travel west to east

7 of the best interstate travel routes in the US

The arrival of the interstate revolutionised the way Americans get around this enormous country. On 29 June 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway System into existence through the Federal Aid Highway Act. It set off a colossal engineering feat that changed road transportation forever in the US. This massive country-wide road network currently stands at around 47,850 miles in length. It’s filled with great views and good pavement, so you can see the best of the USA in style. Whether you want to cruise through the Deep South, wind your way up the Atlantic Coast, or take on the big road trip from East to West, here are 7 of the best interstate travel routes in the USA.

1. Interstate 90: Seattle to Boston

Interstate 90 is the longest you can take on in the nation, crossing 13 states and 3,085 miles. It starts near Safeco Field in Seattle then passes through a tunnel under Mount Baker Ridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As you leave Seattle, you’ll cross two floating bridges, including Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, the longest and widest floating bridge in the world .

You’ll then cross the scenic Lake Washington before continuing through places like Wallace in Idaho where the Battle of the Little Bighorn took place. Make a stop in the city of Cleveland, before reaching the end near the Logan International Airport in historic Boston.

RELATED CONTENT: Everything you need to know about travelling between states in the USA

2. Interstate 95 : Miami to Houlton, Maine

I-95 may not be the longest interstate, but it covers the most states in the country, spanning 1,920 miles through 15 states plus the District of Columbia. This massive road takes you from the sunny shores of Miami to the cooler town of Houlton in Maine on the US-Canada border.

You’ll drive through the eastern greats of Miami, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Cruise along the Atlantic Ocean, before dipping inland through Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas. You’ll finish by humming through the gorgeous region of New England, including New Hampshire and your final stop, Maine.

GET INSPIRED BY: East Coast USA and Canada End New York

3. Interstate 80: San Francisco to Teaneck, New Jersey

Route 66 may be the most iconic path for an east-to-west road trip. But the I-80 takes the crown as the best interstate travel route through the middle of the USA, passing 11 states and 2,902 miles. You’ll begin in the heart of San Francisco at Bay Bridge, crossing the Bonneville Salt Flats near the Great Salt Lake, and hitting parts of the California Trail in California and Nevada. Next up, you’ll climb to 8,000 feet above sea level in Wyoming and cover parts of the Oregon Trail through Wyoming and Nebraska.

You’ll then have a virtually straight 72-mile run outside of Lincoln, Nebraska – the longest of all US interstates. After that, you’ll get to explore some of the lesser-visited states like Iowa, Indiana and Ohio. Leaving the pretty cornfields behind, you’ll move through the cosmopolitan stars like Chicago and Cleveland, before ending your journey in Teaneck, New Jersey, just a few miles shy of New York City.

GET INSPIRED BY: Journey Along California’s Pacific Coast Highway

4. Interstate 10: Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida

While the I-80 takes the more picturesque, pastoral route through the middle of the United States, Interstate 10 is all about travelling coast to coast through the American South. It spans 2,460 miles, starting on the shores of Los Angeles at the iconic Santa Monica Pier. It then winds its through eight states including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

You’ll journey through flat desert roads, cruising from 5,000 feet to below sea level as you hop between famous cities like Tucson, El Paso, Phoenix, Houston and Mobile. You’ll then pass by Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans, where you’ll cross the six-mile causeway known as the Twin Span Bridge. You’ll end your boot-scootin’ trip on the beaches of Jacksonville in Florida.

GET INSPIRED BY:  San Diego, Palm Springs and Orange County Beaches

5. Interstate 40: Barstow, California, to Wilmington, North Carolina

Interstate 40 also cuts through the middle of the USA, but this route starts at a junction of pioneer trails at the city of Barstow in California’s Mojave Desert. From there, it’s 2,500 scenic miles to the end at Wilmington in North Carolina. Wilmington is a port city gateway to the Cape Fear Coast beaches and Cape Fear River where the Battleship of North Carolina is moored.

Between Barstow and Wilmington, you’ll see plenty of iconic sights like Oklahoma City, historic Little Rock, and Albuquerque where you can go to the famous balloon festival . You’ll also tap your toes from Nashville, the home of country music, to Memphis, home of the blues. The most scenic part of this interstate travel route takes you to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. You’ll also get your kicks along Route 66 for the western part of the journey.

GET INSPIRED BY: Southwest Native Trails with Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

6. Interstate 70: Cove Fort, Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland

The I-70 contains the oldest section of all US interstate travel routes in Kansas and Missouri. It’s also got one of the most recently built sections of any interstate, with the last stretch finished in 1992. The route starts in Cove Fort in Uth and runs for 2,175 miles through 10 states including famous cities like Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

Along the way, you’ll come across highlights like the Eisenhower Tunnel, the highest vehicular tunnel in the world . It’s also the highest point in the whole USA interstate system at 11,158 feet. You’ll cross quite a bit of history, as the I-70 was the first interstate to go through previously uncharted territory in Utah’s San Rafael Swell. It also has the longest stretch of interstate without any services. You’ll definitely want to stock up snacks before you take on this interstate road trip!

GET INSPIRED BY: America’s Amazing Canyon Country

7. Interstate 75: Miami to Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan

If you want to take an epic journey through America’s Southeast, take the I-75. It starts in Miami and crosses six states over 1,787 miles, ending in Sault Sainte Marie near the US-Canada border. You’ll pass through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, with stops in buzzing cities like Atlanta, Chattanooga, Lexington and Cincinnati.

You’ll also get a taste of America’s natural beauty, as you pass over the Cumberland Mountains and follow the shore of Lake Erie to Detroit. Once you get to Michigan, you’ll get to cross the star of I-75, Mackinac Bridge. This impressive 26,000-foot-long bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere. 

GET INSPIRED BY: Spirit of the South

Are you dreaming of an interstate trip? What is your favourite interstate travel route in the USA? Let us know in the comments below! For more epic journeys across the USA, take a look at our new Near Not Far Limited Series of trips.

Want to hear more from us?

Sign up to receive inspiring travel articles, offers & news

" * " indicates required fields

Privacy Overview

Sign up for our emails.

10 Best Cross-Country Road Trip Routes in the US

The open road, blue skies, fresh air: a cross-country road trip may just be what you need to go somewhere new, spend some time by yourself or with your loved ones, and gain some perspective.

The great American road trip became popular in the 1950s, when there was a rapid increase in the number of families owning cars post-World War II.

With the recent changes in travel and diminished financial capacity, people are looking for different ways to explore new places. It definitely looks like driving cross-country will see a revival.

In this article, you’ll learn about the best routes to travel as well as tips and resources on how to plan a cross-country road trip that you (and your loved ones) will remember for years to come.

The 10 Best Cross-Country Road Trip Routes

These 5 routes are by no means the only ways to go on a cross-country road trip, but these are certainly popular and scenic.

The first three routes are coast-to-coast road trips, while the last two run north to south along the west and east coasts, respectively.

1. America’s Mother Road: Historic Route 66

Who Should Take This Route: Those who long for the nostalgia and romance of small-town America

Don’t mess with a classic.

Route 66 is the legendary cross-country road trip destination for tourists, not only Americans but also foreigners. The Pixar animated movie Cars is greatly responsible for sparking renewed interest in driving this road.

In the 1930s, it was the route of choice for workers who wanted to try their luck in the west, and later in the 1950s and 1960s, for vacationing families to go to the Grand Canyon and Disneyland.

As the road became more popular, tourist traps, motels, diners, gas stations, car repair shops, and other roadside attractions sprang up, earning Route 66 the moniker “Main Street of America.”

Sadly, it was decommissioned in 1985 as motorists favored using I-40; it can get them from one point to another much quicker.

Even though it’s officially decommissioned, more than 80% of the original route can still be driven today thanks to road maps and websites dedicated to reviving the route as well as the small towns and businesses along the road.

The “normal” direction to take this road trip is from east to west, but eastward is good if you want to go coast to coast.

That is, if you start from California and want to continue your trip to the east from Illinois all the way to Massachusetts, you can turn on US-20 from where Route 66 ends on Joliet Road in Countryside, Illinois (more details on US-20 below).

States (West to East)

Notable attractions/stops by state.

• Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
• Pete’s Rt 66 Gas Station Museum, Williams
• Petrified Forest National Park
• Route 66 Monument, Tucumcari
• Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari

• Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo
• Pops 66, Arcadia
• Rock Café, Stroud
• Route 66 State Park, Eureka
• Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, St. Louis
• World’s Largest Covered Wagon, Lincoln, Illinois
• The Start of Route 66, E Adams St., Chicago, Illinois

Miles Covered

2,278 miles (3,665 km) long; recommend setting aside at least 12 to 14 days for 3 to 5 hours of driving a day

Best Time To Travel

Spring (April to May) and autumn (September to October) are the best times to drive this route, when the temperatures are just right and there are fewer cars on the road.

More Information

We’ve previously written about other Route 66 attractions in detail.

2. The Oregon Trail: US-20 Route

Who Should Take This Route: History buffs who love long drives and diverse sights

Historic Route 66 may be the more popular road, but US Route 20 is actually the longest road in the US, earning it the nickname “Big Daddy.”

Not only is it the longest, but US-20 also offers the most contrasting sights and sounds. From mountains, lakes, rivers, and beaches, to “frozen in time” small towns and the most modern urban cities.

Again, east to west is the popular way to go on this road trip, but starting from the west gives you a chance to go parallel to the path formed by the Oregon National Historic Trail , which was followed by pioneer families on wagons from Missouri to Oregon.

• Montana (less than 10 miles)
• Pennsylvania
• Massachusetts

Notable Attractions/Stops

• South Beach State Park
• Willamette Valley
• Cascade Mountains
• Oregon High Desert
• Craters of the Moon National Monument
• Yellowstone National Park

• Carhenge, Alliance
• Field of Dreams Movie Site, Dyersville
• Indiana Dunes National Park
• Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland
• Presque Isle State Park, Erie
• Finger Lakes Region
• Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Park, Canandaigua
• The Tepee, Cherry Valley
• Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge
• Kenmore Square, Boston

3,365 miles (5,415 km); recommend setting aside at least 15 to 21 days for 3 to 5 hours of driving a day

Summer (June to August) is the best time to travel this road, notwithstanding the weather and crowds. Most places are closed during the winter, as this trail lies mostly in northern states, and spring and fall mean unpredictable weather.

3. The Loneliest Road: US-50 Route

Who Should Take This Route: Those who love solitude

If you look forward to driving alone with nothing but nature around you, you will love driving US Route 50.

The “loneliest road in America” moniker applies to the section of US-50 that goes through Nevada from Ely to Carson City; there’s little more than mountains, skies, and endless desert to see on this 300-mile stretch of road.

Eventually, the entire US-50 became popular enough that Time Magazine featured it in the mid-90s, calling it the Backbone of America, as history, success, failure, and revival are all documented along this long and often winding road.

Portions of the US-50 route overlap with such historic trails as the Santa Fe Historic Trail as well as the Pony Express National Historic Trail.

Along the way, you’ll see towns that have flourished into cities, cities that have collapsed into ruins, and small towns that have bounced back from near-death.

The western end of US-50 lies in Sacramento, California, but if you want to make this a true blue coast-to-coast drive, drive another 100 miles to San Francisco via I-80.

States (East to West)

West Virginia

• Washington, D.C.
• Sky Meadows State Park, Delaplane
• Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester
• Capon Bridge
• Tygart Lake State Park
• Chillicothe
• Daviess County Amish Country
• George Rogers Clark National Historic Park, Vincennes
• Carlyle Lake, Carlyle Township
• Gateway Arch, St. Louis
• Lake of the Ozarks
• Whiteman Air Force Base
• Old Drum, Johnson County Courthouse, Warrensburg

• Guy & Mae’s Tavern, Williamsburg
• Midway Sign, Kinsley
• Santa Fe National Historic Trail
• Great Plains
• Madonna of the Trail Monument, Lamar
• The Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, Cañon City
• Gunnison National Forest
• Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction
• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park, Utah
• Notch Peak, Utah

• Great Basin National Park
• Pony Express Territory
• Spooner Lake–Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, Carson City

3,073 miles (4,946 km); recommend setting aside at least 14 to 17 days for 3 to 5 hours of driving a day

Late spring (May to June) and autumn (September to October) are the best times to drive this route.

Keep in mind that you’re passing through some contrasting landscapes: mountains, deserts, lakes, and seas. Winter will be too cold and the roads may be too slippery for you to drive safely, while summer will be too hot when passing through the desert.

4. The Pacific Coast: US-101 Route to California State Route 1

Who Should Take This Route: Beach bums who like sunny weather, salty air, and breathtaking ocean sunsets

Taking a cross-country road trip along the Pacific Coast is one of the most scenic drives you’ll ever take.

Called Highway 101 in Washington and Oregon, and Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), California State Route 1 (SR1), or Highway 1 in California, this road takes you right beside the Pacific Ocean and the western border of the contiguous United States.

The I-5 eventually replaced the old US-101 as it passes more major cities and has less dangerous curves to navigate, but for natural beauty and ambiance, you can’t beat the US-101.

US-101 meets up with US-20 in Oregon, so if you want to go north from California to Oregon and then eastward from Oregon to Massachusetts, you can have a west coast road trip and then a coast-to-coast one.

States (North to South)

• Olympic National Park
• Lake Crescent, Clallam County
• Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, Ilwaco
• Astoria–Megler Bridge, Washington to Oregon

• Cannon Beach
• Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City
• Devils Punchbowl State Natural Area, Otter Rock
• Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport
• Newport (intersection with US-20)
• Seal Rock State Recreation Site, Seal Rock

• Thor’s Well, Yachats
• Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Reedsport
• Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor
• Redwood National and State Parks
• Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt County
• Leggett (US-101 merges with Highway 1)
• Glass Beach, Fort Bragg
• Point Arena Lighthouse, Mendocino
• Bodega Bay, Sonoma,
• Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County
• Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
• San Francisco (Start of Highway 1/PCH)
• Half Moon Bay
• Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero
• Carmel-By-The-Sea
• Pismo Beach
• Santa Barbara
• Malibu Beach, Malibu
• Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica (Where Historic Route 66 begins)
• Los Angeles

1,550 miles (2,500 km); recommend setting aside 7 to 10 days for 3 to 5 hours of driving a day

Any time of year gives you great driving weather on this road, though if you want to avoid crowds, you might want to avoid driving in July and August.

We’ve previously described a detailed itinerary for the California portion of this road trip.

5. The Atlantic Coast: I-95 Route

Who Should Take This Route: Tourists who appreciate all types of scenery, from New England’s historic architecture to Florida’s tropical charm

The west coast is gorgeous, but don’t write out the east coast just yet.

Interstate 95 is the longest north-to-south interstate highway that runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean.

Driving a cross-country road trip along the I-95 takes you from historic towns to glamorous cities, from wetlands to forests to beaches.

• New Hampshire
• Rhode Island
• Connecticut
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Maine: Houlton and Old Orchard Beach
• New Hampshire: Portsmouth
• Massachusetts: Middlesex Fells Reservation
• Rhode Island: Pawtucket or Providence
• Connecticut: Mystic, New Haven or Groton

• New York:  The Bronx, Manhattan, and George Washington Bridge
• New Jersey:  Newark, Elizabeth and New Brunswick
• Pennsylvania:  Philadelphia

• Delaware:  Wilmington
• Maryland:  Baltimore, and Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, Fort Washington
• Virginia:  Occoquan Historic District, Fredericksburg or Richmond
• North Carolina:  Roanoke Rapids, Wilson and Fayetteville
• South Carolina:  South of the Border in Dillon, Florence, and Santee State Park in Santee
• Georgia:  Savannah , Brunswick, or Kingsland

• Florida Georgia State Line, Yulee
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Fuller Warren Bridge, Jacksonville
• Castillo de San Marco National Monument, St. Augustine
• Beaches: Daytona Beach, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach,  Miami , or Dixie Highway in Miami

Worthwhile Detours

These detours will take you away from I-95, and you’ll have to add a few days more to your road trip if you want to explore these attractions.

• Mansions in Newport, Rhode Island
• Central Park, New York
• North Carolina Beaches
• South Carolina Beach Towns
• Georgia Beaches
• Florida Keys

1,920 miles (3,090 km); recommend setting aside 8 to 12 days for 3 to 5 hours of driving a day

Beaches are best appreciated in the summer, but any weather is good for taking a road trip through I-95. Winter may mean snowfall in the northern states on this route, while spring and fall give you mild weather and less crowded beaches.

6. TransAmerica Trail

An east-to-west, off-road adventure trail, which lets you take in the scenic beauty of the East Coast to the West Coast while taking you off major highways to discover hidden attractions.

Who Should Take This Route: If you’re a history buff, this road trip takes you to the path pioneers and early settlers followed.

Here are some interesting stops along the TransAmerica Trail:

• Virginia/North Carolina : Pass by Blue Ridge Parkway – one of the most scenic roads in the country with breathtaking views of the Appalachian Mountains.
• Kentucky : Stop by Berea, the heart of Appalachia, for cool arts and crafts mementos. If you have a day or two for this stop, you can explore the world’s longest cave system in Mammoth Cave National Park.
• Missouri : Visit the Gateway Arch and explore St. Louis’ rich history.
• Oklahoma : See American bison at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and explore the rugged landscapes of the southern Great Plains.
• New Mexico : Discover the art and culture of the historic Taos nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
• Colorado : Be in awe of the tallest dunes in North America at Great Sand Dunes National Park, then visit the charming Telluride mountain town for a laidback stop.
• Oregon : Once you reach the Pacific Coast, you can explore the stunning coastline and visit towns like Astoria, Cannon Beach, and Newport.

7. The Great Northern Road: US-2 Route

The Great Northern Road follows the US-2 Route. It stretches from the northernmost border with Canada to the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast.

Who Should Take This Route: A coast-to-coast road trip through the northern states, which is perfect to embark in during the summer or for people who love visiting charming small towns.

The Great Northern Road offers numerous opportunities to visit rugged parks like the Acadia in Maine or White Mountains in New Hampshire, the lakeside cities of Vermont, and the always-amazing Niagara Falls.

There are also cultural spots in Missoula (Montana), Spokane (Washington), and Michigan’s Mackinac Island.

I recommend you end your Great Northern Road trip at Seattle.

Other Cross-Country Road Trip Routes

I did say there are infinite possibilities depending on where you want to start, where you want to end, what you want to see, and how much time you have.

Here are other cross-country road trip routes you can explore.

8. Southern Pacific: US-80

• Who Should Take This Route:  Another coast-to-coast road trip through the southern states; great to take in the winter

9. Big Muddy: The Great River Road

• Who Should Take This Route: Drive alongside the Mississippi River and explore the 10 states that border it. I wrote about this road trip more extensively on this post .

10. The Road to Nowhere: US-83

• Who Should Take This Route: North to south road trip right through America’s heartland

Tips For Planning A Cross-Country Road Trip

Driving across the country is great fun, but there are plenty of things and factors to consider when planning. Here are some of them so you can arrange a road trip with no hassle.

Make sure your vehicle is roadworthy. Have everything checked: fluid levels, brakes, tires, lights, drive belts, etc.

Also, make sure you have jumper cables, spare tires, a tire jack, and everything else you need in case of car trouble.

Have a plan, but don’t have a plan. Sounds confusing, but the point is to have a general plan for how many days you want to take, what to do per day (sights and places you can’t miss versus those who want to see but can skip), how many hours you’ll drive, and where you’ll stay per night.

Beyond that, booking hotels and making restaurant reservations way in advance may not be a good idea. You’ll want to have some flexibility in your schedule to make room for emergencies and side trips and detours.

Sign up for emergency roadside services. If you’re not already a member of AAA or any other reputable roadside assistance service, join one before your road trip.

Prepare for areas that don’t have mobile service. Camping in the middle of nowhere? Chances are you won’t have a cellphone signal. If your plan is heavily dependent on having an internet connection, you’re asking for trouble.

Download your maps on your smartphone beforehand or use paper road maps. Take a GPS navigation tool that’s not dependent on a mobile signal.

Have a packing list.

Here are travel essentials you’ll need on your cross-country road trip (or any road trip, for that matter):

• Driver’s license
• Vehicle registration
• Insurance card
• Emergency car kit
• Gasoline container
• GPS navigation tool
• Cell phone signal booster
• Powerbank and car chargers
• Flashlight/lantern
• Playlist (music/audiobook)
• In-car games and activities
• Hiking shoes
• All-weather set of clothes
• Electronic toll pass or change to pay toll fees
• Tent (if camping)
• Cooler (with plenty of water)
• Sunshades for windshield and windows
• Vitamins and medication
• Pillow and blanket
• First aid kit

Take your time.

Giving yourself an allowance would also allow you to take side trips to charming small towns, cool landmarks, hidden gems, and one-of-a-kind restaurants.

The less rushed you are, the richer your adventure will be.

Must-Use Cross-Country Road Trip Tools and Apps

You’ll get by with a little help from these tools, sites, and apps to plan your road trip.

Road planners

• Roadtrippers
• MyScenicDrives

Navigation and checking traffic

• Google Maps

Find places to eat

Find places to rest or sleep.

