What is the longest drive possible on earth?

Mapped: The Longest Road Trips

Does the thought of your next big adventure give you itchy feet? Are you full of wanderlust? Over 90 percent of people will go on a road trip in their lifetime, and Park Indigo have curated some of The World’s Longest Road Trips especially for the inner globe-trotter within all of us.

The different journeys travel across whole continents, jumping across borders and rack up plenty of miles. Have you ever wondered what the longest ring road in Europe is? What about a 2,750km long seaside drive? If that doesn’t fulfil your adventurous appetite then will the longest land route, covering a whopping 33,612km, suffice?

In the future, road tripping will be completely different and corners of the world will be much easier to access. The Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR) is planned by Russian School of Science. It would mean you could drive (with help from the Eurostar and the Panama Canal) from the top of the UK, say Wick in Scotland, to the very bottom of South America, Cape Horn.

If you can’t wait that long, what about a leisurely 181 hour drive from London to Cape Town? The Euro-African Road Trip would take just over a week to complete the 13,652.07km — and that’s non-stop! Starting in London, UK, the inspiring journey travels through plenty of countries including France, Spain, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Namibia and South Africa.

Perhaps it’s just the longest highway in Asia that you want to get you from A to B? Asian Highway 1 (AH1) is the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running 20,557 km (12,774 mi) from Tokyo, Japan via Korea, China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria west of Istanbul where it joins end-on with European route E80. With 123 hours of driving you could complete AH1 in just over 5 days.

The longest road trip of them all is an astonishing 33,612km; The Longest Land Route. Starting just to the right of the Indian Ocean in Serai, Indonesia the gargantuan voyage, that includes ferries, travels along to Malaysia, north through China, west across Asia and Russia where it meets Europe at Belarus. From here the route carries on west through Europe to Spain, and south through Africa, reaching it’s final destination of Quoin Point, South Africa. Confused ? Take a look at the graphic to see the route in full. Without stopping, not even for sleep or to check a map, you could do the trip in 22 days.

Not all of the longest road trips in the world are about pure distance: scenic routes are up there too. The Longest Ring Road in Europe is Route 1 in Iceland. The modest 1,332km journey encircles the country, stopping at most of the major cities along the way including the capital of Reykjavik. Without any stopping, Route 1 would take you just over 21 hours to complete, but with the breath-taking views we imagine it will take much longer!

Using Google Maps, Park Indigo have plotted 8 of The World’s Longest Road Trips:

• The Longest Ring Road in Europe. Route 1, Iceland:

21 hours 40 mins of driving or 1,339 km

Starting point: Reykjavík, Iceland

Finishing point: Reykjavík, Iceland

The route connects 22 cities and communities across Iceland.

• The Longest Coastal Route in the World .The Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland.

15.6 hours of driving, covering a distance of 2,750km

Starting point: Inishowen Peninsula, Ireland

Finishing point: Kinsale, Ireland

• The Longest Euro-African Road Trip.

181 hours of driving, covering a distance of 13,652.07km

Starting point: Central London, United Kingdom

Finishing point: Cape Town, South Africa

• The Longest Leg (single road) outside of Europe. Highway One, Australia.

165 hours of driving, covering a distance of 13,563km

Starting point: Perth, Australia

Finishing point: Perth, Australia

• The Longest Land Route.

186 hours of driving, covering a distance of 15,191km

Starting point: Sagres, Portugal

Finishing point: Talon Russia

• The Longest Road Trip of the Future. Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR).

Starting point: Wick, Scotland

Finishing point: Cape Horn, South America

Hours taken to drive: not yet known

• The Longest Highway in Asia. Asian Highway 1

123 hours of driving, 20,557km of highway covered.

Starting point: Tokyo, Japan

Finishing point: Istanbul, Turkey

• The Longest Land Route with Ferries.

529 hours of driving, covering a distance of 33,612km

Starting point: Serai, Indonesia

Finishing point: Quoin Point, South Africa

The world’s longest nonstop flights, updated

Ethan Klapper is a former senior aviation reporter at TPG who focused on the operational side of the airline industry.

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Sept. 16, 2022
6 min read

The world’s longest nonstop flights, updated
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Singapore Airlines currently operates the longest flight in the world: a whopping 9,527-mile nonstop journey from New York to Singapore. The carrier also operates a five-times-weekly hop from Newark to Singapore (which is the world’s second-longest flight by about 2 miles) as well as another extremely long journey from Los Angeles to — you guessed it — Singapore.

As the airline industry continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, other carriers also announced some new and interesting ultra-long-haul routes for 2022. There is a new Air New Zealand flight from New York to Auckland — which begins Saturday — and a Qantas flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Melbourne, Australia. Additionally, another notable ultra-long-haul route — Qantas’ nonstop between London and Perth, Australia — has resumed after its pandemic-related suspension.

There are two new routes expected later this decade that would topple the current title-holders. Qantas’ «Project Sunrise» routes would see nonstop service from Sydney to both New York and London. Although the airline ran proof-of-concept tests in 2019, those flights are not expected to launch until at least 2025, so they don’t make the list right now.

So, what are the world’s longest routes? You’ve come to the right place to find out. Here are the top 10 longest routes measured by statute miles as calculated by travel data firm OAG. (Note: For consistency, all mileage calculations come courtesy of OAG. Other data providers may show slightly different mileage calculations depending on their methodology.) Duration of flight data comes from Cirium, an aviation data service.

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We’ve listed the flight that typically has the longest scheduled flying time, normally the one that flies in the direction where headwinds are normal. Given geopolitical tensions associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some actual flight times might be considerably longer than what is listed as airlines avoid Russian airspace. Other routes that might not normally make the cut — such as Cathay Pacific’s New York-to-Hong Kong route — are flying longer-than-normal flight paths as they also seek to avoid Russian airspace.

Additionally, keep in mind that the listed times are what the airlines block in their schedules; during actual travel, flights can be shorter or longer depending on the winds.

Scroll down to see the full list, and we’ll update it regularly as new routes begin and suspended ones resume.