Perhaps the most legendary historic route in the world, the Silk Road is actually a series of connecting routes that stretch 5,000 miles (over land and sea) from the Mediterranean to China. Though the term was coined in 1877 by a German geographer, the route has been used for thousands of years. Pictured above—a majestic view of China's West Lake.

This 220-mile journey, best done by car, traces the route the ancient Greeks took on their way to the site of the original Olympic Games. The road twists and turns through gentle rolling hills dotted with olive trees. Tony Perrottet, author of The Naked Olympics, which is about the origins of the games, says, “It’s hard to beat passing by villages and medieval monasteries that look like they haven’t changed for centuries.”

This nearly 6,000-mile, eight-time-zone-spanning railway is the world’s most popular historic train route. Traversing the sometimes severe landscapes of Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and China, the Trans-Siberian is like “one big party” says Mary Morris, who made the journey for her travelogue Wall to Wall. Pictured above, the Trans Siberian Express traveling through a fall landscape.

First the Romans came and conquered the Nile River, cruising southward into Africa armed mainly with curiosity for what was beyond the known world. They’d stop to gawk at monuments and mummies. A couple millennia later, the Victorian British were back at it, navigating the Nile for the same reasons their traveling predecessors had. Pictured above, Ramses Temple and the Nile shoreline at Abu Simbel.

The Mississippi, the ultimate American river, is arguably the heart of America, says Mary Morris, whose recent travelogue traces her journey down the waterway. The 2,320 mile-long river stretches from the Land of 10,000 Lakes to the Big Easy, but Morris suggests boating the section between LaCrosse, Wisconsin and Dubuque, Iowa, where the lush beauty resembles other, exotic parts of the world.

This historic railway has become synonymous with luxury and exotic travel. Originally, the line went from Paris to Constantinople, but its ownership as well as routing has changed many times since then. Today the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is run by Orient Express Hotels, Trains and Cruises, and passengers can embark from London, Paris or Venice. The Istanbul route includes stops in Budapest and Bucharest, just like in old times when the trains were operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits

The most famous Roman road was built in 312 B.C. and connected Rome to the south of Italy. Today it’s a great place for travelers to escape the chaos of the Italian capital. Writer Tony Perrottet says you can start in the Roman Forum and follow Via Appia Antica out of the city, passing by the famed catacombs, as well as ancient mausoleums. Today the millennia-old structures along the Appia share space with the modern-day mansions of Rome’s cultural and political elite.

You don’t have to be a Buddhist to enjoy this 800-mile-long pilgrimage route on the Japanese island of Shikoku. The lush natural beauty, jaw-dropping coast, and historic temples might be enough to lure the curious traveler, but as Don George says, “Walking the temple route is a pathway to the scenic and spiritual heart of Japan.” Pictured above, a stone gateway in Jinja, Shikoku.

This 51-mile rail line feels like a train ride to the top of the earth. And it almost is. With 550 bridges, 909 hairpin curves, and not a single tunnel, the route taken by the “Toy Train,” as it’s nicknamed, goes from Silijuri to Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. At times reaching elevations of 2,200 meters, the train line is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This 95-mile trek, made up of old military routes, reveals Scotland at its best. Beginning in Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city, and ending on the top of the 1,300-meter-high Ben Nevis, the West Highland Way is an ideal tapestry of nature and culture wrapped up in a series of well-marked hiking trails. Pictured above, a team of hikers scales the heights of Ben Nevis.

Greg Barton, editor of Australian Traveller Magazine says, “The whole of Tasmania, really, is one long coastal drive with occasional darts inland to magnificent places like Cradle Mountain.” Barton recently took a new Maserati Quattroporte for a spin through the Day Two touring route of the Targa Tasmania auto rally. He says the route, called The Easter Trundle, “takes in fast, long, sweeping straights past fishing villages that still think it's 1955, through tight winding mountain passes that will test any car, and along leisurely dips and glides through overhanging ferns and million-year-old moss-covered myrtles.”

For more information: www.discovertasmania.com

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Mike Dushane, editor at CarAndDriver.com says California’s Pacific Coast Highway is his favorite route, “preferably on a weekday morning when traffic is at a minimum.” The several hundred miles that hug the coastland pass by Spanish Missions, millionaire’s mansions, classic surf spots, and beaches that grow progressively more rugged as you travel north. Big Sur, south of Monterey Bay, is an especially magical stretch of the highway, where damp coastal redwood groves cascade toward the sea.