• Recreation.gov
• Free Campsites

Go On A Cross-Country Road Trip Soon!

Whether you’re traveling solo, with friends, or with family, the memories made on an epic cross-country trip are ones that last a lifetime.

You’ll get to see the magnificent natural beauty of these United States, meet strangers that enrich your lives, visit amazing places you never thought existed, and understand your country better.

Go Out and Explore

10 Best Lazy Rivers in the US to Traverse

Breathtakingly Beautiful: 8 Best Caves in the US

10 Best Food Cities in the US as of 2023

Manta Ray Night Snorkel in Kona – Was It Scary?

10 Largest Convention Centers in the US

The Best NHL Arenas To Watch Your Next Away Game

West to East Road Trip Itinerary

The Great American Road Trip. We’ve all heard of it. We’ve all wanted to do it. Lots of us have done it. But what is “it” exactly? What is the Great American Road Trip? LA to New York? Seattle to Florida? Minneapolis to Dallas? The number of different routes are infinite (or, at least, quite numerous. A wide selection, if you will).

One of the greatest road trips in the country, a classic, is up Route 66. Also known as the Main Street of America. Also known as one of the original highways in the United States. It has an important history as a leading contributor to the economies of the cities through which is passes, and as one of the biggest routes taken by people moving westward towards California in the early 1900s. And though it is no longer called Route 66, it is still considered Historic  Route 66, the memories of the official US highway living on in music, history books, and most importantly, our wanderlusting hearts.

Over time, it became apparent that Arizona summers are not suitable for my Scandinavian blood and it was time for a new adventure. I secured a data analysis job in Washington DC, and here I am today, getting ready to go to sleep so that I can wake up and be a corporate drone on the eastern side of the country. And I thought to myself in the time before my move: why not drive? West to east? A cross-country road trip? There is no better opportunity for an end-to-end road trip than during a move, saving you on car rentals or the need to drive back to return your own car home.

And so, following Route 66 up through Chicago, taking a detour through Canada, and descending into the Mid-Atlantic, we drove. This route was INCREDIBLE. I have detailed each of the pit stops of the trip in their own special individual posts; take a look at the route we drove and loved, as well as ideas for the best things to do along the way.

Stop #1: Sedona

One of our country’s greatest instances of what we call “natural beauty,” right up there next to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Jennifer Aniston. The red rock in Sedona is unique to the Sedona region, and the number of outdoor activities available to you here is through the roof! Feel like doing something active? Go on a hike and enjoy the rock formations surrounding you on all sides. Feel like doing something a little more laid back? Hop in a Jeep and sit back while you drink in those views, or shop in the galleries for Native-American-made souvenirs.

Plus, you are but a hop, skip, and a jump away from Flagstaff, so if the time of year is right, head on over on your way out of Sedona (if you ever are able to make yourself leave) and ski in one of the country’s favorite skiing towns. read more…

Stop #2: Albuquerque

Albuquerque was Albuquirky, you know what I’m sayin’? (I wish I could say I made that up) The downtown buildings were funky and unique, the Indian Pueblo culture is well-preserved and treasured, and Old Town Albuquerque was full of historical relics, mariachi bands, and plenty of shopping opportunities. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see the hot air balloons dotting the sky, practicing for the annual International Balloon Fiesta that takes place in early October (or, plan your trip around being there for the fiesta itself!). read more…

Stop #3: Oklahoma City

Who would have thought Oklahoma would be home to such a cool town? If you look at lists of top cities to visit in the United States, Oklahoma City is never on it. But you know what? I would say it should be. It is charming, beautiful, and offers the perfect blend of old western cowboy and modern urban influences. Can LA say that? Can New York? Nope, they can’t. OKC is A-OK, and cannot be missed on this cross-country route. read more…

Stop #4: St. Louis

You would be hard-pressed to find another city that has as much free stuff to do as St. Louis. We were there for two days and literally never stopped moving, going on to the next neighborhood, the next park, the next cookie shop.

You want to spend a whole day in a 1400 acre park? Exploring museums? Taking photos under the famous Gateway Arch? The possibilities never end! On the entire road trip, St. Louis was one of our favorite cities; the entire place felt like home, and the beauty in every nook and cranny of the city was something to behold. read more…

Stop #5: Chicago

The cleanest city you will ever step foot in. Don’t let anyone catch you walking your dogs in some of the parks in this town (trust me, we learned this the hard way). Dogs are dirty. Chicago is clean. Chicago is huge. Chicago is BEAUTIFUL. Perfect summer weather, less windy than you’d think, and hours upon hours upon hours of endless exploring potential beyond The Bean (plus, those freakishly thick deep-dish pizzas that are better than any New York slice). read more…

Stop #6: Toronto

Okay, so Route 66 had to end somewhere, and we were still in the middle of the country. That baby took us far and introduced us to some American gems, but it was time to find our own way. Originally we thought to drive through Cleveland, Ohio and head straight east, but last minute decided to zip on up into Canada for a weekend because, well, why not. The Great American Road Trip has become the Great North American Road Trip (sort of).

As first-time Canada visitors, we had a lot to learn about the True North, and we came away with nothing but love and respect for our lovely, welcoming neighbors. read more…

Stop #7: Niagara Falls

I will say that I would not recommend Niagara Falls for any more than a few hours, unless you enjoy suffocating crowds and massively over-priced lunches (and unless you’re masochistic, I am assuming you would be happy to avoid both). Niagara Falls and the New York town that boasts them are touristy, yes, but that does not mean you shouldn’t stop to see them at least once in a lifetime. And why not stop if you’re entering the USA from Toronto? You’re passing right through. And those Falls are truly something else. read more…

Stop #8: Pittsburgh

We went a little bit off the cuff by swinging over to Pittsburgh rather than cutting through Philadelphia, but I had never seen this Western Pennsylvanian city and was curious about it. And what a good call that was (good job, me).

The city is brimming with evidence of its industrial history, is home to one of the oldest colleges in the country (with some really cool Gothic-revival architecture on campus), and offers tons of museums, riverside parks, and amazing restaurants. PLUS, it was named one of the “Best Places to Travel in 2016” by  Travel and Leisure . Are you really going to try and argue with that? read more…

This road trip could not have been more perfect (unless it had lasted just a little longer and given us more of an opportunity to see each and every place that we stopped), and it is a route I would recommend to anyone. It is a fantastic chance to see what else the USA has to offer OUTSIDE of those high-ticket cities (i.e. New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, etc. You know the ones). The United States is a truly diverse place with so many different things to see and experience, so many different types of people to meet. And my best advice for a cross-country road trip? Bring your best friends. I couldn’t have done this without mine.

Any thoughts? Leave a reply! Cancel reply

Simple Flying

Why it's quicker to fly east than west.

Airlines plan their routes to take advantage of geophysical phenomena.

• The Earth's rotation does not directly affect the speed of a flight. The real reason for discrepancies in flight times is jet streams, fast-flowing air currents in the atmosphere.
• Jet streams are formed by atmospheric heating and the Earth's Coriolis force. They can be as strong as 80 to 140 miles per hour and significantly impact flight times.
• While jet streams can cut down flight times and reduce fuel burn, they also increase the risk of clear air turbulence. Studies show that clear air turbulence is set to rise due to global warming, making flying through jet streams riskier in the future.

A transatlantic flight from London to Vancouver takes about nine hours and 45 minutes, while the return journey takes just under nine hours. The aircraft follows a similar flight path in both directions, but considerable discrepancies in flight times exist.

Do these phenomena have anything to do with the Earth's rotation? Or is the total distance somehow greater in the direction of the west? What is a jet stream? This article explores the real reason behind the geographical phenomena that impact aircraft flying in certain directions. Follow along for interesting examples where the time discrepancy is greatly realized.

It has nothing - directly - to do with the Earth spinning

Many might think the Earth's eastward rotation is the cause for the faster eastbound journeys; this is not so. As NASA's Robert Frost explained in an interview with Forbes, the Earth's rotation has nothing directly to do with the speed of a flight. Just as you do not walk faster when trotting from east to west, the direction does not affect how fast a plane flies.

The spinning of the Earth around its own axis might look like an intuitive answer. And while it isn't directly affecting the aircraft, the truth is still to be found in its indirect impact on the weather. More specifically, the real answer concerns a geophysical phenomenon known as jet streams.

So, what are jet streams?

The reason for quicker flights while flying eastwards is jet streams. Put simply, these are fast-flowing, narrow air currents in the atmosphere found at high altitudes. These currents are formed due to atmospheric heating from the sun's radiation and the Earth's Coriolis force (defined as a rotating object has a force perpendicular to the rotation axis ). Combined, these factors produce streams of fast-flowing air responsible for flight times looking significantly different depending on which way they are traveling.

The most prominent jet streams are the polar stream (also called polar front jet or mid-latitude jet stream) and the subtropical stream. These can be found at 60° and 30° north and south of the equator, respectively. The polar stream is the stronger of the two, and it causes much faster winds compared to the subtropical. Most airlines on transatlantic and transpacific routes make use of the polar stream while planning flight paths.

Jet streams can be as strong as 80 to 140 miles per hour, sometimes going all the way up to 275 mph. These strong winds come with significant upsides and downsides for commercial air travel. What's more, as the temperature of the Earth being affected by climate change, they could be about to shift, impacting far more than just flight times.

Recent research from the University of Southampton has shown that the winter jet stream over the North Atlantic and Eurasia (responsible for storm Eunice in the UK earlier this year ) has increased its average speed by 8% to 132 miles per hour. It could also shift northwards and beyond its historical boundaries within the next few decades.

Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests!

Hitching a ride on the wind

But let's briefly forget about the future and look at the historic relationship between aviation and jet streams. The first time these fast-flying air currents came to use in commercial aviation was in 1952 on a flight from Tokyo to Honolulu.

It was discovered that flying along jet streams cut the journey from 18 hours to a mere 11.5 hours when flying just under 25,000 feet. Airlines quickly realized the value of jet streams and began implementing them while planning routes.

Since the jet streams flow from west to east, they make one leg of the journey much faster (when flying with the stream) and one slower (against the stream). Imagine going downstream or upstream a river, or how it feels when you are cycling against the wind, as opposed to when you have it at your back. Returning to the example from New York to London, some flights even take a slightly longer route, specifically to benefit from the jet stream.

Even on shorter transcontinental flights between cities like New York and Los Angeles, jet streams can impact the flight time by nearly an hour. On long-haul transpacific routes, these streams can be beneficial for both passengers and airlines. By following the polar stream, flight time from Tokyo to Los Angeles is just nine hours and fifty-five minutes, versus the 11 hours and forty-five minutes in reverse.

The 747's record 4h 55min New York to London

In February 2020, a British Airways 747 beat the transatlantic subsonic speed record thanks to strong jet streams. The aircraft made the JFK to LHR hop in just four hours and fifty-five minutes, a brand-new record, flying at over 800 miles per hour.

In short, jet streams can drastically cut down flight times and reduce fuel burn, both important revenue implications for airlines and emissions reduction for the planet. While this may all sound like a win-win situation, there are a few things to consider.

Clear Air Turbulence

While jet streams can speed up flights, they have a significant drawback: clear air turbulence. Clear air turbulence (CAT) is sudden severe turbulence that occurs in a cloudless sky, causing violent shaking of the aircraft. It happens when a slow jet stream interacts with a fast jet stream, creating a pocket of extreme disturbance. Unlike other forms of turbulence, CAT is also impossible to detect visually or by aircraft radar.

Studies have concluded that CAT is set to rise in frequency by as much as 170% in the coming decades as a result of global warming. This means flying through jet streams will only become riskier in the coming years. Some areas could experience several hundred percent more turbulence. Estimates state that by 2050, the rate of injuries will have almost tripled.

One major CAT accident occurred onboard United Airlines flight 826 from Tokyo Narita to Honolulu International in 1997 - the exact route on which jet streams were first used on a commercial flight. Sudden CAT caused the aircraft to fall 100 feet, causing severe spine and neck injuries to 18 passengers. One passenger, who wasn't wearing their seat belt, died due to the sudden turbulence.

Not so simple

Jet streams are a natural phenomenon and, just like all natural things, are subject to change. While this only means a few more minutes or maybe an hour of extra flying on most routes, on ultra-long-haul trips, it can become an issue. The past few years have seen an extraordinary rise in demand and supply of 15+ hour flights, connecting North America and Europe with Asia and Oceania. However, they haven't come without their bumps.

Air New Zealand's Auckland-New York service was heavily affected by headwinds , for instance, in its infancy late last year. Clocking in at 17.5 hours, the flight pushes the Boeing 787-9 to its range limit, meaning even the smallest change can result in cancelation or, worse yet, unloading passengers and luggage.

Indeed, Air NZ has been forced to send travelers on their way without their bags or even rebook them on certain days since more weight for fuel is required. Notice again that the jet stream-supported eastbound service is far less affected and is only 15.5 hours.

However, the hope is that newer aircraft like Qantas' specially modified A350-1000 for Project Sunrise will have the extra capacity needed to offset these slight changes. Singapore Airlines' A350-900ULR has avoided these issues, but as airlines try to push their current planes to the limit, expect to read a lot more about variable weather conditions. Indeed, the Dreamliner, A321neo, and A321LR have all proven that long-haul flights can be made by medium-haul aircraft.

The jet lag price

While the flight time might be shorter when flying from west to east due to jet streams, that is not necessarily beneficial for passengers. Studies seen in Travel and Leisure have shown that passengers suffer from more jet lag on eastbound flights. While there are other factors at play, it could also mean that shorter flights leave less time to adjust and grab some shut-eye on such long-haul routes.

London to New York is oft-cited as the prime example of lost sleep. The evening return flights from JFK and Newark land in the early hours of London but only take 6-6.5 hours, leaving travelers with five hours of sound sleep (at best). However, faster travel is always the preferred choice, and airlines are unlikely to change routes just to give passengers a bit more shut-eye.

In summary, jet streams are the reason why flights take shorter when flying from the west to the east. While they do help to shave off up to a few hours from long flights in some cases, they are not entirely without drawbacks.

Do you notice the difference in flight time when flying in either direction? Should airlines avoid jet streams due to the growing risk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Forbes , Geophysical Research Letters , Travel and Leisure

Your privacy is important to us. This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. By using this website, you acknowledge the real-time collection, storage, use, and disclosure of information on your device or provided by you (such as mouse movements and clicks). We may disclose such information about your use of our website with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Visit our Privacy Policy and California Privacy Disclosure for more information on such sharing.

• Owner Login
• Dealer Login

Fifth Wheels

Travel trailers, helpful tools.

• RV Definitions
• Find A Dealer
• Owners Page
• Our Company
• Forest River Corporate Home
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Accessibility
• Forest River Apparel

WELCOME TO EAST TO WEST!

Inspired by the Forest River family legacy, EAST TO WEST was founded in 2017 by Lisa Liegl Rees to build the next generation of RV’s: High quality construction, value added brands at an affordable price. This division’s collaborative and multigenerational team with industry experts helps challenge, innovate, and foster the true investment in giving our customers the best RV experience. We take pride in our craftmanship from concept to completion by offering limited floorplans with standard features. Our ever-growing product line of brands are each artfully designed and named with meaning. We invite you to experience EAST TO WEST!

SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING

An important objective to our strategy and operations is to implement economically sound manufacturing processes to reduce/recycle waste & conserve energy and natural resources.

CORPORATE & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

We foster a business environment in which we focus on and practice:

• Ethical Labor Practices
• Philanthropy
• Volunteering

CULTURE & VALUES

We are a forward-thinking company committed to fostering a culture of teamwork. By being transparent, we encourage our employees to think outside the box and to make a difference!

QUALITY & CONSTRUCTION

Our team takes pride in each unit we build. Our manufacturing standards and point to point inspections ensure each EAST to WEST brand is built to the same quality specifications every time.

COMMITMENT TO OUR CUSTOMERS

We strive to provide the highest quality products at the best possible price to our customers. We invite you to be a part of the EAST TO WEST family and we look forward to exceeding your expectations!

• “The level of standard equipment, build quality, and functionality, especially at this price point, is excellent.” - Gary H.
• “Thanks for making such a high quality product that most average families can actually afford.” - Erin H.
• “Wow. Thank you so much! I’ve never had a camper company be so helpful. We are part of a large camping club. I will be sure to let them know how wonderful you all have been.” - Laura P.
• “I just want to say our family loves the 312BH, this is our 3rd camper we love it!” - John in MA
• We were utterly and completely flabbergasted with their attentiveness, willingness to accommodate us and most of all their sincere commitment to customer service. - Tom W.

Find Your Local Dealer

East to West has partnered with a network of independent RV dealerships across North America. We encourage our Customers to buy from local dealer to get the best ownership experience possible. Contact your local dealer today!

Contact East to West

Customer Satisfaction is our #1 Priority, so if you have questions or comments you would like to share with us, we would be happy to help. We provide direct contacts to sales and services through e-mail or phone. We look forward to hearing from you.

Owner/Wish List Login

We have created a special page for East to West Owners where you can view helpful information specific to your product. If you are still shopping for a new RV, sign up and utilize the Wish List feature to quickly compare floorplans for any Forest River brand.

Search Our Videos

We have a collection of videos about our products ranging from Feature Benefit and How-To Videos to Lifestyle and Product Walkthrough videos. You can search and view them all here or view them on the individual product pages.

February 3, 2024

Why Does a Solar Eclipse Move West to East?

Here’s why the path of a solar eclipse travels in the opposite direction of that of the sun

By Stephanie Pappas

AxelRedder/Getty Images

This article is part of a special report on the total solar eclipse that will be visible from parts of the U.S., Mexico and Canada on April 8, 2024.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. A glimpse at the map of the April 2024 North American solar eclipse , however, shows a path from west to east. What gives?

The answer lies in the relationship between the rotation of Earth and the orbit of the moon, but the arrangement can be a bit tricky to visualize.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

First, let’s look at the total solar eclipse path : on April 8 the moon’s shadow will fall on Earth , blocking out the sun along an approximately 100-mile-wide track that will cross through central Mexico, pass through Texas and cut diagonally across the continental U.S. It will then skim along the country’s border with Canada before it exits the U.S. near the northern tip of Maine and moves through parts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador.

This path moves in the opposite direction of the sun’s apparent trek over Earth each day. But during an eclipse, the motion of the moon’s shadow—not the sun—is what matters. Earth rotates from west to east, says Michelle Nichols, director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Imagine your vantage point on the planet rolling from west to east each morning to greet the sun, which thus appears to rise over the eastern horizon.

Credit: Katie Peek; Source: NASA ( eclipse track data )

The moon also orbits Earth on a west-to-east path. If you were perched above the North Pole, looking down on the planet from space, Earth would seem to be turning counterclockwise, with the moon traveling in the same direction, just more slowly, Nichols says. Earth, of course, completes a rotation on its axis in about 24 hours, while the moon takes roughly a month to do a full orbital loop around the planet.

During a total solar eclipse , the moon comes between Earth and the sun, with all three bodies lined up in the same plane so that our natural satellite blocks the star’s light and casts a shadow on Earth’s surface. Suddenly, the west-to-east motion of the moon in the sky becomes far more obvious than it usually is. As the moon passes across the face of the sun, it casts its shadow in the same direction in which it is moving, from west to east.

“It’s a rising and a setting concept,” says Jackie Faherty, an astronomer and senior education manager at the American Museum of Natural History. “It has everything to do with the way the moon is moving.”

The lunar shadow moves at more than 1,000 miles per hour across Earth’s face during an eclipse, Nichols says, which is why any given location experiences totality—the moment the moon completely blocks the sun—for only a few minutes. During the 2024 eclipse, the longest duration of totality will be four minutes and 28 seconds near Torreón, Mexico, according to EarthSky .

Solar eclipses take different paths across Earth depending on which side of the planet is facing the moon when it passes in front of the sun. There are some patterns to these paths, though. Known as saros cycles, these patterns are determined by the path of the moon’s orbit around Earth and its distance from our planet at the time of an eclipse, Nichols says. They lead to eclipse paths with repeating shapes (albeit at different locations on Earth) approximately every 18 years and 11 days. But whatever its precise path, every eclipse travels from west to east.

We have completed maintenance on Astronomy.com and action may be required on your account. Learn More

• Login/Register
• Solar System
• Exotic Objects
• Upcoming Events
• Deep-Sky Objects
• Observing Basics
• Telescopes and Equipment
• Astrophotography
• Space Exploration
• Human Spaceflight
• Robotic Spaceflight
• The Magazine

Since the Sun and Moon move from east to west, why did the eclipse move from west to east?

This eclipse sequence begins at upper left and ends at lower right. During this event, the Moon moves from west to east, across the Sun’s face.

During a total solar eclipse, however, we can see the Moon’s true motion as it crosses the Sun’s face from west to east. As this occurs, the Moon’s shadow follows it — moving in the same direction — and tracks a path across Earth’s surface.

NASA has created a helpful video, “Flying Around the Eclipse Shadow,” which illustrates this geometry if you’re still having trouble picturing it. You can watch it online at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4579 .

