The world's most jawdropping drives, pt 1

We do a lot of driving as part of our guidebook research - rather, my partner and co-author Terry drives and I do the trip planning and navigating. So it's inevitable that some of the most memorable aspects of our trips are the roads we drive. I stumbled across Matador's The World's Most Spectacular Roads, which inspired this post. As I only write about places I've been, here's my pick of some of the globe's most jawdropping drives from the roads we've travelled over the last few years. I've categorized them by country or region, as some destinations are gifted with so many dramatically beautiful routes:
1. WESTERN AUSTRALIA: this colossal island's most stunning drives are in the West. Our favorites are in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of the Northwest, especially those through the area's national parks, including Karjini, Purnululu (Bungle Bungles), Millstream-Chichester and the Kennedy Range National Parks. Empty roads run through flat arid outback landscapes sprinkled with strange wildflowers, incredible rock formations, and mountains sliced with deep river gorges. These are also the country's most isolated roads (pictured) where you can drive 900 kilometres between towns and not see a soul, so a 4WD with extra fuel, water and supplies is recommended.
2. MAINLAND GREECE: the country's mainland boasts some of the planet's most breathtaking drives. Those we've loved best are the road from Edessa via Florina and Pisoderi to the splendid Prespa Lakes and fishing village of Psarades, near the border with Macedonia and Yugoslavia, which boasts some of the most pristine country we've come across; the narrow roads through the high country of the Pindos range with their monstrous rugged snow-capped mountains, hills thick with shrubs in every shade of green, and grey granite rock formations around Vikos Gorge; and the wild ruggedly beautiful Mani region of the Peloponnese (read more about our Greek travels on our Lonely Planet Greece Trip Journal).
3. CRETE: yes, we know Crete is an island of Greece, but Crete has so many amazing drives with spectacular scenery it deserves a listing of its own. The high roads of the isolated southeast coast skirt the mountains offering virtually birds-eye-view sea vistas, scenic routes snake through the elevated rural plateaus of central Crete offering picturesque views of villages and farmland, while the views from the windy roads of the west coast are so awe-inspring you'll find yourself stopping at every turn to take photos.
4. CALABRIA: Aspromonte, Sila and Pollino National Parks in Calabria, Italy, offer breathtaking scenery. In all three national parks, high roads snake through thick forests that form canopies over the roads - the drives are spooky in parts (very dark and moody) and the air fresh and fragrant. But once out of the woods, the views are almost always stunning, whether it's a vista of a hilltop village cascading down a mountain or a field blanketed with wildflowers.
5. CYPRUS: good narrow roads criss-cross the central Troodos mountains through thick aromatic pine forests dotted with Byzantine fresco-filled churches and splendid monasteries, the most impressive being the serpentine road through Cedar Valley; in the northwest, from Pomos to Kato Pyrgos, pretty fishing harbours bob with boats while around Kato Pyrgos the road rises to majestic heights, where it's just the mountain goats enjoying magnificent coastal vistas; and in Northern Cyprus, the road through the Karpaz Peninsula takes you through pristine country where wild donkeys graze on green meadows, by pretty turquoise coves watched over by crumbling Byzantine churches, and to one of the island's best beaches, a wide stretch of sand backed by high dunes.
Read part 2 here.

Tips for travelling Italy's autostradas: thank god for Autogrill

We recently finished a four-week research trip driving through Northern Italy. As we've spent a lot of time on Italy's autostradas (motorways, freeways), here are some tips to travelling the autostrada:
WHO: Every man and his dog drives the autostrada, from Italians doing the daily commute to work to truckies doing long-haul trips between countries. During holidays you'll be joined by campervanners and caravanners, who can be the most bothersome, generally driving well below the limit and slowing everyone down. Followed by drivers on their cell phones of course!
WHAT: Italy's autostradas are mostly dual carriageways and offer few places to exit, turn around, stop, rest, and refuel than freeways in many countries we've driven in, so always know where you're going, stay focused, fill up, and plan ahead. Or hope you see an Autogrill. Attached to fuel stations, these excellent one-stop-shops are a stand-up cafe, panini stop, book and music shop, delicatessen, and gadget heaven in one. You'll find anything here from a beach towel to a phone recharger.
WHERE: Autostradas criss-cross the country, connecting all major cities (see this list), the handiest being the A1 taking from Milan to Rome and on to Naples, the A4 from Milan via Venice to Trieste (although the area around Venice is almost always clogged), and the A14 running along the east coast from Bologna to Bari, which is picturesque.
WHY: The autostradas are fantastic for zipping between cities. Sit on 130 kph (the legal limit, although most Italians do 160 kph) and no sooner have you left one city that you realize you're already approaching another. Don't dare blink or you may miss a hilltop town or castle worth a detour. For cash-rich time-poor travellers the convenience and (mostly) smooth ride makes taking the autostrada worthwhile, however, budget travellers should be aware tolls are expensive and can add up. But these days, with the high cost of fuel, buses aren't cheap either, trains never were, and no other form of transport gives you the flexibility a car does.
WHEN: During some periods motorways can get just as clogged as the highways, so there are times to ditch the autostrada in favour of quieter country roads or simply staying put: on Friday afternoons in the warmer months avoid driving in the direction of beaches and lakes when Italians go away for the weekend; avoid travelling anywhere on a Sunday afternoon when everyone is returning home; and avoid any road during Italy's August vacation month, when everyone in the country is going anywhere they can as long as it's away from home and in the sun.
HOW: Make sure you're prepared:
1) carry lots of notes and coins: tolls are expensive, costing us anything from €1.60 to up to €14 for our most expensive trip
2) use the best quality maps you can find; the Italian Touring Club maps are excellent
3) know the route numbers you need, destinations along the way, and the city at the end of the line because Italy's road signage is terrible and the only constant is their lack of consistency: one destination may appear on one sign, but you may not see it again until it's time to get off and then it may be too late
4) know which exit to take to get to the part of the city you need (check with your hotel); some cities have two or three exits, generally a 'centro' (centre), sud (south), nord (north), oeste (east) or ovest (west)
5) stay alert - the autostrada exit and entry roads can be a nightmare, twisting and turning around, up and over each other like a tangled spiral (this is where you'll find bottlenecks, especially if it's anywhere near a port or industrial area); one wrong turn and you can waste an hour or more
Have I put you off? If you think the highways and back roads are better... well, that's another post!