For more information: www.byways.org/explore/byways/12744/

Hire an Alfa Romeo, pop some dramamine, and gas it — cautiously — through the hairpin-heavy route, about 40 miles’ worth of cliff-hugging highway that John Steinbeck famously described as "carefully designed to be a little narrower than two cars side by side."

The cliffs are dotted with a series of stunning, flower-draped villages that have served as enclaves for high society since the Middle Ages.

For more information: www.amalfitouristoffice.it/en/visita_amalfi.htm

The adjacent Kerry and Dingle peninsulas are home to the most famous drives in Ireland. Irish-speakers, Stone Age ruins -- and thousands of sheep -- dot the 30-mile Dingle loop. At the Westernmost point, Slea Head, the icy Atlantic crashes against black-rock cliffs.

The Ring of Kerry offers equally breathtaking ocean views and, as you pass through Kerry Bog Village keep an eye out for the Kerry Bog ponies, standing a proud-but-diminutive 10 hands high. To take it all in, you’ll have to heed the Gaelic signs and “Taisteal go Mall” (travel slowly).

For more information: www.kerry-tourism.com/

Huge glaciers carved out coves, bays and river channels here long ago. Today you can traverse the granite-edged shores a little more quickly than our ice-behemoth predecessors. Along the mid-coast of Maine, US Highway 1 winds through charming towns with quaint cottages and stately mansions where sea captains of yore rested their ocean-wary bones. Towns like Rockport and Camden offer arts-and-crafts nooks to explore and historical windjammer fleets to inspect. Whales and puffins patrol the waters beyond. Time your drive for fall to catch the stunning seasonal foliage.

For more information: www.visitmaine.com/

Joe DeMatio, senior editor at Automobile Magazine, says that on the drive from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, you’re “hugging close to the cliffs plunging to the ocean below,” an experience that “almost puts [California’s] Highway One to shame.” The M6 highway runs along the Atlantic coast side of the Cape; Chapman’s Peak Drive, starting at Hout Bay heading south, consistently causes jaws to drop.

This twisting, tropical trail connects the city of Kahului with the town of Hana, in East Maui and, while blind turns and one-lane bridges make the going slow, you won't want speed past the waterfalls, lava caverns, bamboo groves and breathtaking ocean views, with surfers in action. Aviator Charles Lindbergh spent his last days in Maui, and you can find his solitary grave at the Palapala Ho'omau Church in Kipahulu. Get into gear at dawn to enjoy the sunrise spectacle of this east-facing coastline.

For more information: www.gohawaii.com/maui/

A 185-mile loop on the island of Cape Breton, this rugged mountain/coastal highway affords jaw-dropping views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and earns consistently hyperbolic reviews from travelers. This is wild northern wilderness at its best: Bald eagles soar overhead, whales linger offshore, and salmon navigate the icy Margaree River, which the trail parallels on the southwest turn. If you need a roadside phone, the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic site offers a vintage array. Visit in summer 2007 and enjoy the Cabot Trail’s 75th-annniversary celebration of seafaring and seafood: Lobsterpalooza!

For more information: www.novascotia.com and www.lobsterpalooza.ca

Corniche is a French-derived word for “a road built along a coast and especially along the face of a cliff.” On the French Riviera we find a cornucopia of corniches: three parallel highways, low, middle and high, that offer varying experiences of the spectacular coast between Nice and Menton. This is where Grace Kelly and Cary Grant sped along in To Catch a Thief (and where Kelly met her real-life end). Frenchman Didier Jamot, who has traversed the corniches a time or two, says the the Grande route, which overhangs monaco, offers especially “arresting views.” Jamot cautions that July and August can be hazy, and spring is a better season for soaking up the vibrant colors: “the blue sea and sky, the green forests, the white limestone.”

For more information: www.francetourism.com/practicalinfo/regionssoutheasternriviera.htm

This 127-mile route links Anchorage with Seward and travels through a varied landscape that includes glaciers, valleys, fjords and alpine meadows. Highlights include the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, where sights may include dall sheep and bald eagles. Farther down the road is Beluga Point, named after the denizens of the deep that can sometimes be spotted there. The Seward has been designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Department of Transportation, so gas it up and put some patriotic pedal to the medal.