Alison Klesman  Associate Editor 

2024 Full Moon calendar: Dates, times, types, and names

The Milky Way, to ancient Egyptians, was probably mixed Nuts

The reasons why numbers go on forever

Astronomy Magazine Annual Index

How to see the next 20 years of eclipses, including the eclipse of a lifetime

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of particle sent from powerful astronomical objects

A collision with something the size of Arizona could have formed half of Pluto’s ‘heart’

How many stars die in the Milky Way each year?

7 unconfirmed, unlucky tales of people killed by meteorites

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Why Jet Lag Can Feel Worse When You Travel From West to East

By Joanna Klein

• July 15, 2016

Jet lag may be the worst part of traveling. And it hits many people harder traveling east than west. Why they feel this way is unclear. But scientists recently developed a model that mimics special time-keeping cells in the body and offers a mathematical explanation for why traveling from west to east feels so much worse. It also offers insights on recovering from jet lag.

Deep inside the brain, in a region called the hypothalamus (right above where our optic nerves cross) the internal clock is ticking. And approximately every 24 hours, 20,000 special pacemaker cells that inhabit this area, known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, synchronize, signaling to the rest of the body whether it’s night or day. These cells know which signal to send because they receive light input from our environments — bright says wake, dark says sleep.

But when you travel across multiple time zones, like flying from New York to Moscow, those little pacemaker cells that thought they knew the routine scramble around confused before they can put on their show. The whole body feels groggy because it’s looking for the time and can’t find it. The result: jet lag .

Most of our internal clocks are a little bit slow, and in the absence of consistent light cues — like when you travel across time zones — the pacemaker cells in your body want to have a longer day, said Michelle Girvan , a physicist at the University of Maryland who worked on the model published in the journal Chaos on Tuesday.

“This is all because the body’s internal clock has a natural period of slightly longer than 24 hours, which means that it has an easier time traveling west and lengthening the day than traveling east and shortening the day,” Dr. Girvan said.

Jet lag can be resolved by matching your internal clock to your destination’s clock as soon as possible. (There’s an app for that). So the researchers built a model that considers all of your pacemaker cells, how sensitive you are to light, the brightness of light, multiple time zones and people’s slightly off kilter internal clocks. They hope the model offers a simple way of explaining how a typical body might recover from jet lag with no intervention. That is, how its pacemaker cells try to synchronize in the presence of different light cues (like sunshine, artificial light or dim light from clouds) when arriving at various time zones three hours, six hours, nine hours and 12 hours away either to the east or west.

The model confirms what was already known: Generally, westward recovery is easier than eastward. But it also helps us understand that flying across more time zones can sometimes be easier than traveling across fewer.

For example, it would take you about eight days to recover from a westward trip across nine time zones, if you did nothing to fight it. But if you cross the same number of time zones going east, recovery would take more than 13 days, according to the model. This recovery time is worse than if you flew smack across the globe, crossing 12 time zones, which is about the distance from New York to Japan.

Confusing? The model shows that your body is confused, too, as your cells try to adjust to new light cues in different places. It also shows that a trip less than 12 hours going east is going to feel worse than the same time going west.

It all comes back to whether you’re a lark — an early riser — or an owl, and “most people are a little owlish,” said David Welsh , a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, who studies the body’s pacemaker cells and was not involved in the study.

If you’re traveling across several time zones, like from New York to Moscow, and you want to start feeling normal sooner, “you really want to experience that external stimuli appropriate to your new time zone as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Girvan. And that sometimes means owls succumbing to early nights.

Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.

Route 66 road trip planner: The best stops along the way

Editor's Note

They call it the Mother Road, a term coined by author John Steinbeck because it carried Dust Bowl refugees west across America. Even though Route 66 no longer exists on America's highway maps, a drive across the country on the stretches that remain is one of the great American road trips .

Passing through eight states between Chicago and Los Angeles , Route 66 covers nearly 2,500 miles across a broad swath of the Midwest, Great Plains, Southwest and West. Over time, most of the route was replaced by interstates, particularly Interstate 40, and finding the original road requires a series of zigzags and detours.

For that reason, most people choose just one section, leaving plenty of time for stops along the way, or base themselves out of one of the larger towns on the route and explore in either direction.

Here, from east to west, are some of the best places to celebrate the nostalgia of the Mother Road.

Chicago, Hinsdale and Joliet, Illinois

The symbolic start of Route 66 is Buckingham Fountain in Chicago's Grant Park, but it's not really a road trip until you're headed southwest out of the city.

A perfect jumping-off point for your trip is the Route 66 Welcome Center at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, with its excellent exhibit on the Muffler Men, huge fiberglass statues that were used to advertise car repair shops.

Restaurants still maintaining Route 66's traditions of roadside hospitality include the Rich & Creamy ice cream stand, Joliet Kicks on Route 66 and Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket, specializing in fried chicken served under the slogan, "Get Your Chicks on Route 66."

For the ultimate all-American feast, Al's Steak House has been serving up prime cuts to weary road trippers for 60 years. As you head farther southwest on what today is Highway 55, stop for photos at the perfectly preserved Ambler's Texaco Gas Station in Dwight, where the gas pumps are painted gleaming red.

Where to stay

Between them, Chicago and Joliet have every brand of loyalty program hotel for every budget. The history of a different kind of travel is the theme at the Canopy by Hilton Chicago Central Loop located in the former headquarters of the Chicago and North Western railway, with landmark Union Station just down the street. Opened in fall 2023, the hotel is a stylish addition to downtown, its decor paying homage to the bygone glamour of cross-country train travel. The hotel's brand-new rooftop restaurant, Seville, is a destination unto itself, serving creative cocktails, small plates and traditional Spanish dishes like paella. Rooms start at $240 or 65,000 points per night.

Related: The 17 best Chicago hotels

A relative newcomer to Joliet, the Candlewood Suites Joliet Southwest offers spacious rooms and an indoor pool, and is pet-friendly. Rooms start at $113 or 21,000 IHG One Rewards points per night.

Also boasting an expansive indoor pool, Marriott's TownePlace Suites Joliet South features large, well-outfitted rooms that give you plenty of room to spread out and relax after a long drive. Rooms start at $134 or 12,800 Bonvoy points per night.

Pontiac, Illinois

Pontiac's pride in its Mother Road heritage can be seen in its 23 colorful outdoor murals and its two museums dedicated to America's love affair with the automobile. The Pontiac-Oakland Museum and Resource Center displays a rotating collection of rare Oakland and Pontiac models, while the Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum showcases vintage ads, signs and a classic Volkswagen hippie bus housed in an old fire station.

Litchfield, Illinois

This one is a quick stop, but you don't want to miss the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center (yes, another one!) with its collection of nostalgic paraphernalia.

Nearby, the uber-retro Ariston Cafe is one of the oldest continuously operating Route 66 establishments, serving up a melting pot of American, Southern, Greek and Italian fare since 1924.

Springfield, Missouri

Crossing into Missouri, don't miss Chain of Rocks Bridge, now open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic only, famed for its dramatic dogleg bend midspan.

Springfield's vintage Route 66 establishments are preserved along two downtown streets: St. Louis Street, east of downtown, and the Chestnut Expressway on the west side. The Route 66 Car Museum is the big attraction here, thanks to its collection of more than 70 rare and collectible vintage cars.

One of Springfield's most recognizable historic buildings is the Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Mosque. This flamboyantly Arabesque old theater was built in 1923 and is still owned by the Shriners, who use it as an auditorium and concert hall. Nearby, a plaque tells the story of Wild Bill Hickok's murder of fellow gambler Dave Tutt, supposedly because Tutt flaunted a watch he'd won off Hickok.

Bonvoy members will be happy to find the SpringHill Suites Springfield North (from $136 or 26,000 points) a sleek addition to the portfolio, with extra-spacious rooms big enough to accommodate cribs, rollaways and trundle beds, and outfitted with microwaves and minifridges.

Die-hard Route 66 fans often choose the Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven (from $129 or 20,000 points per night), while Hilton Honors members will like the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Springfield (from $380 or 145,000 Hilton Honors points per night), revamped top to bottom with earth-toned furnishings and a midcentury modern vibe.

Galena and Riverton, Kansas

The Kansas section of Route 66 is just 13.2 miles long, but it includes a couple of key stops. These include the town of Galena, a must for the old Kan-O-Tex gas station that now houses Cars on the Route, a tribute to Pixar's animated movie "Cars."

Housed inside the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas train depot, Galena Mining & Historical Museum is filled with vintage furnishings, tools and historical records documenting life in a mining boomtown.

Just west in Riverton, stop for lunch or snacks at the Eisler Brothers Old Riverton Store, a road trip staple since the 1920s. This deli serves up classic sandwiches, and the owner, who happens to be president of the Kansas Route 66 Association, displays his memorabilia.

Less well known, but beloved by locals, is the white-painted Rainbow Bridge that arches over Brush Creek approximately 2 miles west of Riverton.

Clinton, Oklahoma

Oklahoma has more original and still-driveable miles of Route 66 than any other state and takes great pride in this heritage. This includes the key role Route 66 played in the 1930s Dust Bowl migration.

Nowhere is this pride more on display than in the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton. The museum has used its significant state and local funding to pull together a comprehensive collection that even includes the chance to sit in a re-created 1950s diner.

Those who've traveled this route before will mourn the loss of the classic Trade Winds Inn, which until recently sat across the street from the museum and was a favorite of Elvis Presley, who stayed there four times. Clinton also has an indoor water park known as the Water-Zoo that makes a perfect road trip break for tired kids.

Points-friendly lodging options in Clinton include the La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Clinton Historic Route 66 , with its expansive outdoor pool (from $96 or 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night) and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Clinton (from $110 or 18,000 IHG One Rewards points per night).

Tulsa, Stroud and Chandler, Oklahoma

Tulsa is the food capital of the Route 66 road trip, boasting a number of eateries with some variation on a Mother Road theme, chief among them El Rancho Grande, which has been serving up Mexican food for more than 60 years under a photogenic neon sign. Looking exactly as a vintage Mother Road diner should, Tally's is a must for breakfast all day long.

You'll find something tasty for everyone at Mother Road Market, where you can choose from Chicken & the Wolf, Bodhi's Bowl and even Brazilian food at Doctor Kustom, then eat on a family-friendly outdoor patio complete with Route 66-themed murals and a minigolf course.

Don't leave without checking out the eclectic shops at Mother Road Market, where you'll find books, toys and inspired souvenirs. Make a final stop at the Desert Hills Motel to snap a photo of its beloved neon sign.

Departing Tulsa to the west, the first landmark to watch for is Rock Creek Bridge. At just 12 feet wide, it provides a vivid sense of just how narrow highways like Route 66 were back in the early days of the Model T. You'll find another great example of Route 66 neon in Stroud, where the Skyliner Motel beckons visitors with a towering red arrow.

Now, back to the movie "Cars." The Rock Cafe just west of Stroud — which is made from local stone quarried in the 1920s — is a must-stop for fans because of its association with director John Lasseter. He visited numerous times as he wrote and directed the movie, leaving behind signed posters, napkins and graffiti.

Chandler is home to the Route 66 Interpretive Center, which is a bit of a departure from other Mother Road museums for its emphasis on education.

Related reading: The best American road trips to take with your family this summer

McLean, Texas

Stretching across the pancake-flat plains of the Texas panhandle for almost 200 miles, Route 66 in Texas has largely been directly supplanted by Interstate 40, with old Mother Road businesses left behind on the various towns' business loops.

The first of these, from east to west, is the old ranching town of McLean. It wasn't bypassed by the interstate until the early 1980s and has made impressive efforts to preserve its historic structures.

Stop for a photo op with the giant neon Texas sign and another at the perfectly preserved Phillips 66 station, where the pumps still list a price of 19 cents a gallon.

Well worth a stop is the Devil's Rope Museum. It's dedicated to barbed wire, called the "devil's rope" by cowboys, and holds one of the entire Mother Road's best collections of Route 66 memorabilia and souvenirs.

Amarillo and Cadillac Ranch, Texas

The beef industry still reigns supreme in Amarillo, which handles 2 million head of cattle a year, providing plenty of that old Wild West vibe, despite its booming population. Route 66 follows Sixth Street through what is now called the Old Jacinto District, so head there to browse boot, saddle and Western shops and antiques stores.

Back on I-40, you can't miss the giant steer head marking the Big Texan Steak Ranch, which was located on Route 66 when it opened in 1960. Families will like the old false-front Wild West-themed building, kitschy decor and the enormous portions at reasonable prices.

However, the Amarillo area's most photographed road-themed attraction is Cadillac Ranch, just off I-40 and about 10 miles west of town. Here, 10 rusting Cadillacs are buried nose down in the dirt, their finned backsides rising toward the sky and demonstrating iconic American midcentury design in order from 1949 to 1964.

Cadillac Ranch was created by a collective of San Francisco-based artists in 1974 at the behest of eccentric millionaire Stanley Marsh III, who moved them in the late 1990s to put them farther outside the city's sprawl. Since Marsh's death in 2014, the installation's future has been less secure, but filmmakers use the day-glo-painted cars so frequently for advertisements and photo shoots that the installation seems likely to survive awhile longer.

The Big Texan (from $76) offers rooms as well as meals, and a stay here will be more than memorable with choices including authentic covered wagons and vintage Airstreams.

You'll also find options for almost every loyalty point program; choose from the Hilton Garden Inn Amarillo (rooms from $87 or 24,000 Hilton Honors points per night), Marriott's Residence Inn Amarillo (rooms from $149 or 20,500 Bonvoy points per night) and many more.

Tucumcari, New Mexico

Tucumcari arguably has more time capsule photo ops than perhaps anywhere else on Route 66, thanks to the abundance of cool vintage signs lining aptly named Route 66 Boulevard. Many adorn classic motor lodges and diners, including Del's Restaurant, which features a giant cow on its sign.

The other thing you'll notice is the murals — nearly 100 of them — which stretch down side streets and adorn shops, restaurants and grocery stores. Make sure to see the Mother Road-themed mural at the corner of Second Street and Tucumcari Boulevard and also seek out the Magnolia gas station decorated with Route 66 signs and memorabilia.

In your sign-spotting, you probably noticed the photogenic monikers of Tucumcari's many 1940s-style motor lodges, among them the Blue Swallow Motel (rooms from $134 a night) and the Historic Route 66 Motel , which has taken midcentury chic to the max, outfitting its street-side patio with "Jetsons"-style chairs. Rooms, which start at just $76 a night, have refrigerators, microwaves and comfortable armchairs; some come with sleeper sofas to expand the number of beds.

The brand-new Fairfield Inn & Suites Tucumcari, a great option for Bonvoy members, combines modern amenities with midcentury modern decor perfectly in keeping with Route 66 nostalgia. Rooms start at $119 or 40,000 Bonvoy points per night.

Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Known for its preservation of retro signs and buildings, Santa Rosa is also home to the Route 66 Auto Museum, which you can't miss thanks to the bright yellow car perched atop a pole high in the air.

In addition to classic cars dating back to the earliest days of the automobile, the museum has an excellent collection of vintage gas pumps that say Route 66 better than anything else. Santa Rosa's other claim to fame, the Blue Hole, is an astoundingly deep spring-fed lake popular with scuba divers.

The Hampton Inn Santa Rosa , right on Route 66, is a favorite low-category property for Hilton Honors members looking to stretch points, with rooms starting at 20,000 points a night.

Like all La Quinta Inns, the La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Santa Rosa is popular with dog-owning Wyndham members for its pet-friendly policies; rooms start at $124 a night.

Related reading: 6 tips for surviving a road trip with a large family

Williams, Arizona

"Last town bypassed by I-40," reads the mural on the wall as you drive down Williams' main street. It's no surprise that Williams celebrates its dual identity as both a shoot-'em-up Western town and a nostalgic 1950s cruising strip.

Retro-chic photo ops are aplenty here, including the sky-blue sign for the Arizona 9 Motor Hotel and the neon cow beckoning diners to Rod's Steakhouse. The Coca-Cola-red car on the roof of Cruiser's 66 Cafe is visible for blocks.

Just an hour away from Grand Canyon National Park , Williams makes a perfect home base from which to explore. The Grand Canyon Railway provides "door to door" service, bringing travelers directly to Grand Canyon Village while entertaining them on the way with a staged "shootout" and close-up wildlife viewing.

In Williams, IHG members will find Holiday Inn Express & Suites Williams (rooms from $132 or 24,000 IHG points per night); Choice Hotels members can opt for either Quality Inn Near Grand Canyon or Comfort Inn Near Grand Canyon (both from $90 or 20,000 Choice points per night).

Wyndham Rewards members will be thrilled with the wide selection, which includes La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Williams-Grand Canyon Area ($97 or 30,000 points per night), Ramada by Wyndham Williams ($60 or 15,000 points per night) and Howard Johnson by Wyndham Williams ($56 or 15,000 points per night).

For something different and more adventurous, stay at the brand-new Backland Luxury Camping , a luxury glamping resort just 20 minutes outside Williams, which is spread over 160 thickly forested acres and features an on-site spa and restaurant. Tents come in four variations and start at $395 a night.

Related reading: Visiting the Grand Canyon with a family: Where to camp, stay and play

Seligman and Hackberry, Arizona

Filled with a string of vintage cafes, stores and gas stations, now colorfully painted and festooned in antiques rescued from the surrounding desert, Seligman is one big photo op — and what a photo op it is. From here, Route 66 diverted from I-40 through Hackberry, where the Hackberry General Store has the gritty Mother Road vibe so many of the more cleaned-up museums lack.

Kingman and Oatman, Arizona

A key stop on the Route 66 pilgrimage, Kingman houses the unusually comprehensive Arizona Route 66 Museum. In the Powerhouse Visitor Center, it traces the history of the westward route back to when it was an Indian trail, wagon train route and railroad line before it carried road trippers. Exhibits include a covered wagon and a characteristic Dust Bowl truck, as well as brightly painted 1950s roadsters.

The sharp jog north to visit the old mining town of Oatman is well worth the detour to see a town with a main street that appears to be frozen in time. Its sidewalks are still made of wood, and burros still wander among the old storefronts.

Barstow, California

Several quirky landmarks pay tribute to Barstow's former importance as a rail hub — including a McDonald's made from old railroad cars. However, Barstow's big lure for Route 66 fans is the Route 66 Mother Road Museum, located in the faded glory of the Casa del Desierto, a Fred Harvey hotel.

Outside Barstow in the Mojave National Preserve, the Kelso Depot has become a visitors center, bookstore and museum, with its former baggage room ticket office and dormitory rooms refurbished to their 1930s glory. The Desert Light Gallery has natural history and art exhibits.

Barstow is a common overnight spot for drivers on the way to San Francisco or Los Angeles, as well as the desert national parks of Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon.

You'll find numerous points-friendly lodging options, including Hampton Inn & Suites Barstow (from $299 or 50,000 Hilton points per night) and the Quality Inn on Historic Route 66 (from $103 or 16,000 Choice Privileges points per night).

Best Western Rewards members have two choices, the Best Western Desert Villa Inn (rooms from $134 or 20,000 points per night) and the more recently debuted Best Western Plus New Barstow Inn & Suites (rooms from $143 or 28,000 points per night).

Westward to the coast

Route 66 was rejiggered so many times as it passed through California that it's not always easy to trace the route or even find the remnants that exist. They're in small zigzag patches, some no longer even connected.

Victorville, California, has one short section, marked by an optimistic over-the-road welcome sign and the California Route 66 Museum. In all-but-abandoned Newberry Springs, the Baghdad Cafe had its 15 minutes of fame thanks to its namesake film, a 1980s art-house favorite.

But if you want a true sense of times long gone, these stretches of Highway 66 are perfect. Here are miles upon miles of lonely emptiness, where tumbleweeds blow across the pockmarked pavement. Motel signs stand abandoned, and vintage gas pumps behind chain-link fences still beg for attention from motorists long gone.

While at this point in the trip most travelers continue on to Los Angeles for the night, you might choose to cap off your trip with a stay at San Bernardino's '50s time-capsule Wigwam Motel (rooms from $109 a night), where the individual stucco structures cluster around a pool under swaying palms.

Related reading: From California to British Columbia: 10 best places for an idyllic West Coast getaway

Related reading:

• Key travel tips you need to know — whether you're a beginner or expert traveler
• The best travel credit cards
• Where to go in 2024: The 16 best places to travel
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
• 13 must-have items the TPG team can't travel without

8 Amtrak Cross-Country Trips To Travel Coast To Coast By Train

• Amtrak offers scenic train routes that allow travelers to explore the natural landscape without having to drive.
• Each Amtrak route offers a unique cross-country experience, with stops in iconic cities and national parks.
• Prices listed are for the train ticket only, additional fees and accommodations are required for stops at national parks and city destinations.

The US is one of the largest countries in the world by square acres, and every single inch is worth exploring. As a result, trying to see all the wonders of America can quickly get overwhelming, particularly if one is also trying to keep their eyes on the road.

Amtrak is one of the most popular ways for travelers to experience a US road trip vacation without having to take control of the wheel themselves. There are a number of scenic Amtrak train routes , perfect for those just looking to take in the natural landscape without having to drive or navigate. For those looking for a more extensive outing, booking one of Amtrak’s cross-country trains can be a great alternative to taking any of the incredible cross-country road trip routes in a personal vehicle.

