Imagine a week in a foreign land with the two most exciting things in the world: a beautiful woman and an exotic car. For a road trip that both you and your better half will enjoy, you’ll need to plan ahead—now: The hidden châteaus and country inns where you’ll want to stay get booked months in advance. And what cozier way is there to while away the last of the winter freeze than by stretching out in front of a fire with your copilot and a road map—dreaming of top-down weather in unexpected places like Scotland and Nova Scotia. We’ve chosen roads with the perfect mix of the element of escape and world-class amenities. And we’ve kept the sporting driver in mind: There are only a few stretches of superslab in the bunch and plenty of shunpikes and rural byways, ripe for some aggressive play.
SCOTLAND The Route Much of Scotland is still a wild and literally woolly place, populated largely by oyster-eyed sheep who often create sudden chicanes for drivers. In fact, the roads are challenging enough that they produced one of the grandest Grand Prix drivers of all time, Scots farmer Jim Clark, who won the Formula One World Championship in 1963 and 1965.
Start in Glasgow, home to Scotland’s largest airport, and head northeast, past Stirling, then west across the Grampian Mountains toward Loch Linnhe. You’ll pass through about 90 miles of hard, misty turf, once home to many bickering broadsword-wielding clans. Then head northeast 35 miles past Ben Nevis (at 4,400 feet, it’s the British Isles’ highest peak) to Loch Ness, that deep, mysterious sliver of Ice Age water. You’ll pass the narrow loch on its east side and head to Inverness on a narrow, humpbacked B-road. Follow the highway west to Invermoriston and on to the ferry that will take you to the moody Isle of Skye, known for the peaty, smoky Talisker whisky.
Despite the sometimes dour landscape, there’s hardly a dull moment: You’ll see castles on islets and hilltops, recognizable from many a classic advertisement for whisky or shortbread, and the occasional kilted bagpiper skirling for tips on a lonely turnout. Whenever things get too quiet, a Royal Air Force Tornado or U.S. Air Force F-15 will screech through the training airspace that covers much of remote Scotland, trailing a nimbus of superheated vapor as it axes the air directly overhead.
The Lodge Inverlochy Castle, 140 years old, stands on the site of a 13th-century fortress in the shadow of Ben Nevis. Outdoor activities include birding, trout fishing, and horseback riding. $520 to $1,000 per night, depending on season; inverlochycastlehotel.com
The Meal Scotland’s highest-ranked Michelin-star restaurant is the dining room inside Inverlochy’s castle walls, where the standouts include Isle of Skye crab and saddle of rabbit.
The Wheels Enterprise offers C-, E-, and S-Class Mercedes-Benzes, while AutoEurope rents Land Rover Freelanders. enterprise.com, autoeurope.com
CALIFORNIA The Route Trade the all-too-obvious Pacific Coast Highway for a trip inland to Yosemite. This is convertible country, with every California farmland aroma imaginable—eucalyptus, wood smoke, and flower blossoms—filling the air. Yosemite is one of the most gloriously rugged yet car-friendly landscapes on the planet. A loop through the park on California 120 and 41 puts you onto the start of one of the country’s great sports-car roads, Highway 49, which rolls through the Sierra foothills. Take the small detour to Hornitos, once a wide-open Mexican town filled with gamblers, hookers, and desperadoes. Today its population is only about a hundred, but many of the original buildings survive.
The preferred route isn’t composed of just back roads. I-80 over Donner Pass is one of the most scenic interstates in America and opens up the trip to a convenient overnight in Lake Tahoe. On the return route, jump off I-80 at California 89, and you can again grab the 49 at Sierraville. You’ll have another 75 miles of the most sinuous, wooded road of the trip before rejoining the interstate and civilization.
The Lodge The 10-bedroom Château du Sureau is a turreted California Mediterranean country house just outside Yosemite, in Oakhurst, and it’s one of the highest-rated small inns in the West—five Mobil stars and five AAA diamonds. $350 to $2,800 per night; chateaudusureau.com
The Meal Elderberry House, the château’s imaginative restaurant, predates the inn. It became so popular among San Franciscans that the château was originally built to provide a place for its patrons to spend the night. elderberryhouse.com
The Wheels Specialty Rentals in San Francisco has a wide variety of convertibles and roadsters, from Porsche Boxsters to Ford Mustangs. specialtyrentals.com
DENMARK The Route Before setting out from Copenhagen, on the island of Sjælland, stroll the café-lined Nyhavn waterfront, which is populated with a small navy of brightly painted fishing boats. Venture west on the E20 for about 50 miles, until you cross the bridge to the little island of Fyn, home to a 10th-century Viking fort that is oddly geometric—a sort of Scandinavian take on Stonehenge. Look for the yellow daisy signs that mark the Marguerite Route, a network of back roads that’ll take you through the thatch-roofed, flower-strewn countryside.
