pictures per mile
5. Chapman’s Peak Drive, South Africa – 3,425 pictures per mile
6. Blue Ridge Parkway, USA – 1,148 pictures per mile
7. Going-To-The-Sun Road, USA – 940 pictures per mile
8. Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland – 853 pictures per mile
9. Olympic Peninsula Loop, USA – 798 pictures per mile
10. Icefields Parkway, Canada – 781 pictures per mile
11. Route 66, USA – 780 pictures per mile
12. Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, Austria – 677 pictures per mile
13. Pacific Highway, Australia – 657 pictures per mile
14. Tioga Pass, USA – 533 pictures per mile
15. Military Road, UK – 483 pictures per mile
16. Cabot Trail, Canada – 466 pictures per mile
17. Hana Highway, USA – 345 pictures per mile
18. The Atlantic Road, Norway – 294 pictures per mile
19. Causeway Coastal Route, Northern Ireland – 244 pictures per mile
20. North Coast 500, Scotland – 226 pictures per mile
Jonathan Lingham, Marketing Director at Pentagon Motor Group, has said: “Despite the looming question over international travel, road trips are still on cards, thanks to the luxury and convenience of our wheels. As there are so many driving holiday destinations around the globe, we were curious to find out which route is officially the most beautiful. It’s great to see so many bucket-list-worthy road trips cropping up from all around the world – from the UK to Australia, and Norway to the USA – it proves that everyone can jump in their car and embark on an epic adventure.”
Pentagon Motor Group’s full findings can be found here: https://www.pentagon-group.co.uk/news/worlds-most-beautiful-road-trips.