Whether looking for a big-city adventure or hoping to jump between the best national parks in the US, these cross-country Amtrak train routes promise plenty of natural beauty, cultural experiences, and unexpected surprises for their passengers.

The prices listed with each entry are only for the train tickets themselves. Stops like national parks will include additional entrance fees. Additionally, overnights at city destinations will require travelers to book a hotel for their time there.

Related: Everything Confirmed So Far About Amtrak's New High-Speed Scenic Airo Routes

Great American Majestic Landscapes

6 stops: new york to san francisco.

Starting and ending at some of the most famous cities in the United States, the Great American Majestic Landscapes cross-country Amtrak trip is a trek through some of the most iconic regions of the country.

Starting in “The Big Apple” for two days before enjoying a day in the Amtrak, the first official stop on this cross-country rail trail is the Windy City of Chicago. The trip gives guests two days to hop on/hop off, enjoying a day’s walk in Chicago’s Botanic Garden , The Art Institute of Chicago , or any of the myriad of free things to do in Chicago .

Of course, Chicago is only the first of the adventures on this cross-country Amtrak route. Moving west, the train stops in Denver, Colorado. Amtrak allots a day for both the Mile-High city itself and nearby Rocky Mountain National Park.

Heading to the West Coast, Amtrak stops in San Francisco for a day before adding a scenic day in Sonoma and Napa Valley’s wine countries. After touring the vineyards and sampling the whites and reds, the Great American Majestic Landscapes cross-country Amtrak trail ends in beautiful coastal San Francisco.

About The Great American Majestic Landscapes Trip

• Cost: from $2,999/person
• Trip Time: 12 days
• Trip Outline: New York City, NY → Chicago, IL → Denver, CO → Denver, CO → Rocky Mountain National Park, CO → San Francisco, CA → Napa Valley, CA → San Francisco, CA

Grand Rail Experience

5 stops: los angeles to washington dc to los angeles.

With a country as scenic as the US, sometimes doing the cross-country trek once just isn’t enough. Fortunately, cross-country Amtrak routes like the Grand Rail Experience go from coast to coast not just once, but twice.

Starting in Southern California, the eastward part of this cross-country rail trail stays along the southern portion of the country, stopping in New Orleans, Louisiana for two days. This leaves ample time to enjoy the best restaurants in New Orleans , as well as the variety of museums and historical landmarks that can be found throughout this cultural hub.

Hopping back on the train for another overnight stay, the Grand Rail Experience moves north to the East Coast hub and US capital, Washington DC. There are a number of budget-friendly ways to enjoy Washington DC while stopping in this city, including going to the Smithsonian National Zoo and various national monuments, which is fortunate, as this is only the halfway point of this double cross-country adventure.

Heading back towards the West Coast, this cross-country Amtrak train ride takes two days in Chicago, Illinois before reaching the coast, this time in Seattle, Washington. Unique among even Amtrak trails, this route ends back where it began, with the final night being an overnight trek back to Los Angeles in California.

About The Grand Rail Experience

• Cost: from $3,049/person
• Trip Time: 14 days
• Trip Outline: Los Angeles, CA → New Orleans, LA → Washington DC → Chicago, IL → Seattle, WA → Los Angeles, CA

Related: 10 Scenic Train Trips To Take From Los Angeles

Grand National Parks Loop

9 stops: washington dc to san francisco to washington dc.

National parks are some of the most popular outdoor destinations in the US. When taking one of the many amazing US national park road trips isn’t an option, hopping on the cross-country Grand National Parks Loop may be the perfect solution.

There are several variations of the National Park loops, offering longer and shorter versions of the same basic route. Regardless of time, however, there is no doubt that this cross-country train ride is the trip of a lifetime.

Starting in Washington DC, travelers will visit Yellowstone National Park on their way to the West Coast, and Yosemite National Park and Grand Canyon National Park on their return to DC.

If time in three of the most scenic national parks in the country wasn’t enough, additional stops in Chicago, Illinois, Salt Lake City, Utah, San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, and Williams, Arizona, ensure that there will be plenty of time to enjoy both natural wonders and thriving big cities on this two-week trip.

About The Grand National Parks Loop

• Cost: from $5,199/person
• Trip Time: 15 days
• Trip Outline: Washington DC → Chicago, IL → Salt Lake City, UT → Yellowstone National Park → San Francisco, CA → Yosemite National Park → Los Angeles, CA → Grand Canyon National Park → Williams, AZ → Washington DC

Want a different take on this cross-country train ride? Amtrak offers a similar national park loop that starts in New York City and goes north instead of south, swapping Grand Canyon National Park for Glacier National Park. The Grand National Parks with Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier National Park Roundtrip from New York City lasts 17 days and starts at $6,949 a person.

Scenic America By Rail

5 stops: new york to los angeles.

One of the reasons travelers are so drawn to Amtrak train excursions is the opportunity to let someone else take the wheel and simply enjoy the scenery. Cutting a diagonal path through the US, the cross-country Scenic America by Rail Amtrak trip takes full advantage of the natural beauty of the areas right along the tracks.

As beautiful as the sights are from the window, there are still enough stops on this cross-country Amtrak ride to enjoy some time on foot. Perhaps the biggest scenic standout of this train ride is Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

With two days to explore this internationally famous natural wonder, passengers can take advantage of various vista points, hop on one of the many beginner-friendly hiking trails in the Grand Canyon , or try their hand at one of the more intensive canyon hikes.

About The Scenic America By Rail Route

• Cost: from $3,549/person
• Trip Time: 13 days
• Trip Outline: New York City, NY → Chicago, IL → Williams, AZ → Grand Canyon National Park, AZ → Los Angeles, CA

West Coast To East Coast Rail Experience

4 stops: san francisco to washington dc.

Just because these scenic American trains are cross-country Amtrak train routes doesn’t mean there isn’t still time to explore the coastline itself. In fact, the simple West Coast to East Coast Rail experience is a cross-country train ride that recognizes the beauty of its starting point.

Starting in San Francisco, the first two days of this train ride don’t involve any overnight travel. Instead, hop-on/hop-off tours of San Francisco, Muir Woods, and Sausalito fill the agenda, giving plenty of time to stretch those legs before the longer train journeys begin.

Before heading for the East Coast, this train ride takes a sharp northward turn, heading for Seattle, a popular long-distance Amtrak hub. Here, travelers can walk the streets, visit museums, and take advantage of the many free things to do in Seattle before strapping in for a two-day Amtrak ride toward Chicago.

As a true cross-country train ride, this Amtrak route has one more overnight as it takes passengers from Chicago to Washington DC, where they can explore monuments, visit museums, and enjoy a night in one of the many unique boutique Washington DC hotels before making their way back home.

About The West Coast to East Coast Rail Experience

• Cost: from $1,799/person
• Trip Time: 10 days
• Trip Outline: San Francisco, CA → Seattle, WA → Chicago, IL → Washington DC

Coast To Coast: Southern Rails

4 stops: washington dc to los angeles.

When planning a driving route across the US, most travelers find themselves looking for the most direct way to get from point to point. One of the main advantages of opting for an Amtrak cross-country train ride instead is that passengers can opt for a more winding, scenic route to their destination, without having to worry about the map.

In the spirit of scenic detours, the Southern Rails cross-country Amtrak train ride heads from Washington DC to Los Angeles by way of the southern border. Dropping all the way down to New Orleans, travelers will have three full days to explore this colorful corner of the Deep South.

Having wandered one of the best American cities for museums , this Amtrak route sticks tight to the southern line, stopping in San Antonio, Texas for an additional three days. That means exploring the best local barbeque joints, strolling down the historic main streets, and relaxing in one of the oldest public parks in the US before heading back on the train for a scenic journey through red rock country on the way to Los Angeles.

About The Coast To Coast: Southern Rails Route

• Cost: from $2,949/person
• Trip Outline: Washington DC → New Orleans, LA → San Antonio, TX → Los Angeles, CA

Related: Los Angeles To New York City: How Much This 17-Day Train Journey Through The South Will Cost

America Coast To Coast

5 stops: los angeles to boston.

The West Coast and East Coast of the United States are two completely different experiences, both culturally and visually. For those who truly want to experience these two unique destinations in one trip, the America Coast to Coast cross-country Amtrak train ride spends plenty of time at both.

Starting in Los Angeles, California, this cross-country train ride spends a total of three days along the West Coast, both in LA and in San Francisco, before heading eastward. Traveling through the scenic Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions, this train ride takes a one-day stop in Chicago, Illinois before continuing on its coast-to-coast adventure.

Unlike many cross-country train rides, this Amtrak route does not stop in New York City. Instead, the journey simply stops for a day before continuing on to a second East Coast destination, Boston, Massachusetts. Here, on the last stop of the vacation, guests can wander some of the many beautiful streets in Boston , take in one-of-a-kind museums, and revel in the historical landmarks of this unique city.

About The America Coast To Coast Route

• Cost: from $2,799/person
• Trip Outline: Los Angeles, CA → San Francisco, CA → Chicago, IL → New York City, New York → Boston, Massachusetts

The All-American

6 stops: chicago, illinois loop to new york city and los angeles.

It can be hard to narrow down the biggest “can’t-miss” stops in a country as large as the United States, but Amtrak has managed to create the All-American tour, which runs through a number of the top tourist destinations in the US in one two-week escapade. While the All-American Amtrak route is a cross-country adventure, this train ride neither starts nor ends at the coast. Instead, this train route forms a loop around Chicago, Illinois, before moving east to New York City.

New York is just the first of the big-city stops on this cross-country train ride. From here, things move south to New Orleans, before finally turning west for the other coastline. After a night on the train, visitors arrive in Los Angeles, California. While there is no time saved to explore LA itself, the scenic train ride through the Southwestern states, full of cacti, red rock formations, and unusual wildlife, is sure to mesmerize even the most restless of guests.

Despite having visited both coasts at this point, the cross-country adventure is still going strong. Additional stops in San Francisco, Denver, and Rocky Mountain National Park round out the A-list itinerary before dropping passengers off back at the starting point in Chicago.

About The All-American Route

• Cost: from $4,299/person
• Trip Outline: Chicago, IL → New York City, NY → New Orleans, LA → Los Angeles, CA → San Francisco, CA → Denver, CO → Rocky Mountain National Park, CO → Chicago, IL

Why Does Weather Move West to East? (Science Behind!)

Why does weather move west to east? How many times have you wondered about this question? Did you come up with an explanation?

The truth is that the west-to-east flow of weather has significant effects on Earth’s climate and atmospheric patterns .

But, why does weather system move from west to east? Let’s talk about some of the underlying scientific concepts that govern it.

The Earth’s rotation creates the Coriolis effect , which causes weather systems to travel from west to east. 

Why Does Weather Move West to East?

You may have heard a lot about weather systems moving west to east. But, can the weather move east to west? Well, it can, but it is not that common.

It moves from west to east because of the following reasons:  

The Earth’s Rotation

Our planet Earth is a fast-spinning globe, rotating around a tilted axis at about 1000 miles per hour .

The direction of the spin, from west to east, pulls the atmosphere and the weather along with it.

And ultimately, this produces an effect that influences the direction taken by major global weather systems.

The Coriolis Effect

The Coriolis Effect is a strange phenomenon, described as an inertial or fictitious force , created because parts of Earth rotate at different speeds.

It makes airborne objects, such as planes and air currents appear to move through the atmosphere. They move following the surface curve rather than in the straight line they are traveling. 

How Does It Affect the West-to-East Movement?

The Effect forces weather systems that have developed over warm tropical waters to deflect and turn away from the equator .

Depending on which side of it they formed, either right into the Northern Hemisphere or left into the Southern .

The Coriolis Effect also influences the direction weather systems spin around their low-pressure center .

• It is anticlockwise in the north to form hurricanes
• It is clockwise in the south forming cyclones 

Global Wind Patterns

The surface winds that make up the global wind pattern, or ‘general circulation’ form three distinctive wind belts:

• The Polar Easterlies at 60-90 degrees latitude
• The Prevailing Westerlies at 30-60 degrees latitude
• The Tropical Easterlies called the trade winds at 0-30 degrees latitude.

Bands of clouds and thunderstorms form and encircle the globe.

Here, the easterly trade winds of both hemispheres meet in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) near the equator. 

How Does It Affect the Weather Systems?

Under the hot sun and over warm shallow seas, the air gathers moisture .

The increased humidity makes the air buoyant and it expands and rises. It cools higher in the atmosphere to eventually release moisture as rain.

The ITCZ shifts according to the seasons.

Its position either just north or just south of the thermal equator changes the direction of the trade winds as they come under the influence of the Coriolis Effect.

When the ITCZ is north of the Equator, the southeast trade wind changes to a southwest wind .  

Jet Streams

There are four main jet streams across the globe:

• Two at polar regions
• Two close to the equator

They exist because of the difference in temperatures between the Earth’s hemispheres .

One passes over the UK. It is a rapidly moving ribbon of air that forms at the edge of where the cold air meets warm in the atmosphere.

It is cold along its northern edge but warm along the southern.

Atmospheric Circulation and the Hadley Cells

The global movement of air is driven by temperature and its close relationship with air density and pressure and nature’s attempts to make them all equal.

There are three air systems making up the Hadley Cells , cycling air in each hemisphere, the small Polar Cells and the mid-latitude Hadley and Ferrel Cells. 

The Polar Cells  

Unlike the mid-latitude cells, the polar cells are relatively dry and cool .

However, there is still sufficient heat and moisture for a simple system of looping thermal currents to rise at the 60 th parallel and move poleward before deflecting east.

They create a region of dry high pressure so that as air descends it pushes the air its replacing towards the 60 th parallel.   

The Hadley and Ferrel Cells

In the tropics, the Hadley and Ferrel cells cycle opposite one another. The air currents flow towards their respective poles along the top of the troposphere .

It is some 6 to 9 miles above the Earth’s surface before dropping down.

It drops down at the sub-tropics and returns to the equator by filling the area of low pressure left by the warm air rising in front of it at the ITCZ.

Some air is lost to the polar cells and the currents of the Ferrel which are weaker than the Hadley, can’t support a closed loop. 

An Important Consideration

The cells are disrupted as the top layers of the two cells collide.

The Coriolis Effect determines whether the current deflects north or south to become either part of the westerly trade winds or the tropical easterlies.

The Trade Winds

Temperature differences create pressure differences and this triggers the movement of air .

Therefore, wherever there are winds, they always blow from areas of high air pressure too low . Around seven pressure belts are circling the Earth,

• Two Subpolar lows
• Two Subtropical highs
• Two Polar highs
• The Equatorial low

The Role of Trade Winds in Weather Movement

The trade winds (or the easterlies) form in the Equatorial low and are strong permanent west-to-east winds.

They flow from the mid-latitudes of the equator to come in from either:

• The northwest in the northern hemisphere
• The southeast in the southern , strengthening in winter.
• They bring tropical storms with them.

They developed over the warm equatorial waters of:

• Indian Oceans

And they dump water on the landmasses of:

• North America
• Southeast Asia
• East Africa

Historically, the reliable trade winds enabled exploration which eventually led to global trading .

The Prevailing Westerlies

The prevailing westerlies are known as the anti-trades .

Like all weather, because of the spin of the Earth and the Coriolis Effect, the air currents of prevailing westerlies move west to east .

However, they begin in the higher horse latitudes , the result of subtropical high pressure meeting a subpolar low. Also, they tend to stay closer to the poles.

Ocean Currents

On land, winds shape landscapes.

At sea, they drive ocean currents but there are only two types, the warm ocean currents leaving for the poles from the equator and the cold coming back.

Ocean currents transport warm waters from the east to the west near the equator and cold waters from the west to the east in higher latitudes .

And this impacts the movement of weather patterns in a similar direction .

More about the Role of Ocean Currents

There are many local coastal currents where the impact of the wind and waves is determined by land features and the slope of the continental shelf .

Because the Earth spins on its axis west to east, in the open ocean, the wind pushes water around in circles in ocean-wide gyres.

There are five and they are the jet streams of the oceans moving enormous volumes of water in different directions.

For instance:

The direction an ocean current takes is determined by how the Coriolis Effect influences the wind pushing it.

Climate Influences

As the cool air is warmed at the tropics, it expands to support water suspended and carried as vapor.

It is collected from the upper levels of the warm surface water as the cool air current is warmed by passing over it.

In the cold altitudes it condenses into water droplets that form clouds.

The Impact of Climate on Weather Movement

As long as the temperature remains fairly constant, the clouds can travel on the wind over the oceans for thousands of miles.

This mechanism distributes vital fresh water across the planet.

But, it relies on the right atmospheric conditions for accurate delivery, sadly something less guaranteed with climate change . 

Why does weather move west to east? Essentially, the west-to-east movement of weather is the result of the earth’s rotation and the Coriolis effect.

It is important to understand the factors contributing to this phenomenon.

It helps us understand the intricate relationship between the planet’s atmosphere and the earth’s rotational forces.

Why the Total Solar Eclipse Arrives from the West

Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at COSI Science Center . Sutter leads science-themed tours around the world at AstroTouring.com . 

Every day, the same routine. The sun rises in the east. Breakfast. Off to work. Work. Home from work. Dinner. The sun sets in the west. Repeat. It's a pattern familiar to everyone on Earth. For countless generations, we've relied on the regular cycles of the heavens to help demarcate our days.

But a total solar eclipse, like the big one coming to the continental United States on Aug. 21, will break the routine. In addition to the moon completely covering the face of the sun — which, let's admit, is already pretty spectacular — the event will move in an unfamiliar and possibly disquieting direction: from west to east.  [ Total Solar Eclipse 2017: When, Where and How to See It (Safely) ]

The normal, daily rising and setting of celestial objects isn't due to their own movement, but rather the rotation of Earth. As our planet spins on its axis, the heavens appear to rise up from the east, arch their way across the sky, and settle into the west.

It's hard to blame our ancestors for assuming that Earth — which seemed very large and strong — was incapable of movement, with the ethereal denizens of the heavens gliding along their nested crystal spheres, giving humans our familiar, clockwork celestial movements. 

After centuries of serious work, people realized that Earth does indeed spin, and the motion of the sun, moon and stars is only apparent. But when it comes to solar eclipses we're faced with a new incongruity: why does the path of a solar eclipse start in the west and end in the east?

The answer is simple, but it's not something we're accustomed to thinking about: the moon itself orbits Earth from west to east. In other words, if you could rocket up high above the North Pole , the moon would trace out a counterclockwise circle. But Earth rotates about 30 times for a single lunar orbit, so it's not something we normally notice. During a solar eclipse, the path of the moon's shadow must follow the motion of the moon itself — to the east.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

The solar eclipse is a wonderful opportunity to experience astronomy at its most basic: understanding the intricate dance of heavenly objects.

Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute in New York City. Paul received his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011, and spent three years at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics, followed by a research fellowship in Trieste, Italy, His research focuses on many diverse topics, from the emptiest regions of the universe to the earliest moments of the Big Bang to the hunt for the first stars. As an "Agent to the Stars," Paul has passionately engaged the public in science outreach for several years. He is the host of the popular "Ask a Spaceman!" podcast, author of "Your Place in the Universe" and "How to Die in Space" and he frequently appears on TV — including on The Weather Channel, for which he serves as Official Space Specialist.

Satellites watch as 4th global coral bleaching event unfolds (image)

Happy Earth Day 2024! NASA picks 6 new airborne missions to study our changing planet

Watch 2 gorgeous supernova remnants evolve over 20 years (timelapse video)

Most Popular

• 2 Boeing Starliner 1st astronaut flight: Live updates
• 3 US Space Force picks Rocket Lab for 2025 Victus Haze space domain awareness mission
• 4 Exploding stars send out powerful bursts of energy − I'm leading a citizen scientist project to classify and learn about these bright flashes
• 5 Wow! Private space-junk probe snaps historic photo of discarded rocket in orbit

How Long Does It Take To Drive Across Russia?

Having been born and grown up in Russia, I have always wanted to explore this vast country and wondered how long it would take to drive across Russia from edge to edge.

I know that a lot of people would love to do a road trip across Russia, but when you look at the route on the map, it seems impossible to gauge how long the journey would actually take.

It will take a minimum of 11 days to drive across Russia from Saint Petersburg or Moscow to Vladivostok. The route is about 9,700 km long and the driving time has reduced considerably since the roads have been significantly improved in recent years.

Read on to find out what might affect how long it takes to drive across Russia the difference in time depending on the route you take.

Time to drive across the whole of Russia

First off, it's important to note that driving across Russia can mean a number of different things to most people.

In most cases, when people think about driving across the country, they naturally think of the route from Russia's capital Moscow to Vladivostok. Moscow is located fairly far west and Vladivostok is the best known city in the far east, located in a natural harbor in the Sea of Japan.

