ditti

I am considering doing a driving holiday in the US. My choices are say (1) from New Orleans to New York and (2) from Chicago to Las Vegas.

Keeping in mind that I am Aussie (from downunder)and we drive on the left side of the road - I would not be keen to drive in major centres.

Anonymous

How many days will you be here, what month(s), and what are your interests? If you'd like to drive through a thousand miles of cornfields, then (2) is a good choice.

Jocelyn_P

True about the cornfields, but (2) would also take you through the Rockies, and give you more variety in landscape. You'd probably encounter less traffic on (2) as well.

LindainOhio

Don't knwo how much time you have but I would also head across the U.S. from Chicago.

Get on Rt 90 to take you west. See the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons.

Head toward Salt Lake City, Zion and Las Vegas.

This route has some pretty spectacular sites.

Cassandra

1 = some seriously rural areas until you get toward cities such as Atlanta, Richmond, etc. then rather congested interstates to NYC, assuming you don't meander away from the interstates. But if you are willing to meander to places like Savannah, Charleston, the Outer Banks, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Shenandoahs and Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Annapolis, Bucks County Penn., etc. there's quite a bit to see -- more IMHO than between Chicago and Las Vegas (which I've done once, too).

2. = Long expanses of flatness until you get into the Rockies. Again, if you're willing to meander, you might see the Quad Cities/Dubuque area to cross the Mississippi, go up to the Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore, work your way across and down through Colorado toward Santa Fe/Taos and through the deserts toward the Grand Canyon.

Driving in "major centers" is clearly a challenge if you're talking about New York or Chicago but less so than you'd think in many of the others, largely because the idea is to find a place to stay where you just leave the car and use public transportation (if you do WashDC this is essential) or, because many of the cities are smaller than you might think, just walk.

Anonymous

And if you don't want to drive in major urban areas OR visit them, most will have a ring road highway that circles around the city at a radius of 10 or 20 miles. Some cities have more than one such circling road. Just avoid them during weekday rush hours (roughly 7-9 AM and 3-6 PM).

There are always scenic alternatives to the interstates. People got from here to there before the interstate system was built! And often these secondary roads are much more interesting. If you're not in a hurry, they are definitely a better way to see America. They are sometimes referred to as the "blue roads" because that's how they appear on road maps; the major highways are in red.

nytraveler

It's really a matter of what you want to see and do.

The former has a lot more history, attractions and big city sights - but major highways will be more crowded. There are also a lot of natural beauty spots - but not on the main roads. The latter trip focuses much more on natural beauty/outdoorsy stuff. But there is a lot of flat farmland involved.

It also depends on how many weeks you have and when you will be coming (I would never try to do Chicago to Las Vegas in the middle of the winter - you could hit a LOT of snow - but not in the south and less likely in central atlantic/northeast.

As for driving in the major cities the answer is simple - don;t. You pick the car up when you leave the first city and drop it when you arrive at the last. When you get to cities in between you simply dump the car in a garage/lot and use local public transit.

Cars are a pain in the major cities anyway. (I live and NYC and have a car since I bagan working in the suburbs and have to - but lived for many years in Manhattan without one - since it was way more trouble than it was worth.)

TheWeasel

#2 would give you a greater variety, as long as you took a northern route as previous posters have suggested. Go north to Minneapolis, then head west thru South Dakota. You can hit the Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, then head south to Denver and west from there through Utah (Arches, Canyonlands, etc.) to get to Las Vegas.

As for driving in major cities, I think that would actually be easier for you than driving in the small towns. Major cities will have major highways, meaning 2 to 4 lanes of traffic going in one direction, so as long as you're comfortable driving surrounded by cars all going the same way, you'll be fine. I would think the small cities/towns with a single lane in each direction would pose more of a challenge.

ditti

Thanks for replies to date. I would be happy to be away from major highways and do the backblocks. At this point I have no restriction on time.
We are used to vast open spaces in Australia, so I can cope with that so long as there is a reasonable amount of interesting scenery/people etc.
We had thought of doing the trip April/May or August/September.

Neil_Oz

ditti, "you have nothing to fear except fear itself". Based on our experience you should start feeling pretty comfortable with driving on "the wrong side" after a couple of days. The fact that you're seated on the LH seat actually helps. You'll have to get used to turning on the wipers when you want to indicate a turn, though.

Be aware that it's always possible to have a flashback when turning into a deserted road with no other traffic to remind you which side you should be on. And in pedestrian mode you have to continually remind yourself to look left, not right, before stepping off the kerb.

We found American driving behaviour much the same as Australian, and the US highway system is more easily navigable (i.e., it's numbered rationally).

Being cursed with an almost non-existent sense of direction I can get lost anywhere - and usually do - so good directions within unfamiliar cities are important. It's been suggested that we should buy a Rand-McNally road atlas before our next visit, but I don't know how good their intra-city maps are.

Of course stay off the interstates unless you're in a big hurry - the secondary roads are much more fun.

I developed concerns about driving into Manhattan after reading Tom Wolfe's "The Bonfire of the Vanities".

justme22

chicago to vegas will have more to offer with less traffic. if you are a history buff tho, then the east coast trip is the one to take. East trip will have more traffic but you will see some pretty interesting cities, the bayou, great smokies, shennandoah, washington dc, then swing to the coast for some beaches and on your way up to the big apple (there is no place like NY!)
driving may be a little hairraising at times though. toll roads traffic etc.

the trip from chicago to vegas will give you a much different usa.

head to the mississippi river if you take 80 w to 70 west you endup in denver and the rocky mountains. beautiful (somewhat like tazmania for ruggedness once out of the city but with highways) you then can head to utah and the beautiful sandstones of that state lots of national parks etc. hit the grand canyon, then onto vegas. this will be easier driving. good luck when you have more info on what you want to do, this board will help you out i'm sure.

happytrailstoyou

You say you have two choices for a driving holiday in the US, but you actually have hundreds of choices and the options you mention are way down the list of desirable holiday road trips.

Here is one of hundreds of holiday possibilities: San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, (and Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Sedona, if time permits) Los Angeles, and then Highway 1 back to San Francisco.

Ms_Jingles

It's too bad your travel is limited by staying away from major hwys, because New Orleans to NYC would be more fun IMHO. Too bad you couldn't go in Sept/Oct for the change in fall colors, because I've heard the Northeast is BEAUTIFUL during autumn.

I think Aug/Sept could be very warm for the western trip. I went through Vegas the other day and it was 100 degrees, but it feels hotter because of all the concrete in that city. I've driven from NV to MN and it's terribly boring unless you like rocks, dirt and tumbleweeds. It was exciting to see grass and trees once I hit NE, even though it's very flat.

How about a April/May trip from Chicago to New Orleans instead? Then fly out of New Orleans to either NYC or Vegas for a few days. I think there are always cheap flights to Vegas and you would not need a rental car (wouldn't need one in NYC either).