Garden Route voted best road trip in the world

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The Garden Route has officially been ranked the best road trip in the world for driving conditions.

This follows a new global study by UK-based car marketplace Autotrader, in partnership with senior meteorologist and founder of British Weather Services, Jim RN Dale.

For many of us, this comes as no surprise. The Garden Route has long been celebrated for its natural beauty and diversity.

According to Autotrader's findings, the Garden Route achieved a near-perfect 90.6 out of 100 on its newly developed 'Perfect Driving Weather' index.

The study analysed average conditions across the route, focusing on factors such as road surface quality, visibility, number of clear days, wind speed, ground temperature and humidity.

"The Garden Route takes you from ocean to forest to mountains and Karoo, and is as close to perfect as driving weather gets," says Erin Baker, car leasing expert at Autotrader.

In just a few hours, travellers can experience everything from the coastal cliffs and forests with Narina trogon and bushbuck, to the wide, semi-arid spaces of the Klein Karoo and Hessequa mountains.

The study comes at a time when global interest in road trips is increasing, online searches growing by 80% in the past month alone.

Autotrader partnered with Dale to define what makes ideal driving conditions, with visibility ranked as the most important factor. Using his expertise, the index was developed to identify routes that consistently offer safe, comfortable and enjoyable driving weather.

Unlike traditional travel rankings, the study prioritised practical driving conditions over scenery alone. Criteria included road quality, safety, traffic flow and overall ease of driving, with supporting infrastructure such as fuel stops, accommodation and accessibility also being taken into account.

Baker said the aim was to identify routes that deliver that perfect driving feeling. "Every driver knows the feeling: windows down, the road stretching out under a clear sky, conditions so perfect you could stay behind the wheel all day," she said. "We wanted to find out which of the world's great roads most often deliver this experience."

The Garden Route claimed the top spot ahead of some of the world's most famous drives, including Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway in the United States, Italy's Amalfi Coast Road and Australia's Great Ocean Road.

While the ranking is not an annual award, Autotrader indicated it may revisit the study in future.