Driving across Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok will take at least 11 days on the road. The route is almost exactly 9,000 km and even if you spend all day on the road driving at the speed limit (mostly 90-110 km/h), you won't be able to drive much faster than this. I've seen reports of people doing it in as little as 7 days, but I am presuming this meant switching drivers, driving literally 24 hours every day, sleeping in the car and having very questionable hygiene by the time you arrive.

Starting or ending in Saint Petersburg adds another day to the time taken to drive across Russia as the route adds a further 700 km onto the journey - you'll have to drive right past Moscow along the way.

If you're wanting to do the most extreme version of driving across Russia, you might opt to start at the Latvian border (APP Ubylinka Border Crossing Station) and drive all the way to Magadan.

Magadan is located further east than Vladivostok and to get there, you'll have to drive through less developed parts of eastern Siberia through Yakutsk.

There are two Russian regions that are located even further east - Chukotka and Kamchatka. Although some expeditions have driven that far, you won't be able to do it in a regular car. Think thousands of kilometres of wilderland, volcanoes, no petrol stations and the requirement for your car to have to swim across rivers.

If you want to follow something that resembles a road, Magadan is about as far as you'll be able to go. Although the route is only marginally longer, be prepared to spend at least an extra 5 days on the road as you'll make slower progress along mud roads and dirt tracks that lead there.

Factors affecting how long it will take you to drive across Russia

There's quite a few factors that you should consider that may impact the amount of time it will take for you to drive across Russia.

First, let's bust a big myth that I hear mentioned all the time - the roads all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok are pretty decent and paved. You might find people on forums and various YouTube videos showing you mud tracks and the truth is that before 2014, a significant part of the Trans-Siberian Highway was indeed in pretty bad shape.

You could get to Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk in the heart of Siberia fairly quickly from Moscow along good roads and then things would get worse. Once you passed Lake Baikal, large stretches of the road near Chita were barely more than a path leading through a field.

A massive upgrade of the road network means that the entire route now lies along good quality tarmac which means your journey should be fairly smooth.

Just remember that if you decide to take detours, you're likely to encounter some very poor roads. Russians famously say that their country has two problems - fools and roads and you'll get to experience plenty of the latter if you decide to take a few scenic routes on your way.

How weather and seasons affect driving time

Russia is known for some of the most extreme weather conditions in the world. Depending on when you choose to drive across Russia, you may encounter anything from stifling 40 degree heat (104 °F) to bone chilling -40 °C (also -40 °F) winters. Although the roads are better than they were, they do pass through large swathes of wilderness , across streams and rivers.

In the spring and early summer, you may encounter more difficult conditions. Rains and fast flowing rivers can make some parts of the road network more difficult to pass and slow down your progress.

In July and August, you are likely to not want to drive long stints in one day - the weather can be incredibly hot and mosquitoes arrive in mid to late August. Your aircon may begin to struggle and you might want to make more rest stops.

Surprisingly enough, it is probably now quickest to drive the route in the winter. When the entire way the road is completely frozen, you can make progress without anything slowing you down as long as your car is equipped with proper snow tires.

You will need to prepare your car

Sure - you can technically make the drive in any car you like and given enough time and care you will get to your destination.

But Russian roads are well known for developing pot holes the size of a football field the very first winter after they have been constructed. The intense freezing conditions mean that water will find the cracks it needs to do the damage.

So be prepared to encounter a few jaw crunching pot holes along the way and make sure that your car's suspension is in good shape if you don't want it to give up a few hundred kilometres outside Blagoveshchensk.

A 4x4/SUV will be a much better option - especially if you plan on taking your time and making stops along the way to see more than just the highway.

Fastest route between furthest points east and west in Russia

For those who take the meaning of words literally, driving across Russia may really mean driving across the entire width of the country from the furthest point west to the furthest point east (or the other way round).

Kaliningrad is technically the westernmost point of Russia, but it's separated from the rest of the country by 2 countries, so let's assume that the border between Russia and Latvia is where you'l start.

The APP Ubylinka or APP Burachki are both popular border crossings and I've crossed in and out of Russia through both myself. Before anyone points it out, yes - the crossing between Russia and Estonia at Narva is slightly further west but unless you live in Estonia, you're unlikely to ever use it so your trip probably won't be starting there.

As I mentioned further above, the furthest east you can go is Magadan. This remote city is further north than Vladivostok and to get there, you'll need to come off the Trans-Siberian Highway at Never (yes - it's a real place even if that phrase sounds funny). You'll find the turning a few hundred kilometres after you've gone past Chita.

The route will then head north, deep into Siberia towards the Lena River and Yakutsk before heading east to Magadan. This road is not quite as new or well maintained as the Trans-Siberian Highway so you're likely to drive much more slowly taking at least 16 or 17 days to make the drive.

Driving Route across Russia

Although Russia is vast, there is only one real road that goes along the length of the country and this is the road you will have to follow if you want to make the journey.

Although it consists of many different highways, it is collectively known as the Trans-Siberian Highway all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok.

The first leg will take you from Moscow to southern Ural mountains that separate geographical Europe and Asia. You'll pass through the historic cities of Nizhniy Novogorod, Kazan and Ufa before arriving in Chelyabinsk.

Once you're over the Urals, the highway runs along southern Russia to Omsk before continuing to Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk right in the middle of Siberia.

The next major city is Irkutsk that sits just off the largest freshwater lake in the world - Lake Baikal and some 400-500 km later you will arrive in Chita.

If you thought you'd seen wilderness before you got to Chita, you will learn what real wilderness is fast enough. For hundreds of kilometres after Chita you will see no signs of civilization except the odd truck coming the other way. The majority of goods and people move across Russia by plane or train because of the huge distances, so you won't be seeing too much traffic en route.

The road follows close to the border with China eventually reaching the city of Khabarovsk before heading south to Vladivostok, just a few kilometres away from the border with North Korea.

How long to allow for a road trip across Russia

Although it can take as little as 11 or 12 days to drive across Russia, unless you are transporting a car imported from Japan or really need to get from one side the other as fast as possible without getting on the train or flying, you'll want to take a lot more time.

There's some great cities to explore along the way and although you may not want to stop in each one, it's worth taking some time along your way to explore different parts of Russia's rich history.

Kazan and Nizhniy Novgorod in the European part of Russia are amazing destinations for a city break so I'd highly recommend taking at least a day or two to stop there.

The big industrial Siberian cities are less historic, but offer a fascinating insight into the "real" Russia and it's worth stopping in at least one of Omsk, Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk.

If you love nature, the Altai mountains are located at the point where Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia meet and are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. You'll need to take a detour south off the Trans-Siberian Highway from Novosibirsk.

Lake Baikal is also a unique place that is right along your route and worth a few days of exploring - there's unique plants and animals that live in the area and lots of activities on the lake which is so vast it looks and feels like a sea.

To make the most of all these opportunities and to stop you from spending too much time sat in the car on continuous days, you'll want to allow at least 3 weeks to make the journey comfortably. 4 weeks will give you plenty of time to see most of the sights along the way and will allow you to spend less time driving on the days you're spending in the car.

Join our email list!

By joining our email list, you give LazyTrips permission to use your email for sending you newsletters, emails and updates including for marketing purposes. Your email will not be provided to third parties.

Related posts

• Bahasa Indonesia
• Slovenščina
• Science & Tech
• Russian Kitchen

How to use the Moscow Metro (PHOTOS+INFOGRAPHICS)

It’s really convenient to use the Moscow Metro and city trains. They operate from 5:30 in the morning to 1:00 at night and you can pay for them with the same ‘Troika’ ticket card. Indeed, the map of the subway looks complex. But that’s only at first glance.

For starters, let’s separate the underground metro from surface city trains. The underground map is marked by bright solid lines, while the lines of surface routes are marked by two parallel lines with a white gap in between.

Underground metro system

It has two ring lines – the brown Koltsevaya, or Circle line (5) and the new Bolshaya Koltsevaya line (Big Circle Line) colored turquoise (number 11). These rings cross all other underground metro lines, so if you need to reach another line from the outskirts – it’s convenient to use one of the ring lines.

Circle Line

We can consider that the center of the city is inside of the ring line (5). Also there’s a multitude of transfers from one line to another within the brown ring. The record holder is Biblioteka Imeni Lenina – Arbatskaya – Alexandrovsky Sad – Borovitskaya. These whole four lines crossed in one place (right next to the Moscow Kremlin). Also, you can reach the Kremlin quickly and conveniently from stations Okhotny Ryad – Teatralnaya – Ploshchad Revolyutsii, which also have transfers between each other.

Big Circle Line

You can also reach the Vnukovo Airport right by metro! The corresponding station of the Solntsevskaya Line (8A) was opened in September 2023.

How does the underground metro operate?

Pykhtino metro station, opened in 2023

The intervals between trains are really small – on average about 2 minutes; during rush hour, they run even more often. So you don’t need to run and squeeze yourself into closing doors (that’s also dangerous). Just wait for the next train, it’ll arrive quickly. Unlike the subway systems of other cities – the trains run along single lines, without branching away. So you can just board the train in the required direction without worrying that you will go somewhere you didn’t intend to.

There are only two exceptions:

• From Alexandrovsky Sad Station of the light-blue line trains run either to Mezhdunarodnaya Station (where Moscow City is located, where a lot of businessmen go) or to Pionerskaya.
• Bolshaya Koltsevaya line also has the so-called fork branching: from Savelovskaya Station to the Business Center (also to Moscow City).

Sometimes you can hear an announcement ‘This train runs to the station…’ If you need to go further, you simply need to get off at the station the train is bound for, and wait for the next train. Perhaps, this train just needs to go to the depot.

Surface routes:

Apart from the underground metro itself, the new map marks suburban trains. You can tell them apart immediately – these lines are indicated with two parallel lines with a white gap in between.

1) MCC: Moscow Central Circle (14)

Moscow Central Circle (MCC)

Let’s take a look at the map again and find a red circle, situated between the underground Koltsevaya (5) and Bolshaya Koltsevaya (11) lines. This is the Moscow Central Circle (14) or simply MCC.

This is a surface urban train that circles around the city. There are stations from where you can transfer to the underground metro. However, these transfers usually are not as short as between subway stations. Sometimes you’ll need about 10 minutes of walking to transfer.

So we don’t recommend you to use MCC purely as a transfer route. In addition, the interval between trains on MCC is longer than in the metro, and can reach 4-8 minutes, depending on the time of day.

However, a big advantage of the MCC is that it has a lot of stations that are far removed from the metro, and which are most conveniently reached specifically by the MCC.

2) Moscow Central Diameters (MCD)

Moscow Central Diameters (MCD)

Moscow diameters on the metro map are the longest lines that cross the entire city (hence, they are called diameters). They are reminiscent of urban trains, like S-Bahn in Berlin or Vienna or RER in Paris.

Those are suburban train lines that run from suburbs (from the Moscow Region, marked as a green shadow on the map) and, crossing the entire city, are bound for suburbs on the other side of the city. At some of the stations of a diameter you can get off and transfer to the metro or the MCC. During rush hour, MCD trains run with an interval of 5-7 minutes.

D1 – Belorussko-Savyolovsky Yellow Diameter runs from Odintsovo Station south-west from Moscow through Moscow City and Belorussky railway station to Sheremetyevo Airport and to Lobnya Station in the north.

D2 – Kursko-Rizhsky Pink Diameter runs from the Moscow Region city of Podolsk in the south through Kursky railway station, Three Station Square (Leningradsky, Kazansky, Yaroslavsky), and Rizhsky railway station to the village of Nakhabino in the north-west.

D3 – Leningradsko-Kazansky Orange Diameter runs from Ippodrom Station in the south-east (the city of Ramenskoye) to Zelenograd in the north.

D4 – Kaluzhsko-Nizhegorodsky Green Diameter runs from the city of Aprelevka in the south-west through Moscow City, Belorussky, Savelovsky, and Kursky railway stations, as well as through Three Station Square (Leningradsky, Kazansky, Yaroslavsky) to Zheleznodorozhnaya Station in the city of Balashikha in the east.

A fifth MCD line is also projected, which is promised to be finished by 2028. It will connect the south (Domodedovo) and the north (Pushkino).

3) Moscow Monorail

Moscow Monorail (highlighted above) and Light metro (bottom)

Look for the only monorail line in Russia to the north from the center of Moscow. It’s not just a surface line, it’s an elevated line that stands on piles. It’s a short line (13) that operates in an excursion mode – from it, you can get a beautiful view of the Ostankino TV Tower, for example.

Once per half an hour, the train runs from Timiryazevskaya Station (which is near the station of the same name on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya (9) line, which is the gray metro line) to Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina Station, which is located next to the entrance to the VDNKh park and to the VDNKh metro station of the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya (6) metro line.

4) Light metro

Butovskaya (12) line in the south of Moscow runs from Buninskaya Alleya Station to Bitsevsky Park Station; from it, you can make a transfer to the gray Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya (9) line and the orange Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya (6) line. This line runs mostly on the surface, entering a tunnel, but is considered a part of the subway (hence, this line is marked with a solid line as other metro lines).

A useful piece of advice

The Moscow Metro website has an interactive map with all metro lines, MCC, and diameters. With it, you can build a route from the departure station to the destination station, take a look at all travel options and where you can make necessary transfers.

How to pay the fare

The convenience of the Moscow transportation system is that you only need the Troika card for travel with any type of public transport, be it the metro, suburban trains, or buses/trams. You can purchase it in ticket offices or from machines at stations. Also in souvenir shops and in the metro internet store you can purchase keychains, bracelets, and rings that work like a Troika card, as well as Troika cards with a unique and custom design.

Troika design dedicated to the 875th anniversary of Moscow

You can top up your card by simply adding a particular amount of money – or purchase the Unified ticket for 60 travels or unified unlimited ticket for 1/3/30/90/365 days.

The deposit price of the Troika card is 80 rubles, and you can get it back when returning the card to the ticket office. The validity period of the card is 5 years, so you can save it for future travels.

One MCC, MCD (in the city center), and metro trip costs 54 rubles. Transfers in the metro, MCC, or between diameters are free within 90 minutes. The fare on MCD in the suburbs costs 71 rubles.

Important: you need to pay the fare in the metro and MCC only upon entrance. On diameters, you need to activate trips upon entrance and then tap your card again at the turnstile upon exiting.

Also almost every station has a terminal where you can pay your fare, tapping your bank card.

Dear readers,

Our website and social media accounts are under threat of being restricted or banned, due to the current circumstances. So, to keep up with our latest content, simply do the following:

• Subscribe to our Telegram channel
• Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter
• Enable push notifications on our website
• Install a VPN service on your computer and/or phone to have access to our website, even if it is blocked in your country

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

to our newsletter!

Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox

• 10 architectural styles you can find in Moscow (PHOTOS)
• 5 MUST-DO experiences in Moscow
• 20 interesting places in Moscow & Moscow Region you can reach with the capital's newest train system

This website uses cookies. Click here to find out more.

15 Fantastic and Easy Day Trips From Moscow

Is the hustle and bustle of Moscow starting to wear you down? No worries. There are multiple great day trips from Moscow that will let you see a different side of Russia that you won’t find in the metropolitan area. Each day trip I’ve listed below can easily be done by train from Moscow, and there are trains every day of the week.

The area surrounding Moscow is rich in cultural attractions and natural beauty. By traveling only a short distance, one feels far away from the crowds, and lines of the sprawling Russian capital. Since Russia is undoubtedly an expansive country it may take from half an hour to two hours to reach some of the landmarks on this list (by train or car) from the Moscow city center.

You can escape to the picturesque Russian countryside, visit war memorials, battlefields, admire onion-domed churches, and get insight into the local way of life. Easy day trips from Moscow include the incomparable white-stone Trinity Cathedral in Sergiyev Posad, the spectacular Cathedral of the Assumption in Dmitrov, and the Russian military aircraft in Monino. For those who love rural tranquility, Suzdal and Vladimir are a must-see. History buffs will appreciate the Patriotic War of 1812 reenactment that took place in Borodino on the first weekend of September.

Without further ado, here are 15 best day trips from Moscow that are well worth your attention.

The Best Day Trips from Moscow

There’s a reason Moscow is one of Europe’s most enigmatic destinations. It’s got culture, class, food, history, and more, but even better, is that it is the country’s main transport hub with so many attractions within a day trip from Moscow. While you can definitely spend days or even weeks in Moscow, it can, of course, be done in just one week. What can you do in Moscow in seven days ? Well, you can do a lot if you know how to plan a trip to a place you know so little about.

If you’re ready to get out of the city a bit and soak up the culture, fresh air, and enchanting architecture, I’ve rounded up my favorite day trips outside of Moscow. I often get asked: What are the best cities to visit in Russia? And these are places that I’ve been and loved.

My Favorite Easy Day Trips from Moscow:

Dmitrov Kolomna Zvenigorod Sergiyev Posad Yaroslavl Arkhangelskoye Estate Vladimir Suzdal Korolev Borodino Patriot Park in Kubinka Melikhovo Gorki Leninskie Kaluga Monino

1. Day Trip to Dmitrov from Moscow

Dmitrov may not be as popular as other cities in Russia, but the fact that the city was founded only 7 years earlier than Moscow makes for a great day trip. This small city some 90 kilometers from Moscow is particularly beautiful in the summer. As you walk the streets you can see sparkling fountains, charming centuries-old buildings, yachts and boats transiting through the canal and, of course, the Museum-Reserve Dmitrov Kremlin.

The Kremlin (castle) is the city’s main draw. The 10m high and about 1km long earthen rampart remained behind the wooden wall and gives an idea of how the castle looked like 400 years ago. The oldest surviving building on the Kremlin grounds is the 16th-century Assumption Cathedral with a unique five-tier iconostasis.

Not far from the Kremlin there is a compact 15th-century Borisoglebsky convent. Its main building – the 16th-century Cathedral of Sts. Boris and Gleb is open to the visitors only for services of worship. In the 1930s in the convent housed a labor camp, which contained the builders of the Canal named after Moscow.

Getting There: Dmitrov sits an easy hour and sixteen minutes by train from Savyelovskiy Rail Terminal. This cheap day trip from Moscow is a great chance to soak up the historic charm to be found in Moscow Oblast.

2. Day Trip to Kolomna from Moscow

Situated to the south-east of Moscow, Kolomna is a beautiful port city on the Oka River. This is one of the oldest Russian cities in the region. So you can discover the old history in museums and monasteries. Interestingly, the city was a site for important weapon factories under the Soviet Union. Although it was opened up in 1994 Kolomna is not as popular as other day-trip destinations in the region.

Nevertheless, it is a great place to visit with friends and family where you can explore the 15th-century Kremlin made of red brick, try incredibly sweet traditional pastila (marshmallow), and visit some of the cute little churches and 19th-century mansions.

Getting There: Take the express train (commuter line train) from the Kazansky rail terminal to Golutvin station. The trip lasts one hour and forty minutes.

3. Day Trip to Zvenigorod from Moscow

This one is usually a given due to its proximity to and ease of transport from Moscow. It’s one of the easiest day trips from Moscow by train. You can easily hop on the train from the city and land right in the town of Zvenigorod where you can visit the 14th-century Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery and sample the sparkly and refreshing kvass, a Russian specialty beverage that’s enjoyed in the summer months.

Zvenigorod is an adorable little town just under an hour away from the Moscow city and is an amazing place to visit as it will give a relaxing break from the hectic life of Moscow. Check this day trip if you don’t feel like planning.

If you have a sweet tooth, spend some time in the quirky Museum of Russian Desserts, where you can indulge in uniquely delicious treats and explore the intersection of food and culture.

Then you may want to pay the Zvenigorod Museum of History, Architecture, and Art a visit. The museum’s exposition is located on the territory of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery, or rather, in the 17th-century Tsaritsyny chambers, built for the wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Stroll through the museum halls to view the permanent exhibitions, which offer insights into various aspects of Russian history. The intricate museum’s building is adorned with a decorative porch, complex patterned elements, and looks very impressive in general.

4. Day Trip to Sergiyev Posad from Moscow

If you’re looking for cheap day trips from Moscow, Sergiyev Posad is a good choice at just a few dollar train ride away. Known as a major center of pilgrimage and home to one of the largest Russian Orthodox Monastery which has been here for hundreds of years, Sergiyev Posad is a fun day trip from Moscow and can be combined with Abramtsevo Museum Estate. As the only town in Moscow Region which is included in the Golden Ring of Russian cities, Sergiyev Posad is an incredible destination for a day trip from Moscow that packs UNESCO-protected Trinity Sergius Lavra, great museums, and gorgeous architecture into one day.

Make sure you see the six-pillared Assumption Cathedral that was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in mid-16th-century and go inside to marvel at the impressive iconostasis that features Simon Ushakov’s masterpiece, the icon of Last Supper. Enjoy a delicious lamb steak with wheat kasha, Ukha fish soup, or hand-made dumplings as you learn a lot about religious and cultural history.

Getting There: Known for its small-town charm and welcoming feel, you can get to Sergiyev Posad by train, by bus, or by car. Trains depart from Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal every thirty minutes, and the trip lasts about an hour and a half. Alternatively, you can hop on a bus at the ‘VDNKh’ metro station. A bus trip to Sergiyev Posad takes two hours on average but can be reached in 90 minutes depending on traffic. If you go by car expect to spend about an hour and a half attempting to traverse the congested Yaroslavskoye highway.