Before heading northeast for the peninsula of Jutland, check out Fyn’s Egeskov Castle, a still-occupied 16th-century fortress that is now part amusement park, part museum, housing everything from suits of armor to a Swedish jet fighter. Afterward, head for Jutland’s Jelling. Here, a 900-year-old church and rune stones (boulders etched with ancient symbols) mark where Vikings founded Denmark. At Århus, 40 miles northeast of Jelling, catch the jet ferry back to Sjælland and meander the Marguerite Route east to Helsingør, which Shakespeare immortalized as Elsinore, the setting of Hamlet’s castle. Cruise down the east coast back to Copenhagen, and stop in Rungsted, where Isak Dinesen, the author of Out of Africa, made her home, now a museum.
The Lodge Originally an 18th-century grain warehouse, the Copenhagen Admiral Hotel is now a four-star luxury destination. Ask for one of the harborside suites. $240 to $350 per night, depending on season; admiralhotel.dk
The Meal Krogs is Copenhagen’s finest seafood restaurant, serving only local catches. krogs.dk
The Wheels Avis will put you in a Mercedes-Benz CLK240 or a BMW 318i. avis.com
NOVA SCOTIA The Route If you fly in to Halifax, you won’t have many options when it comes to car rentals. Instead, hitch the high-speed catamaran ferry from either Portland or Bar Harbor, Maine, with the car of your choice (see catferry.com for fares). An easy day’s drive will take you from the ferry terminal at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to Hali-fax. You’ll pass the quintessential Nova Scotian fisherman’s village, Peggy’s Cove, and a dozen light-houses standing guard along the rocky shores. Next is the 200-mile Cabot Trail, which twists and turns like a casually flung rope across the mountainous neighboring island of Cape Breton. Follow the trail counterclockwise, because most drivers—nervous about unfenced precipitous drop-offs—choose the other direction. (Just be sure you have a brave passenger.) Head back to Yarmouth along the Bay of Fundy, which locals claim is home to the world’s largest tidal changes, some of which reach 48 feet. Don’t drive too fast down the smooth highways, or you’ll miss some of the two-lane diversions, such as the Oak Island Money Pit, in Mahone Bay, where people have been digging for pirate treasure for 200 years.
The Lodge Keltic Lodge sits on a sea cliff above Ingonish Beach, on the Cabot Trail. This is hard country, so it’s open only from mid-May to late October. $79 to $279 per person per night; signatureresorts.com
The Meal Stories, in Halifax’s top boutique hotel, the 29-room Halliburton, specializes in local seafood and fowl. halliburton.ns.ca
The Wheels Slide into a Mercedes-Benz SLK230 roadster or a Corvette convertible at Select Car Rental in Boston, less than 2 hours south of the Portland ferry terminal. selectcarrental.com
Imagine a week in a foreign land with the two most exciting things in the world: a beautiful woman and an exotic car. For a road trip that both you and your better half will enjoy, you’ll need to plan ahead—now: The hidden châteaus and country inns where you’ll want to stay get booked months in advance. And what cozier way is there to while away the last of the winter freeze than by stretching out in front of a fire with your copilot and a road map—dreaming of top-down weather in unexpected places like Scotland and Nova Scotia. We’ve chosen roads with the perfect mix of the element of escape and world-class amenities. And we’ve kept the sporting driver in mind: There are only a few stretches of superslab in the bunch and plenty of shunpikes and rural byways, ripe for some aggressive play.
Despite the sometimes dour landscape, there’s hardly a dull moment: You’ll see castles on islets and hilltops, recognizable from many a classic advertisement for whisky or shortbread, and the occasional kilted bagpiper skirling for tips on a lonely turnout. Whenever things get too quiet, a Royal Air Force Tornado or U.S. Air Force F-15 will screech through the training airspace that covers much of remote Scotland, trailing a nimbus of superheated vapor as it axes the air directly overhead.