For more information: www.alaska.org/driving/turnagain-arm-drive.htm

Following Victoria's coast, this grand highway stretches for several hundred kilometers, starting just southwest of Melbourne. Among its stunning sights are the "Twelve Apostles," the 20-million-year-old rocky remnants of limestone arches that rise up from the Southern Ocean. A commemorative statue was designed to mark the road's 75th anniversary—it depicts the WWI veterans who built the thoroughfare, with one of the sculpted men handing a drink bottle to another because, as Roger Grant, chairman of Great Ocean Road Marketing, said, "Building the road with pick and shovel would have been very hard work and it would have been thirsty work."

For more information: Great Ocean Road

"Road Trip USA" author Jamie Jensen recommends the road along the pristine beaches of North Carolina's coast. In addition to the pleasures of the maritime landscape, Jensen says, the route is enriched by historical sites like Kitty Hawk, of Wright Brothers fame, and Roanoke Island, site of England's first attempted colony in the New World. He thinks that the section along Cape Hatteras National Seashore is especially rich. "And if you can stretch your coverage, the route through Georgia combines the lush wilderness of the 'Low Country' with the delightful architecture and delicious food of historic cities like Charleston and Savannah."

For more information: Highway 12

Winding for hundreds of miles along the southeast coast of South Africa between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the Garden Route traverses dense, lush forests, pristine white beaches and shimmering lagoons. The Mediterranean-like climate makes this area a popular destination for all manner of outdoor sports, from hiking to hang-gliding. Plettenberg Bay, a coastal resort center, is flanked by forest and marine preserves, and is the region's headquarters for dolphin and whale-watching excursions.

For more information: Garden Route and Plettenberg Bay

The Great River Road is one of 126 "distinct and diverse roads" designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as "National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads." The route incorporates riverside roads in six of the ten states that border the Mississippi: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi and Wisconsin, offering a tour of the area's natural and cultural treasures. Jensen favors the sections between St. Paul and St. Louis, which pass "across the surprisingly rugged uplands of 'coastal' Iowa, and nifty little cities like La Crosse, Wisconsin, Galena, Illinois and Hannibal, Missouri (home of Huck Finn!)"

For more information: The Great River Road

Convertible Car Magazine editor Stephen Ashdown says Scotland offers "many miles of empty roads far from civilization and some of the most breathtaking views of anywhere in the world. Among the many great drives, the Applecross Peninsula is one of the most enjoyable. Taken in a northerly direction, the entertaining, mostly single-track road gives views across the sea to the Isle of Skye and the Torridon Mountains inland. Motorists are warned by signs, however, that this challenging road is inadvisable to learner drivers."

For more information: Applecross Peninsula

Convertible Car Magazine editor Stephen Ashdown says Scotland offers "many miles of empty roads far from civilization and some of the most breathtaking views of anywhere in the world. Among the many great drives, the Applecross Peninsula is one of the most enjoyable. Taken in a northerly direction, the entertaining, mostly single-track road gives views across the sea to the Isle of Skye and the Torridon Mountains inland. Motorists are warned by signs, however, that this challenging road is inadvisable to learner drivers."

For more information: Applecross Peninsula

The roads on Canada's smallest maritime province can be rough at times (especially around spring thaw), but for every pothole there's a spectacular vista that more than compensates for the bumpy ride. The island's three major coastal routes are dotted with lighthouses, sandstone cliffs, golf courses and pristine sandy beaches. The Points East Coastal Route traverses wharfs, a winery and panoramas of the Nova Scotia mainland.

For more information: Prince Edward Island

Jensen says the "magical loop" around the Big Island of Hawaii includes "beautiful green forests rising out of deep blues waters, waterfalls cascading down black lava cliffs, with truly majestic snow-capped mountain rising high above it all. Whales leap offshore; there are gecko lizards, brilliantly colored birds, tropical fish swimming along coral reefs—and mai-tai cocktails to be savored at sunset. Heaven."

For more information: Big Island of Hawaii

Route 11 from Bellingham to Skagit Valley in Washington State is a 21-mile stretch of scenic byway that overlooks Chuckanut Bay and the San Juan Islands as it winds through the mountainous northwest coast. A leisurely pace is best for this route—allow for stops at the picturesque seaside towns, where you can sample fresh local berries and seafood or hike in the lush hills for even more sweeping views.

For more information: Chuckanut Drive

Route 11 from Bellingham to Skagit Valley in Washington State is a 21-mile stretch of scenic byway that overlooks Chuckanut Bay and the San Juan Islands as it winds through the mountainous northwest coast. A leisurely pace is best for this route—allow for stops at the picturesque seaside towns, where you can sample fresh local berries and seafood or hike in the lush hills for even more sweeping views.

For more information: Chuckanut Drive