5. Day Trip to Yaroslavl from Moscow

Going from Moscow to Yaroslavl may seem like a really long day trip, but honestly, if you take the comfortable train, it only takes about four hours to reach the city, so making a Yaroslavl day trip is totally doable. Although I do recommend much more than one day in Yaroslavl, especially if it’s your first time.

Cultural tourists visiting Yaroslavl should start their exploration by strolling the historic city center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A spacious 100-hectare area enclosed by Sobinova and Republican streets is home to most popular attractions – the 17th-century Church of Elijah the Prophet that survived almost exactly in its original form, and in contrast to it, the white stone Assumption Cathedral, restored in the 2000s.

If you walk a bit further passing the Holy Trinity sculpture and city’s foundation stone, you will find yourself at Strelka, a park on the cape, which offers panoramic views of the spot at the confluence of Volga and Kotorosl rivers. On the way back, there is a pleasant walk along the picturesque Volga embankment to the Governor’s Garden with shadowy alleys and an open-air Sculpture museum.

Getting There: Yaroslavl is about 280 km (173 miles) northeast of Moscow, so the best way to get there is to take a morning train from Yaroslavskiy Rail Terminal. A tour is also a great way to see the Yaroslavl without having to worry about driving or searching for trains. You can book a tour here.

6. Day Trip to Arkhangelskoye Estate from Moscow

Situated on the outskirts of Moscow and dates back to the late 18th-century, Arkhangelskoye Estate was the domain of the nobility for over a century until the Russian Revolution swept people who owned the estate out of the country. The estate was turned into a museum, which it remains today.

The Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum holds the largest rare-book collection. The exhibition also includes old manuscripts, historical documents, photos from the past, a vast collection of sculpture, paintings, engravings, and exceptional examples of decorative art. These art objects once belonged to Prince Nikolai Yusupov, the former owner of the estate.

Arkhangelskoye Estate is often referred to as the Russian version of Versailles because of the intricately manicured garden and beautiful 18th-century park. Famous Russian writers and poets such as Pushkin, Herzen, Mayakovsky loved to spend their free time here making long excursions in the surrounding area. Arkhangelskoye is a perfect place to appreciate the terraces decorated by delightful statues, exquisite vases, and busts.

Visitors can take tours, which introduce them to vibrant examples of Russian art and culture.

Getting There: To reach the estate it’s best to take a bus or a privately-owned minibus that departs from Tushinskaya metro station.

7. Day Trip to Vladimir from Moscow

Situated only two hours east of Moscow, Vladimir is absolutely one of the best places to visit near Moscow for a day trip. This splendid city dates back to the 12th century and has a very rich history. If magnificent Orthodox cathedrals and traditional white-stone architecture entice you, then this place is perfect for a day trip with your significant other.

First things first, you need to see the Golden Gate, which indicates the entrance into the old town. This 12th-century medieval masterpiece of military architecture is associated not only with Vladimir but with the Golden Ring tourist route itself. At the top of the gate, where once was the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, there is the Museum of Weapons. Great looking arrowheads and spear points date back to the Grand Principality of Vladimir, while the exhibition in an impressively majestic setting features a number of Batu-Khan related artifacts.

There’s a variety of attractions to put on your must-see list: the Old Believers Trinity Church right behind it, the Cathedral of St Demetrius, and Dormition (Uspensky) Cathedral. If you plan on shopping for souvenirs like birch-bark masterpieces of Kunov’s masters, drawings, carving, embossing, figures of people and animals, stop by the Lacquer Miniature, the Museum of Crystal, and the Gingerbread Museum. Many of the local attractions were added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites.

Getting There: The best way to visit this area is to catch an early train from Moscow and book a full-day tour of Vladimir in advance. This one includes the town of Suzdal as well.

8. Day Trip to Suzdal from Moscow

This gem of a little medieval town perched on a hill just a 30-minute ride from Vladimir is one of those places I’ve visited and could move there permanently and be happy! It’s a charming little piece of history that also has a Kremlin and visiting it feels like stepping back in time. if you’re a culture enthusiast you’ll be glad to know there are numerous churches, five monasteries, including Spaso-Yevfimiev Monastery in Suzdal. Check them out if you want to get a real taste of the country!

pend some time shopping at the Torgovaya ploshchad (Market Square), where you can buy baskets made of birch bark, ceramic handmade plates, honey or souvenirs and, of course, grab some afternoon tea!

Getting There: Trains leave regularly from Moscow’s Kurskiy Rail Terminal to Vladimir where you can hop on a bus to Suzdal. You can also take a bus from Moscow. In this case, it might take longer and you’ll probably encounter infamous traffic jams. If you go by express train the trip takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes. There are slower trains of course, but I’d recommend going with the fast one and save a lot of time!

9. Day Trip to Korolev from Moscow

Located some 30 kilometers northeast of Moscow, Korolev has become arguably the most important space research center with skilled workers from across the Soviet Union who came here to expand the space program.

It became a leading institute dedicated to aerospace research in the country. Today, that tendency can still be clearly seen on the streets and in the buildings. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the city retained its status as the headquarters of Russia’s space surveillance network and now it hosts the Russian Mission Control Center, an analogue of the American Mission Control Center at NASA’s Space Center in Houston.

If you want to learn more about Mission Control Center and the former Russian Mir space station, book a tour with a knowledgeable guide who can clearly tell the history of this place.

If you’re not into space exploration there is also a Memorial Apartment Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva in Bolshevo. With a picturesque park next to the museum, it’s a great place for walking in the fresh air. The highlight of the park is memorial stones with quotes from Tsvetaeva’s poems.

Getting There: I’d recommend going by train. Catch one at Yaroslavskiy Rail Terminal that departs every 30 minutes to reach Bolshevo station.

10. Day Trip to Borodino from Moscow

The historic Battle of Borodino on September 7, 1812, took place just outside the small village of Borodino, about 140 km west of Moscow, and about 15 km from the nearest town of Mozhaysk. Although the French won the Battle of Borodino and went to capture Moscow, it was one of the bloodiest battles of the pre-twentieth-century that is also predetermined Napoleon’s defeat.

While it was a battlefield back then, not much remains today. It’s mostly a green and grassy field now with a few monuments of military honor, architectural objects dated back to 19th and 20th century, and fortification facilities scattered throughout the area. The largest of these is the 27-meter high obelisk located right at the heart of the former battlefield.

Every year the military and patriotic festival and theatrical performance take place in Borodino. Early September is considered to be the best for visiting. But if you just want to feel the spirit of the battle, it’s better to go at any other time of the year.

Getting there: Hop on a train from the Belorussky rail terminal, disembark in Mozhaysk, and then take a bus to the museum. The whole travel time is about 2 hours.

11. Day Trip to Patriot Park in Kubinka from Moscow

Once a Red Army tank training ground, now it’s a military Disneyland with history, structure, guns, and armored vehicles! The tank museum originally housed one of the world’s largest and rarest collections of tanks. In 2016 they combined the training grounds with the newly-created Patriot Park. Since then, some of the notable and rare items have been moved to the Patriot Park site, so you may want to combine both sites into one tour (only about 20 minutes apart).

The exhibition grounds include some very rare specimens that are must-see for any military enthusiasts out there. The staff is friendly, helpful and kind, while the museum has a small shop. As this site is part of an operating military base, they may ask you to show your passport, or provide them with a photocopy of the front pages. There are vending machines for snacks and drinks, and there are bathroom facilities. There’s plenty to see, so I recommend setting aside an entire day!

Getting there: Situated halfway between Borodino and Moscow, the best way to reach Patriot Park in Kubinka is by car. Alternatively, if you don’t want to rent one, consider car-sharing apps like Gett or UBER. The price of ride-sharing services is cheap enough to make them a viable proposition for choosing them.

12. Day Trip to Melikhovo from Moscow

Located some 80 km from Moscow, Melikhovo is one of the most important museums dedicated to Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. This renowned Russian writer and playwright acquired Melikhovo in 1892. He lived there with his parents and close relatives for 7 years before moving to the Crimea in 1899. Melikhovo is where he wrote his plays “The Man in the Case” and “The Seagull”.

The estate faded into oblivion right after the Revolution but in 1939 Anton Chekhov’s sister Maria and his nephew established a museum based on Chekhov’s place of living. The museum opened its doors to the public in 1941.

Today museum’s exhibition reveals the legacy of a celebrated writer and shows his path not only as a writer but as a doctor and public figure as well. The collection also features some of the best-known paintings by famous artists like Isaac Levitan and Vasily Polenov, who were Chekhov’s friends. When it comes to fun and educational day trips from Moscow, Melikhovo is a nice place for learning more about Chekov’s life and work.

Getting There: You can reach Melikhovo by train from Kurskiy rail Terminal. Disembark in the town of Chekhov and hop on a minibus that will get to the estate. Alternatively, hop on a bus that departs from the Yuzhnaya metro station.

13. Day Trip to Gorki Leninskie from Moscow

Once the realm of Russian nobles, Gorki Leninskie was turned into Lenin’s museum some 25 years after his death. The estate sits some 30-minute bus ride from the Domodedovskaya metro station and houses Soviet-era memorabilia and Lenin’s memorial flat recently transferred from the Kremlin, as well as his vintage Rolls-Royce.

Most people only associate this place with the name of the first communist leader. In fact, the name of the estate was first mentioned in documents dating back to the 16th-century. Throughout its history, the estate was owned by a number of prominent figures. It’s in fact one of the best museums that holds the country’s finest collection 19th-century furnishings and a unique collection of domestic items owned by nobles. Plus, ancient Vyatichi native tribe or East Slavs who inhabited a part of the Oka basin’s burial mounds and a few notable sculptures are hidden behind the avenues of lime trees in the park.

Getting There: You could, of course, hop on a bus from Domodedovskaya metro station. But it would be much easier just to use UBER or Gett. The estate isn’t that far from the Moscow Circle Road but going there by bus may involve some navigating.

14. Day Trip to Kaluga from Moscow

If you’re looking for an educational day trip from Moscow, look no farther than Kaluga! This beautiful city could really entertain you for more than just a day, but to get a taste of science, be sure to visit the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics. Or in other words, the Space Museum.

Visitors to the museum will learn more about the history of space exploration. In fact, this is one of the largest Space Museums in Russia, which opened its doors in Kaluga in 1967. Here you can see a prototype of the iconic MIR space station and a duplicate of the Voskhod rocket. The very same rocket that took the first man to space. There’s also a planetarium, which from the outside resembles a spaceship.

Kaluga is a totally walkable city. Make sure to spend some time strolling Teatralnaya street with the authentic 19th-century pavement that now marks the Kilometer Zero. Then walk across the 18th-century Kamenniy Most (the Stone Bridge) that somewhat resembles a Roman aqueduct. If you’re an architecture buff marvel at the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian.

It is assumed that the church was erected by one of the followers of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1794. The church resembles the Smolny Convent in St. Petersburg. With five church towers directed upward and six tiers of oblong windows give the exterior a sense of lightness and airiness.

Getting There: Trains from Kiyevsky Rail Terminal to Kaluga leave every 90 minutes. The trip takes about 2 hours and 35 minutes.

15. Day Trip to Monino from Moscow

Are you looking for great family & kid-friendly day trips from Moscow? If so, consider visiting the Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino. This unique military open-air museum is home to over 180 Russian aircraft and 100 aircraft engines and the perfect place to go when your crowd is looking for a break from hectic city life. Check this tour if you don’t feel like planning.

This site was formerly an operational airbase from 1932 till 1956 and many of the Russian aviation Design bureaus have made a contribution to the operation and maintenance of the museum. Along with aircraft from the Second World War, there are the TU-95 Bear four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and the TU-144 Charger a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner (which resembled the Concorde). The museum also has exhibits related to military aviation history such as the uniform of captured U2 pilot Gary Powers.

Getting There: This museum is located at Monino Town, about 30 km from Moscow. It is open on all days from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, except Mondays and Tuesdays. To get there take a train departing from Yaroslavskiy Rail Terminal and disembark at Monino station. Alternatively, hop on a bus from Schelkovskaya or Partizanskaya metro station.

Final Thoughts on the Best Day Trips from Moscow

I hope this post has helped you discover some amazing day trips from Moscow. From imposing cathedrals, mighty fortresses and monasteries, there are a lot of incredible places to visit the Russian capital, and the best part is that getting there is always ways to get around on the cheap.

New here? Join hundreds of others and subscribe to the MindTheTravel blog via email.

Some of the links in this blog post are affiliate links. At no cost to you, I earn a small commission when you click on it and make a purchase. It doesn’t affect the way you shop, and it’s a great way to support MindTheTravel blog.

PIN IT FOR LATER!

JOIN MY FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!

Email Address *

YOU WILL ALSO LIKE

10 Dishes You Must Try When Going To Moscow

Travel Itinerary For One Week in Moscow

When Is the Best Time To Visit Russia

Great article for visitors in Moscow , thanks for sharing

Marie Hernandez

I hadn’t considered traveling to Moscow until NOW! Fantastic post and ideas for visitors! Thanks!

Graham Marsden

Nice to see so many options outside of Moscow, but I have to say I wish this list had a recommendation for a hike or a beautiful natural areas or national parks. Maybe the next list!

I have to admit that I knew nothing about the area surrounding Moscow. This is definitely an inspiring list of places to go.

When I read this article about Moscow. I wanted to pack my bags and get there sooner. thank you for the great write up.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies

My website uses cookies so that I can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to my website and helping me to understand which sections of Mind The Travel you find most interesting and useful.

You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that I can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, I will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit my website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

• Melbourne Tourism
• Melbourne Hotels
• Melbourne Bed and Breakfast
• Melbourne Vacation Rentals
• Flights to Melbourne
• Melbourne Restaurants
• Things to Do in Melbourne
• Melbourne Travel Forum
• Melbourne Photos
• Melbourne Map
• All Melbourne Hotels
• Melbourne Hotel Deals
• Last Minute Hotels in Melbourne
• Things to Do
• Restaurants
• Vacation Rentals
• Travel Stories
• Rental Cars
• Add a Place
• Travel Forum
• Travelers' Choice
• Help Center

2 days Great Ocean Road : West to East - Melbourne Forum

• South Pacific    
• Australia    
• Victoria    
• Melbourne    

2 days Great Ocean Road : West to East

• United States Forums
• Europe Forums
• Canada Forums
• Asia Forums
• Central America Forums
• Africa Forums
• Caribbean Forums
• Mexico Forums
• South Pacific Forums
• South America Forums
• Middle East Forums
• Honeymoons and Romance
• Business Travel
• Train Travel
• Traveling With Disabilities
• Tripadvisor Support
• Solo Travel
• Bargain Travel
• Timeshares / Vacation Rentals
• Victoria forums
• Melbourne forum

Hi Everyone,

The plan is

Day1: reaching Melbourne @ 08:15 in morning, day at leisure/ local sight seeing (any suggestions for that day please)

Day2: Peninsula Hot spring. Moonlit sanctuary & Philip island for Penguin Parade.

Day3: I noted taking M1 will be faster and shorter to reach to London Bridge which will be around 3 hrs from your accommodation by this route. It will allow us to leave by 9 am, stopping on the way for breakfast, lunch, reaching London Bridge by 3 pm. We can then do Great Ocean Road from west to east, stopping at Loch& Gorge, other look outs, aiming to reach 12 apostles by 5 pm, book a restaurant nearby for dinner before admiring sunset at 12 apostles.

From 12 apostles, we aim towards apollo bay for night stay. Online, I found a place in Bimbi Park with great reviews, is one hour drive from 12 apostles, has very nice cottages in some wilderness and able to see Koala, Kangaroos. We aim to reach by 10 -10:30 pm.

Day4: Leaving morning @ around 10, on Great ocean road via Lorne, Torquay, stopping on the way for lunch, dinner, reach accommodation by late evening.

Day 5: Fly to Auckland in mid day.

My requests are:

Suggestions for Day 1 please

Is it fine to go from Melbourne to London Bridge straight (via inner Road) and then do Great Ocean Road. Restaurant near 12 apostles?suggestions please.

Night stay at Bimbi park?

How long do we need from Bimbi park to Melbourne stopping on the way for food, comfort breaks and look out points.

Any other suggestions please.

Thank you very much.

10 replies to this topic

“ I found a place in Bimbi Park with great reviews, is one hour drive from 12 apostles, has very nice cottages in some wilderness and able to see Koala, Kangaroos. We aim to reach by 10 -10:30 pm”

Problem here is that most of our native animals are nocturnal and rather than seeing koalas & kangaroos you may run over them as they often are out on the rural roads at night.

Dear Penpal,

Thanks for reply.

I didn't realise we could create a problem for travelling in night in rural areas and thanks for highlighting it. I will look for alternative accommodation on main route instead . Any suggestions pl?

Just something for consideration, I've always felt jet lag worse in tropical climates. The humidity can be very draining. So I would stop in Singapore on the way back to the UK. But of course it's entirely up to you.

Have you used AI or a travel agent to prepare your itinerary for you?

https://littlegreybox.net/how-to-spend-24-hours-in-melbourne/

https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/travel/article/24-hours-melbourne-2021

https://humbletrail.com/24-hours-melbourne/

Your Great Ocean Road plan isn't good. Spend your first day driving from Melbourne along the coast to Apollo Bay. Second day from Apollo Bay to the coast around Port Campbell, then take the inland highway back to Melbourne. Keep an eye on the time as you're going as it's better to spread the journey over three days.

And Clayton???? Why?

Night two, stay at Cowes on PI, and then take the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff the next day and stsrt the GOR trip from there. Much more scenic and you avoid a lot of city driving and time wasting.

When in December are you going to do your trip? The reason I ask is that the Victorian summer break starts on the 21st December. The summer break is absolute peak holiday season and finding accommodation in tourist areas can be problematic at that time of the year.

I fully agree with the advice you have been given. 🤠

This itinerary would work much better.

Day 2. If you like shopping, Chadstone in morning or if an academic, Monash Uni. Head for Phillip Island visiting Moonlit on the way. Overnight Cowes.

Day 3 see Phillip Island in morning before heading to Mornington Peninsula. https://www.visitphillipisland.com.au/ https://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/ Stay overnight Sorrento.

Day4. 6am Peninsuls Hotsprings, breakfast then take ferry to Queenscliff. Continue through Bellarine, Geelong and GOR. Sorrento to Bimbi Park takes a little over 4 hours, depending on how you time the ferry embarkation, so leave early to make most of the drive to Cape Otway as there is tons to see before you get there.https://visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/ If you could squeeze in an extra day, stay overnight at Lorne.

Day 5. visit all the formations, coves, gorges then head off for the airport from Port Campbell.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/L16uCoUyMkrEG6LP7

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g294265-Activities-c57-t58-zfn15622335-Singapore.html

Then book the Singapore stopover as park of your return flight . You will have had time in Australia to adjust to the heat (though not the humidity) and can sightsee more easily.

Also agree that your planned GOR trip is not practicable. You should not drive on rural roads around dusk because of the real risk of hitting wildlife. The GOR is a very slow winding road with many hairpin bends. You will be lucky to average 60 kms per hour, so your timings are way too ambitious. It is also silly to drive the GOR after dark because you can't see the views you travelled so far to see.

• 2 days Great Ocean Road : West to East 11:28 pm
• Trip Report: EV road trip - Final part Apr 26, 2024
• Melbourne Anniversary Trip Report Apr 25, 2024
• Southern Cross bus station to Collins Street on foot Apr 25, 2024
• 11D10N in Merbourne during winter with 3 kids Apr 24, 2024
• Trip Report: EV road trip Apr 24, 2024
• Southbank Restaurant Family Apr 21, 2024
• Arriving Melbourne Connecting to Sydney Apr 20, 2024
• 8 days Melbourne trip Apr 20, 2024
• Great Ocean Road itinerary Apr 18, 2024
• Great Ocean Road Early June Apr 18, 2024
• Sofitel or Next Hotel Melbourne? Apr 17, 2024
• A few hours in Melbourne Apr 17, 2024
• QF Domestic T1 to International T2 transfer in 1hr 20. Apr 17, 2024
• best area to stay 3 replies
• Best time to visit Melbourne????? 6 replies
• Best Suburbs in Melbourne to Raise a Family? 31 replies
• How to dial an Australian mobile nbr from the UK 2 replies
• Avalon or Tullamarine 7 replies
• Melbourne to Ayres Rock 5 replies
• Lastminute/Wotif secret hotels - Melbourne 18 replies
• What can we do in melbourne on xmas day? 4 replies
• Help with accommodation for 9 people! 20 replies
• Where to choose for Christmas Day lunch 10 replies

Districts [ edit ]

Central Moscow districts [ edit ]

Outlying districts [ edit ], understand [ edit ].

Moscow is the financial and political centre of Russia and the countries formerly comprising the Soviet Union. It has a population of around 13 million and an area of 2,511 square kilometres (970 sq mi) after an expansion in 2012. One-tenth of all Russian citizens live in the Moscow metropolitan area. Moscow is the second most populous city in Europe, after Istanbul , and has the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, with some 21 million residents. Moscow is in the UTC+3 time zone; there is no daylight saving time.

Many years since the break up of the Soviet Union, the economy has improved, and the modern era has brought upon a wide variety of construction projects, modern architecture and newer transport systems replacing the derelict ones during Soviet times.

Geography [ edit ]

Moscow is a large metropolis on the Moskva River, which bends its way through the city. The historical center is on the northern bank of the river. The other major waterway is the Yauza River, which flows into the Moskva east of the Kremlin.

Much of Moscow's geography is defined by the 3 'Ring Roads' that circle the city at various distances from the centre, roughly following the outline of the walls that used to surround Moscow. With Red Square and the Kremlin forming the very centre, the innermost ring road is the Boulevard Ring ( Bulvarnoye Koltso ), built in the 1820s where the 16th century walls used to be. It runs from the Christ the Savior Cathedral in south-west central Moscow, to the mouth of the Yauza in south-east central Moscow.

The next ring road, the Garden Ring ( Sadovoe Koltso ), derives its name from the fact that landowners near the road in Tsarist times were obligated to maintain gardens to make the road attractive. In Soviet times, the road was widened, and there are now no gardens there.

The Third Ring Road, completed in 2004, is not much use for tourists but is a heavily used motorway which absorbs a bit of Moscow's traffic. It roughly follows the outline of Kamer-Kollezhsky val , the customs boundary of Moscow in the 18th – early 20th century. The outer edge of Moscow is largely defined by the Moscow Ring Road (widely known by its abbreviation: MKAD-Moskovskaya kolcevaya avto doroga), a motorway which is 108 km (67 mi) long and encircles the entire city (similar to London's M25 and Paris' Périphérique ).

Climate [ edit ]

The climate of Moscow features warm summers and long, cold winters.

Get in [ edit ]

See Russia#Get in for visa requirements to Russia.

By train [ edit ]

Moscow is a railway hub, with connections to all parts of Russia and far into Europe and Asia. Due to its hub status, Moscow's train stations are often crowded; trains are the usual form of intercity transport for most Russians. The stations have a reputation for being unsafe but paradoxically the threat of terrorism has improved things: security gates, policing and surveillance deter the casual thugs and villains. Guard your valuables and yourself as you would in any big city.

All long-distance trains are operated by Russian Railways and its subsidiaries, except for a few international trains with other operators. Tickets can be bought at stations or online . For domestic trains, you can show the ticket officer your online boarding pass; however, international trains require a printed ticket. There are usually ticket counters with English-speaking personnel - they may be marked as such, or the clerk may direct you to another counter if they can't cope with your English. See Russia#By train 2 for more details on travelling in Russia by train.

From Europe [ edit ]

All trains from Europe halted since 2020

Train stations in Moscow [ edit ]

Moscow has 10 train stations, 9 of which are near metro stations close to the center of Moscow. Be sure to note the station from which your train is departing, which will be indicated on the ticket, or online . Three stations ( Leningradsky , Yaroslavsky , and Kazansky ) are on one huge square, informally known as the "Three Stations' Square". A running joke among Moscow taxi drivers since the Soviet times is to be able to pick up a fare from one of them to the other, taking the unwary tourist on an elaborate ride in circles. Be prepared for enormous queues trying to enter or exit the Metro at peak times, as people are getting off or on the commuter trains.

By car [ edit ]

Many entry points to Moscow over the Ring Road and into the city feature rotating roadblocks, where teams of traffic police may stop a vehicle, especially if it is not featuring Moscow plates. You may be stopped and questioned but you'll be allowed to proceed if you have all the proper documents.

Foreign cars, especially expensive cars, might attract unwelcome attention, and there is cumbersome paperwork involved to enter Russia by car.

By boat [ edit ]

There is no scheduled passenger service to Moscow by boat; however, cruise ships do provide service to the Northern River Terminal, on the Moscow Canal near the Khimki Reservoir. The pier is not convenient to the city and it can take over 2 hours to reach the city centre by car.

A system of navigable channels and locks connects the Moskva River with the Volga River, which is further connected to the Baltic Sea , White Sea, the Azov, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea. In the Soviet times this allowed the official propaganda to refer to Moscow as "a port on the five seas".

By bicycle [ edit ]

Moscow is the easternmost destination of the EuroVelo cycling routes . Eurovelo Route 2 , the Capitals Route, is a 5,500 km (3,400 mi) route starting in Galway , Ireland , passing through Dublin , London , Berlin , Warsaw and Minsk before terminating in Moscow.

By metro [ edit ]

The Metro is open from 05:30-01:00. Station entrances are closed at 01:00, and at this time the last trains depart from all of the termini stations. After 01:00, many locals will enter the train station using the exits, which are still open. Service on the ring line runs until 01:30, although entrances are closed at 01:00. The down escalators are also shut off at 01:00.

There is signage in the Metro stations in English and the Latin alphabet, but these signs are not everywhere. Each train carriage has a map in Latin script and there is one near the entrance to each station. Note the direction of the train before you alight. It is worth printing a map of the metro system in both Cyrillic and Latin letters to take with you.

All trains in the system have free WiFi onboard, but you will need to have a Russian phone number to get the authorization code to access the WiFi. Some of the older train cars are not climate controlled.

2 or 3 stations may be connected as transfer points but will each have a different name. There are 2 stations called Smolenskaya and 2 stations called Arbatskaya , but the station pairs are not connected to each other despite having the same name. Some of the stations are very deep underground, and transfer times between certain metro lines can take a lot of time. In the city centre, it can save time to go directly to the above-ground entrance of the line you want to take rather than to enter at a connecting station and transfer underground. On the escalators, stand on the right and walk on the left except for peak hours, when standing on the left side is also allowed.

Some of the train stations include beautiful architecture and it is worth taking a guided tour of the metro system. The most interesting stations in terms of decor are Komsomolskaya (ring line), Novoslobodskaya (ring line), Kievskaya (ring line), Kropotkinskaya (Line #1 - red), Kievskaya (Line #3 - dark blue), Arbatskaya (Line #3 - dark blue), Ploschad' Revolyutsii (Line #3 - dark blue), Mayakovskaya (Line #2 - dark green). Also look at the architecture of the ground entrance building of Arbatskaya (Line #4 - light blue) and Krasnye Vorota (Line #1 - red). History buffs may appreciate that Metro Line #1 (red) has the oldest stations, opened in 1935.

The Vorobyovy Gory Metro Station on Line #1 (red) is unique in that it is on a bridge crossing the Moscow River. This bridge also carries auto traffic road on another level. There is a beautiful view through the transparent sides of the station. A great observing point around Moscow is located nearby on Vorobyovy hills, next to the main building of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

There are a couple of unique trains operating through the system and you will be lucky if you get to ride them. Aquarelle (Watercolor) is a train that includes an art gallery. The train operates daily on Line #3 (dark blue). The Sokolniki Retro Train is a train modeled after the original 1930s trains and it occasionally is placed into service, usually around a major anniversary of the metro system.

The metro is relatively safe, although pickpockets are a problem, as they are in any environment where a lot of people are pressed together. Opportunistic petty crime, such as snatching someone's mobile phone and jumping out just as the doors are closing, is also commonplace. Take the usual precautions at night when gangs of inebriated teenagers may look for an excuse to beat someone up. There is no train guard or conductor, so the first car near the driver may be the safest. Every car is equipped with an intercom to the driver's cabin; they are beige boxes with a grill and a black button near doors, and mostly work, unless visibly vandalized.

By tram [ edit ]

There are several tram routes, although trams are not common in the city centre.

By monorail [ edit ]

Moscow Monorail is a 4.7 km (2.9 mi) monorail line with 6 stations. It is slower, less frequent, and has shorter operating hours when compared with the metro (every 30 min, 08:00-20:00). However, the view is picturesque. It is useful to get to the Ostankino Tower, or to get to the VDNKh exhibition centre from Metro Line #9 (silver). Interchanges between Moscow Metro and Monorail is free, no additional fee will be charged.

By hop-on-hop-off bus [ edit ]

The hop-on-hop-off bus is a convenient way for tourists to see the major sights quickly and efficiently. The buses feature English-speaking guides to answer any questions. A 1 day pass costs $24 for adults and $15 for children.

See [ edit ]

Do [ edit ].

Moscow has many attractions, but many of them are not friendly to a non-Russian-speaker. English-language newspapers like The Moscow Times , Element [dead link] , Moscow News and others can help to navigate towards English-language friendly attractions and services.

Circuses [ edit ]

Theatres [ edit ].

• Bolshoi Theatre , one of the oldest and best known ballet and opera companies in the world.

Learn [ edit ]

Moscow remains the educational center of Russia and the former USSR. There are 222 institutes of higher education, including 60 state universities & 90 colleges. Some of these offer a wide-spectrum of programs, but most are centered around a specific field. This is a hold-over from the days of the USSR, when Sovietwide there were only a handful of wide-spectrum "universities" and a large number of narrow-specialization "institutes" (mostly in Moscow & St.Petersburg). Moscow offers some of the best business/management, science, & arts schools in the world. Moscow is also a popular destination for foreign students to learn Russian.

Work [ edit ]

You will need a work visa which is not an easy process. The visa needs to be arranged well in advance of traveling. It is possible to work in Moscow, you just need to find a good company to support you. The main obstacle for many foreigners will be a mandatory Russian language exam required to obtain a work permit.

Shopping malls [ edit ]

Large shopping malls are common near metro stations.

Tipping [ edit ]

For information on tipping in restaurants, see Russia#Eat .

Ethnic food [ edit ]

Authentic ethnic food from countries of the nearby Caucasus ( Azerbaijan , Georgia , Armenia ) is common in Moscow. Japanese food, including sushi, rolls, tempura, and steakhouses are very popular in Moscow. Other Asian cuisines including Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese are becoming increasingly more common.

Budget [ edit ]

Street food [ edit ].

Free-standing kiosks serving sausages, meat pies, or kebobs are plentiful, although the origins of the meat served is questionable and the food has been known to occasionally make people sick.

Muscovites are also fond of their ice cream, consumed in any weather, even in the dead of winter, cheap and usually of superior quality; kiosks can be found all over the center and near all Metro stations.

Foodcourts 2.0 [ edit ]

This term is used in articles by local food critics: since 2016, several special food courts were opened with independent and small food chains, for those people who get bored of McDonald's-like food. They offer a wider choice of cuisines.

Clubs [ edit ]

Nightlife in Moscow is bustling, intense and exciting. It starts quite late; it's common for the headliners to start at 02:00-02:00. Most noticeable are areas near Solyanka street and Krasniy Oktyabr' place. At summer time a lot of clubs opening open-air terraces called "verandas". Most of clubs in Moscow are very picky of who they let in, so make sure you have a positive attitude and dress up if you are going to a fancy club.

Gazgolder [dead link] (not far from Kremlin) is among the best.

Cafes [ edit ]

Moscow has several café chains with great coffee including Coffeemania and Coffee Bean [dead link] . Moscow also has a good selection of tea saloons. High-quality infusion teas such as Newby, are widely available in cafes, both in packets and loose.

Asking to add boiling water to the tea you ordered earlier is a practice that some cafes don't welcome, but normally it's acceptable.

Sleep [ edit ]

Stay safe [ edit ].

Moscow enjoys a relatively low crime rate.

Drunk people are the most likely sources of problems. In the past years, lots of policemen were corrupt, and it was best to avoid them. Nowadays Moscow has a Tourist Police force, whose officers are able to speak foreign languages and help tourists. Police officers are equipped with body-cameras.

It is preferable to avoid some parts of the outer districts of Moscow, especially in the south. Some of those areas are notorious for gopniks (drunkards notorious for muggings and starting fights with strangers, and will do so seemingly unprovoked), who normally hang out in sparse residential areas and in industrial zones. The same problems can be witnessed in the surrounding regions and in other Russian cities as well.

While traveling in Moscow, as in the rest of Russia, you should always have your passport with you. If you look non-white, your papers may get checked more often than otherwise. The police may demand to see your papers to check if you have been registered within 7 business days of your arrival into Moscow. Always remember that if you stay in a hotel then you are automatically registered and will be handed a confirmation paper at a time of check-in, so don't worry in this case. The police are usually looking for migrants from Central Asia and unless you fit this profile, you are unlikely to be questioned.

Women should take caution walking alone late at night since they may receive unwanted attention from drunk men. Women should also stay clear of large companies of men in front of bars, restaurants, etc. It is best to walk with a friend if possible.

Streets can become very slippery in winter. Wear shoes or, even better, boots with decent grip to prevent twisted ankles. Ice patches can be hard to spot. A waterproof raincoat is also sensible.

Traffic is poorly handled, and vehicle accident rates are very high.

If you need help with translation, ask students or pupils: younger people are more likely to be able to help you than the older generations.

Connect [ edit ]

For information on using telephones and buying SIM cards in Russia, see Russia#Connect .

Mobile Internet is quite affordable in Russia, but you have to buy Russian SIM-card first.

Wireless Internet [ edit ]

Moscow Metro has Wi-Fi in all trains. It is ad-supported.

Mosgortrans has Wi-Fi spots on every bus, trolleybus and tram. Also sometimes you can find Wi-Fi spot on a public transport stop.

Beeline Wi-Fi [dead link] operates the largest network of both paid and free Wi-Fi access points. If there is a charge, you can pay online via credit card.

There is a large network of free Wi-Fi hotspots in the city centre; check your device in the middle of a busy area and you may find one.

Many cafes and restaurants offer Wi-Fi - ask for password. Most bookstores offer free Wi-Fi, including "Dom Knigi" on New Arbat Street or "Respublika" bookstore on Tverskaya near Mayakovskaya Metro Station.

Some establishments that offer free Wi-Fi may require you to verify an authorization code sent to a Russian phone number before gaining access, but for the most part, foreign numbers also work as of 2016.

Cope [ edit ]

Embassies [ edit ].

Moscow is one of the global diplomatic capitals, competing with Berlin , Brussels , Beijing , Paris , London , Tokyo and Washington D.C. . Most of the world's countries have their embassies in the city.

Navigation menu

• International

Iran launches barrage of strikes toward Israel

By Tori B. Powell , Sophie Tanno, Emma Tucker , Kaanita Iyer , Paul LeBlanc and Adrienne Vogt , Jerome Taylor and James Legge, CNN

Our live coverage of Iran's attack on Israel has moved here .

Iran warns its response will be "stronger and more resolute" if Israel retaliates following latest strikes

From CNN’s Alireza Hajihosseini and Eyad Kourdi

Iran has warned that it will respond with more force if Israel retaliates over this weekend's strikes, which Tehran said were themselves a reply to an Israeli attack earlier this month on its embassy complex in Syria's capital Damascus.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right of self-defense when required," Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, said in a statement.

Citing self-defense against repeated Israeli military aggressions, Iravani said the strikes were specifically in retaliation to an Israeli attack on April 1 against what Iran says were diplomatic facilities in Damascus.

Iran claims the attack violated international law and led to the death of seven Iranian military advisors, including key commanders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The statement also criticizes the United Nations Security Council for “failing to uphold international peace,” allowing Israel to “breach” established international norms and “escalate” regional tensions.

Additional context: Israel has carried out numerous strikes on Iran-backed targets in Syria, often targeting weapons shipments allegedly intended for Hezbollah, a powerful Iranian proxy in Lebanon. 

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the April 1 attack which destroyed an Iranian consulate building in the capital Damascus, including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top Revolutionary Guards commander.

However an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told CNN that their intelligence showed the building was not a consulate and was instead “a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building.”

China expresses 'deep concern', calls for ceasefire

From CNN's Philip Wang and Irene Nasser

China has expressed "deep concern" over the "current escalation" following Iran's attack on Israel, according to a spokesperson for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, adding that it is a "spillover of the Gaza conflict" and a ceasefire should be implemented without delay.

In a statement, China called "on relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint to prevent further escalations."

"The ongoing situation is the latest spillover of the Gaza conflict," the spokesperson said, adding that a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas should be implemented without any more delay.

Beijing did not  name or condemn Hamas  in the wake of the initial October 7 attacks. Since then, it has condemned the war and been a vocal  proponent of an immediate ceasefire  and the implementation of a “two-state” solution.

Last month, Chinese diplomat Wang Kejian met Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, the first meeting between a Chinese and Hamas official publicly acknowledged by Beijing since the outbreak of the  war in Gaza .

Wang’s visit follows efforts by Beijing to step up its profile as a  peace broker in the Middle East conflict.

US forces intercepted 70+ drones and at least three ballistic missiles, US officials say

From CNN's Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky

US forces intercepted more than 70 one-way attack drones and at least three ballistic missiles during Iran's attack on Israel, according to two US officials familiar with the situation.

The ballistic missiles were intercepted by warships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, one of the officials said. Iran launched more than 100 ballistic missiles in total at Israel, according to a senior administration official.

The US Navy currently has two destroyers in that area, both are guided missile destroyers capable of intercepting missile and drone launches.

US fighter jets were also part of the response to Iran’s attack on Saturday and shot down drones launched towards Israel, another US official told CNN.

Biden to meet with G7 leaders Sunday as he condemns Iran's "brazen attack"

From CNN’s Lauren Koenig

US President Joe Biden will meet with G7 leaders Sunday “to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack,” according to a statement released by the White House. 

“My team will engage with their counterparts across the region. And we will stay in close touch with Israel’s leaders,” the statement from Biden reads. “And while we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today, we will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people.”

US defensive assets moved to the region earlier this week and “helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” according to the statement.

Biden also spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu following Saturday’s attack “to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel.” 

United Airlines cancels three Middle East flights

From CNN’s Sara Smart

At least three United Airlines flights headed to or departing from the Middle East have been canceled amid the ongoing conflict unfolding between Iran and Israel.

On Saturday a flight from Newark, New Jersey to Tel Aviv, a flight from Washington D.C. to Amman, Jordan, and one from Dubai to Newark were canceled, the airline told CNN in a statement.

There have been no changes to any Sunday flights for United as of Saturday night, according to the airline. 

CNN has reached out to other airlines regarding cancellations.

Biden told Netanyahu US will not participate in offensive operations against Iran, US official says

From CNN's MJ Lee

The US will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran, US President Joe Biden has made clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior administration official told CNN.

The comments were relayed during the phone call that the two leaders shared in the aftermath of Iran's retaliatory strikes against Israel.

Biden tells Netanyahu tonight was a win, nothing of "value" hit in Israel, US official says 

Israel should consider tonight a win because the current US assessment is that Iran’s attacks had been largely unsuccessful and demonstrated Israel’s superior military capability, President Joe Biden told Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their phone call, a senior administration official told CNN.

The US’s assessment tonight was that almost all of the drones and missiles – including more than 100 ballistic missiles -- launched by Iran had been knocked out of the sky. No cruise missile made impact, the official said, and nothing of “value” was hit. 

Bolton: 'Passivity at this point for Israel would be a big mistake'

From CNN's Heather Chen

John Bolton, the former US national security adviser and ambassador to the UN, said “passivity at this point for Israel would be a big mistake,” warning of more attacks. 

“This is not time to play academic games and message and signal. This is a question of power,” Bolton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. "If they came from a different location containing nuclear warheads, Israel might not be so lucky.”

A known Iran policy hawk, Bolton served in senior national security positions during the Trump and Bush administrations. A neoconservative, Bolton has in the past advocated war with Iran and a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.

In 2022, he was the target of an alleged assassination attempt orchestrated by a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

He has warned against underestimating Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran has said is for peaceful purposes only.

“I think we have enough experience with faulty intelligence by now, not to be so sure, not to know how much of Iran’s uranium enrichment program is really being conducted under a mountain in North Korea,” Bolton said.

If Tehran sent “a wire transfer to Pyongyang,” it would give the North Koreans “enough time to put a couple of warheads on an airplane and fly them to Tehran. (But) if you take away their nuclear capability, that would be a dramatic hit to the regime, maybe enough to topple it.”

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

Georgetown University Athletics

Hoyas to Face West Virginia in Big 12-BIG EAST Battle

4/25/2024 10:49:00 AM

• This will be the 54th meeting between the Hoyas and the Mountaineers with Georgetown owning the narrow 27-26 advantage.
• The game will renew a rivalry from when West Virginia competed in the BIG EAST Conference as full members from the 1995-96 season through the 2011-12 season.
• The last meeting was part of the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle, a 2020 showdown at McDonough Arena that WVU won 80-71. It was the second-straight contest between the two squads at McDonough as the former rivals faced each other in the 2014 National Invitation Tournament  with the Hoyas taking the 77-65 win. Despite the teams splitting the last two matchups, the Mountaineers have won six of the last seven matchups.
• Georgetown owns a 1-4 record in the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle. The Hoyas defeated Oklahoma State in Stillwater in 2019, before falling to West Virginia (2020, McDonough Arena), TCU (2021, Capital One Arena), Texas Tech (2022, Lubbock) and TCU (2023, Capital One Arena).
• Georgetown went 9-23 in the 2023-24 season with a 2-18 mark in BIG EAST play.
• Head Coach Ed Cooley has a 3-2 record in the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle with wins over Texas (2019), at TCU (2020) and Texas Tech (2021). Cooley's only losses have come at the hands of the Horned Frogs, first in 2022 and again in 2023.
• West Virginia went 9-23 during the 2023-24 season with a 4-14 mark in Big 12 action.
• The Mountaineers are led by Head Coach Darian DeVries who was announced as the 23rd head coach at West Virginia in March 2024.
• DeVries spent the previous six seasons at Drake, leading the Bulldogs to three Missouri Valley Conference titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Each conference has added member schools since the start of the original agreement. The Battle will include 11 matchups for the second straight season.
• The BIG EAST will host six games in 2024-25 while the Big 12 will host five.
• The Battle matchups are jointly determined by the two conferences, with the home team choosing the venue of its game.
• Broadcast arrangements for the contests will be determined by the national television rights holder of the home team, which is FOX Sports for the BIG EAST and ESPN for the Big 12. 

Thanks for visiting !

The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy.

We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here.

Thank you for your support!

was not found

• Skift Research
• Airline Weekly
• Skift Meetings
• Daily Lodging Report

A Deep Dive into Google Travel Part III: Hotel Distribution From East to West

Headline charts, methodology, key insight 1: booking holdings and expedia group dominate google’s sponsored results in every region, with booking.com bidding the most out of any ota, key insight 2: expedia.com is spending advertising dollars to be top-of-list option in sponsored results , key insight 3: booking holdings has a higher return on ad spend from google’s sponsored listings than expedia group , key insight 4: expedia and booking are focussing marketing efforts on their core brands , key insight 5: trip.com isn’t trying to compete with booking.com and expedia.com on sponsored results , key insight 6: the direct site is more prominent in the west than in the east, key insight 7: the ota market is more fragmented in the east than in the west, key insight 8: the direct site is cheaper more often in the west than in the east, key insight 9: google’s organic auction prioritizes the direct site in every region , key insight 10: the more branded the underlying hotel supply in a region, the lower the price parity displayed, further reading on online travel, related reports.

• India’s Travel Booking Landscape March 2024
• The Past, Present, and Future of Online Travel March 2024
• Skift Research Global Travel Outlook 2024 January 2024
• A Deep Dive into Google Travel Part II: U.S. vs Europe in 20 Charts November 2023

Report Overview

In Part 1 and Part 2 of our web scraping series on Google Hotels we scraped 5,000 hotels listed on Google Hotels across the U.S. and Europe respectively, collecting data on which OTAs and direct sites are bidding for hotel bookings. This report comprises the third and final part of our Google Hotels series, where we compare the results in the U.S. and Europe with data from Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. In total we will have web-scraped data from more than 20,000 hotels listed on Google globally, providing a unique and comprehensive overview of today’s online distribution landscape. 

What You'll Learn From This Report

• Unique and proprietary analysis based on web scraping of over 20,000 hotels listed on Google across the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa
• A comparison of which OTAs are bidding on Google's sponsored (paid) and organic (free) results across each region
• Analysis of the underlying hotel industry in each region - branded vs independent hotel supply mix, and market share of OTAs vs direct site
• Analysis of marketing spend efficiency from Booking and Expedia on sponsored results
• Price Parity across distribution channels in each region

From our web-scraping analyses of Google Hotels we have found three key global insights which hold true in all regions. 

Booking Holdings dominates paid sponsored results. Booking.com emerges as the predominant force in Google’s sponsored listings, consistently outspending other OTAs to feature most often in Google’s paid search results in every region.

Google Hotels’ organic auction prioritizes the direct site over the OTA sites. The official direct site features in Google’s organic auction less often in Asia and Middle East & Africa as compared to the U.S. and Europe. This is generally due to a more fragmented, un-branded underlying hotel supply in the East compared to the West, with indepent hotels having a greater reliance on the OTAs for distribution. However, every time the direct site does feature on Google’s organic auction, Google prioritizes it to the top of the list nearly 100% of the time.

The more branded the underlying hotel supply, the lower the price parity displayed. Google’s organic results show that hotels in Europe and Middle East & Africa display greater price parity (i.e. showing the same price across the various distribution channels per hotel listing) as compared to Asia Pacific and the U.S. Compared to smaller independent hotels that make up a larger share of hotel supply in Europe and Middle East & Africa, the large branded chains in the U.S. have the power of scale to negotiate their contracts with the OTAs such that they can provide exclusive rates through their loyalty programs.

We conducted an extensive data scraping exercise of Google’s map-based Google Hotels platform in order to understand Google’s role in the hotel distribution landscape: how hotels are listed on Google, which OTAs are bidding for bookings and whether Google is aiding direct bookings to compete more head-on with the online intermediaries. 

Using a combination of AI-powered Browse.ai and our own Python scripts, we scraped data from over 20,000 hotel listings globally – 5,000 hotels across each region of the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. In the U.S. we scraped data from roughly 100 hotels per state, across 50 states. In the other regions we scraped data from roughly 125 hotels per major city, across 40 cities in each region. We took care to remove vacation rentals and duplicated hotels from our sample.

For each hotel listing, we scraped the booking options and their corresponding prices across both the sponsored (paid) box and the organic (free) box, as can be shown in the screenshot below. The sponsored options box features on the top of the page and highlights a maximum of 4 booking options. The organic (free) “all options” box is displayed below the sponsored box and lists all the booking options available (can be more than 40 options) for that particular booking –with the large OTAs such as Booking and Expedia bidding alongside smaller intermediaries as well as the direct hotel website. In total, we scraped and analyzed more than 520k data points – 160k data points from the sponsored options (4 booking option names and their respective prices across 5,000 hotels/per each of the four regions) and more than 360k data points from the organic options.

We suggest reading A Deep Dive into Google Travel Part I: U.S. Hotel Distribution and A Deep Dive Into Google’s Impact on Travel 2022 for a further overview of Google Hotels’ role in today’s online distribution landscape. 

10 Key Insights

In the rest of this report we present our key findings and analyses from our web-scraping efforts of Google Hotels across the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. 

Booking.com is the dominating presence across Google’s sponsored results, paying to appear most often out of any other OTA in every region. Of the top 5 most frequently visible booking options in every region, collectively Booking and Expedia through their sub brands (such as Booking’s priceline.com and agoda.com and Expedia’s hotels.com) have outbid any local players. 

Even though Booking.com is featuring most frequently across all sponsored results in every region (as shown in key insight #1 above), we can see that Expedia.com is purposefully investing ad dollars to be the top-of-the-list option, in a clear – and literal – bid to outcompete Booking.com – particularly in regions such as Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa which are outside both Booking and Expedia’s respective home markets (Europe for Booking and U.S. for Expedia). 

In the analysis below we consider the market share of sponsored results versus the share of actual room nights sold online by both Booking and Expedia.This can provide a rough gauge of the marketing efficiencies of both companies in each region. 

Firstly, we can see that in every region both Booking and Expedia have a higher share of sponsored results than their actual share of hotel nights. In the U.S., collectively Booking and Expedia have 84% share of sponsored results but only 32% share of actual room nights. In Europe, Middle East & Africa, Booking and Expedia have 80% share of sponsored results, but only 27% share of actual room nights. In Asia Pacific, Booking and Expedia have 79% share of sponsored results, but only 10% share of actual room nights. The fact that Booking and Expedia dominate sponsored results goes to show the level of advertisement spend they are investing into Google.  

Booking and Expedia collectively have ~80-85% share of Google’s sponsored results globally, but their share of actual room nights sold online varies materially by region. For example, though Expedia’s ad spend is on parity with Booking in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific), it has a drastically lower share of actual room nights sold as compared to Booking – in EMEA Booking has 25% share of room nights sold online compared to just 2% for Expedia and in APAC Booking has a 9% share of room nights sold online compared to just 1% for Expedia. Clearly Booking is seeing greater marketing efficiency, but also benefits from having a more global reach with greater brand awareness as compared to Expedia which is much more focussed in its home U.S. market.

We can attempt to quantify the return on ad spend through Google’s sponsored results by considering the following calculation: market share of actual hotel room nights sold online divided by market share of sponsored results. As shown in the chart below, we can see that Booking Holdings is generally more efficient than Expedia Group in converting spend on sponsored results to actual bookings. By region, we can see that collectively Booking and Expedia have the highest marketing efficiency in the U.S. and Europe, Middle East & Africa vs in Asia Pacific.

Interestingly, if we compare Booking and Expedia with the direct site, we can see that collectively Booking and Expedia are spending significantly more advertisement dollars on Google’s sponsored results versus the direct sites of hotels, but for much less reward: in terms of actual rooms nights sold online the direct site has the same or higher share than Booking and Expedia at much less expenditure on Google.

In recent years, Expedia has focussed on its key brands Expedia.com and Hotels.com (and Vrbo.com in its vacation rental part of the business), whilst de-prioritizing smaller sites such as Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com (see Expedia’s 3 Core Brands, Explained ). The chart below proves that in every region Expedia’s marketing efforts on Google’s sponsored results are being targeted towards its main brands expedia.com and hotels.com. Smaller brands such as orbitz.com and travelocity.com hardly feature on sponsored results and brands such as hotwire.com did not appear even once in our web-scraping database. This is not to say that Expedia isn’t taking advantage of Google’s free organic auction, with all its sub-brands featuring in the organic results. 

For Booking Holdings, we see a similar trend, with marketing efforts tied predominantly to its eponymous booking.com brand, whilst still taking advantage of Google’s free auction to display other sub-brands such as agoda.com – particularly in Asia and the Middle East. 

We have already seen that Booking and Expedia dominate Google’s paid sponsored results, having the marketing budgets to outbid any local players. Trip.com however is far from being just a localized OTA (it is most well known in Asia but is quickly expanding in the Middle East and Europe) and we thought Trip.com might feature more often in Google’s sponsored search. However, the results show that Trip.com is not trying to compete with Booking.com and Expedia.com in Google’s paid search but will take full advantage of Google’s organic auction. For example Trip.com appears more often in the organic results in Asia than Booking.com or Expedia.com.

In Google’s organic results, the direct site competes head on with the OTAs more often in the U.S. and Europe than in Asia and Middle East & Africa – appearing in 81% of listings in the U.S. but only in 46% of listings in Asia and 34% of listings in the Middle East. 

The following four charts show that whilst the organic results in the U.S. is fairly democratized (with the top ~10 most commonly featured sites appearing as often as each other), in the rest of the world, there are 2-5 key players in each region which feature more frequently than others – and much more frequently than the direct site. 

The OTAs are generally more prominent in the East than in the West, having a much higher relative share as compared to the online direct sites in Asia and Middle East than in the U.S. and Europe. 

Generally the higher the share of hotel supply held by independent hotels, the greater the reliance on OTAs for bookings. Independent hotels are more likely to source their distribution from the OTAs vs the direct site because they usually lack the marketing budgets, tech capabilities, and large loyalty programs of the branded hotels necessary to obtain direct bookings. Even though Google’s introduction of organic listings now makes it free – and easier – for smaller independent hotels to list alongside the major brands and OTAs, there are still tech barriers in place such as needing a connectivity partner in order to display real-time rates and availability. 

In the two charts below we can see that there is a good correlation between independent hotels’ share of total hotel room supply vs the share of bookings made by OTAs, with hotels in Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa having a relatively higher reliance on OTAs than their counterparts in the West. 

As we can see above, there is a greater reliance on OTAs in the East than in the West, due to a relatively higher share of underlying hotel supply held by independent hotels. The charts below show that there is a more fragmented online distribution landscape in the East than in the West, with other OTAs outside of Booking and Expedia holding a relatively higher share of results on both Google’s sponsored and organic auction in the East than in the West. 

For example, in the sponsored results, other OTAs have a 16% share of results in Asia and 18% in the Middle East versus only 6% in the U.S. and 7% in Europe. The organic auction is certainly more democratized than the paid results, but here too we can see a longer tail of smaller OTAs bidding for bookings in the East than in the West. 

In the East more OTAs (primarily smaller local players) are bidding for bookings on Google’s organic auction than in the West. In Asia there are on average nearly 30 booking options per hotel compared to 16 options in the U.S.

The chart below shows that there is increased fragmentation occurring in all regions. Since 2019 the online hotels distribution market has become more fragmented, with Booking and Expedia collectively losing share of total hotel rooms night sold online in all regions. We believe Google’s introduction of organic results in its hotels auction has allowed for a greater democratization of the distribution landscape, with power and influence initially held by the duopoly of Expedia and Booking now being shared across a multitude of platforms such as other OTAs as well as the direct site.

We have seen above that the direct site features more often in Google’s organic auction in the West than in the East; this is largely due to the higher share of hotel supply held by branded hotels particularly in the U.S. The charts below show, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the direct site appears to be cheaper more often in the West than in the East: as a percentage of how often the direct site features on Google’s organic auction, we can see that the direct site is the cheapest option more often in the U.S. and Europe than in Asia and Middle East & Africa.

Despite the direct site appearing less often in the East than in the West, we can clearly see that Google nonetheless prioritizes the direct site over others in every region. The chart below shows that as a percentage of how often the direct site features in every region, there is a near 100% likelihood that the direct site will be the top-of-the-list option in the organic auction. 

We can see below that the official direct site has the greatest likelihood of topping the organic results in every region, outstripping other OTAs by a large margin – even in the East where the direct site inherently features less often compared to the U.S. For example in the Middle East, there is a 34% chance that the direct site will top the organic results (which is 96% of the time the direct site features – as we have shown above), followed then by booking.com which has a much lower 15% likelihood of topping the results. 

One of the key conclusions from Part I of our series on Google Hotels in the U.S. was that Google actively prioritizes the direct site over the OTAs even though it is far from being the cheapest price. We can see below that this observation holds for all other regions – going to show the role that Google plays in aiding the shift to direct bookings. 

One of the key conclusions from Part II of our series on Google Hotels was that stricter laws prohibiting price parity clauses in Europe do not necessarily lead to a more competitive pricing landscape, with Europe displaying similar levels of price parity within the organic auction in both Europe and U.S., despite Europe having stricter laws prohibiting price parity across OTAs and the direct site. Our analysis was corroborated by  analysis from the European commission which found that “the laws prohibiting OTA parity clauses do not have a noticeable effect on hotels’ price differentiation strategies” – this is despite hotels having more freedom to set their own prices as per the diminished influence of rate parity clauses. 

We repeat our price parity analysis across Asia and Middle East & Africa. Below we show an interesting trend – that the more branded the underlying hotel supply in a region, the lower the price parity displayed. For example, the U.S. which has the highest share of branded hotels as a percentage of total hotel room supply out of any region (more than 70% of rooms in the U.S. are branded versus only ~40% in Europe), displays the lowest levels of price parity across Google’s organic results– only 12% of hotels show the same price in the U.S. versus more than 15% of hotels in the Middle East. 

Compared to smaller independent hotels that make up a larger share of hotel supply in the East, the large branded chains in the U.S. have the power of scale to negotiate their contracts with the OTAs such that they can provide exclusive rates through their loyalty programs, whilst the independent hotels are largely reliant on the OTAs for distribution. This is further exemplified by our findings in in key insight #8 which showed that the direct site is cheaper more often in the West than in the East. 

Much of the key insights in this report can be explained by regional differences in 1) the underlying mix of branded vs independent hotel rooms and 2) the market share of OTAs vs direct hotels. Generally, the hotel market in the East is more fragmented and un-branded than hotels in the West. This means that the direct hotel is less prominent in the East than in the West with the OTAs in the East having a higher relative share vs the online-direct site. We have also seen from our analysis that the direct site features less often in the East and also tends to be cheaper less often. The OTA landscape in the East is also more fragmented compared to the West, with a longer tail of small online players bidding for bookings.

However, regardless of the regional differences between distribution environments, we have also observed some trends which are true across all regions. In Part 1 of our Google Hotels series we wrote that though the major OTAs (Booking Holdings and Expedia Group) dominate Google’s paid sponsored listings, Google’s introduction of organic results has leveled the distribution playing field. We have seen in all regions that the organic auction has allowed the direct site and smaller OTAs to compete head-on with Booking and Expedia, with Google prioritizing the direct site by placing it as the top-of-list option nearly 100% of the time it features – even though it might not offer the cheapest price.  In Part 1 we wrote that “Google is playing an increasingly important role in the disintermediation and disruption of the legacy OTAs by aiding the shift to direct bookings” – this continues to hold true across all the regions we analyzed.

The Past, Present, and Future of Online Travel – The rise of OTAs during the post-GFC era marked a golden decade of market share gains for Booking and Expedia, fueled by the shift to online bookings and a consolidated distribution landscape. However, today the legacy OTAs face slowing growth, heightened competition, and shrinking profit margins. With increased competition from tech-savvy direct hotel brands and new players entering the market, the future of OTA market share hangs in the balance. Yet, Booking and Expedia are not backing down, doubling down on innovation and expansion efforts to maintain their foothold in the industry – albeit at the cost of lower profit margins. Ultimately, the future of the online travel market will likely be shaped by who can best balance innovation with efficiency whilst establishing enduring customer loyalty. 

Sun 28 Apr 2024

2024 newspaper of the year

@ Contact us

Your newsletters

May 2024 strikes: Full list of walkout dates, from trains and Tube to flights

Strikes on the uk's rail network and at heathrow airport are set to disrupt travel in may.

With two bank holidays the month of May is often seen as the perfect time to get away but this year that could be hampered by a series of strikes which will cause travel chaos.

Rail services, the London Underground and Heathrow Airpor t will all be hit by industrial action this month, some of it coinciding with the first May bank holiday.

Train drivers union Aslef, Tube workers who are members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) and around 800 members of the union Unite based at Heathrow are all to stage walkouts or overtime bans during the month.

It means travel disruption will be inevitable for some this month.

When are the train strikes?

Train drivers union Aslef has announced its members will walk out in another series of one-day strikes, coupled with a six-day overtime ban.

This will affect 16 train companies with which the union is still in dispute. over pay for drivers.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “Drivers would not vote to strike if they thought an offer was acceptable.

“They don’t. And that offer – now a year old – is dead in the water.”

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents rail companies, said: “This wholly unnecessary strike action called by the ASLEF leadership will sadly disrupt customers and businesses once again, while further damaging the railway at a time when taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running.

“We continue to seek a fair agreement with the ASLEF leadership which both rewards our people, gives our customers more reliable services and makes sure the railway isn’t taking more than its fair share from taxpayers.”

The industrial action will be on:

Tuesday 7 May – affecting c2c, Gatwick Express, Greater Anglia (which includes Stansted Express), Great Northern, Southeastern, Southern, South Western Railway (which includes Island Line) and Thameslink.

Wednesday 8 May – Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway.

Thursday 9 May – LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express.

There will also be an overtime ban from Monday 6 May to Saturday 11 May which may alter the timetable of trains that will be running.

Passengers are advised to check before they travel, as the action is likely to lead to delays and cancellations.

When are the Tube strikes?

Members of TSSA rail union working as customer service manager on the London Underground are already going on strike on Friday 26 April .

TSSA Customer Service Managers at London Underground will also take part in an overtime ban from Monday 29 April to Friday 5 May , which will include the May bank holiday.

This overtime ban is expected to lead to station closures at very short notice.

TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “We will continue to take sustained action until London Underground is prepared to negotiate with us in good faith.”

Transport for London, which runs London Underground, has said it is “disappointed” by the planned action and has urged TSSA urge TSSA to “continue to work with us to help find a resolution.”

A planned strike by Aslef members on the London Underground for Saturday 4 May has now been called off.

When are the Heathrow Airport strikes?

Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport, is facing major disruption in May with a series of strikes across different departments.

Unite union has said almost 800 members will be taking part in a week of strike action beginning at 12.01am on Tuesday 7 May and ending at 11.50pm on Monday 13 May in a dispute over the outsourcing of jobs.

Jobs in passenger services (assisting travellers to catch connecting flights), trolley operations and campus security (security guards responsible for workers at Heathrow and vehicles being checked entering Heathrow) are expected to be outsourced by 1 June.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Heathrow Airport’s actions are deplorable, it is raking in massive profits for the bosses while trying to squeeze every last penny out of its workforce.”

Unite members from passenger services, trolley operations, campus security, firefighters and airside operations will strike from 7 May up to and including 13 May.

In a separate dispute, Unite members at AFS Ltd, an airline refuelling company, are also taking part in industrial action at Heathrow Airport on Saturday 4 May , Sunday 5 May and Monday 6 May (bank holiday) over pay and conditions.

Unite said the action will “inevitably cause widespread disruption across the airport leading to delays and disruption.”

A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: “We are reorganising our operations to deliver better results for our customers.

“There are no job losses as a result of these changes, and we continue to discuss with Unite the implementation of these changes for the small number of colleagues impacted.

Unite’s threats of potential industrial action are unnecessary, and customers can be reassured that we will keep the airport operating smoothly just like we have in the past.”

Border Force staff, who are members of the PCS union, and responsible for immigration controls and passport checks are due to go on strike for four days between Monday 29 April and Thursday 2 May in the run-up to the bank holiday.

Most Read By Subscribers