Some of the best road trips cover under 500 kilometres in total. Dense variety within a small area beats a long route with empty stretches, and it changes what a week can be.
Slovenia
The strongest compact option in Europe. The country crosses in three hours and holds Alps, karst, a coastline and a capital.
Ljubljana — small, riverside, walkable.
Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj, half an hour apart, with Bohinj the larger and quieter.
The Vršič Pass — 50 hairpins over the Julian Alps, built by prisoners of war, and open roughly May to October.
The Soča valley — an implausibly turquoise river, with rafting and First World War history.
The Karst — Škocjan and Postojna caves, and the Lipica stud farm.
Piran, a Venetian town on the short Adriatic coast.
A week, and no drive over two hours.
Western Ireland, one section
The Wild Atlantic Way is 2,500 km. It is designed to be taken in pieces.
Connemara and Mayo — bog, mountains, Killary fjord, Achill Island.
Dingle and Iveragh — the two Kerry peninsulas, with Slea Head and the Ring of Kerry. Drive the Ring anticlockwise, since coaches go clockwise and meeting them on a single-track section is unpleasant.
Donegal — Slieve League's cliffs, Glenveagh, and almost no visitors.
Each fills a week with short daily drives.
The Dolomites
A loop of the passes — Sella, Pordoi, Gardena, Falzarego — covers spectacular ground in a very small area.
The full Sella Ronda circuit is about 55 km and takes a day with stops.
Base in Cortina, Val Gardena or Alta Badia and radiate out. Nothing is more than an hour away.
Cable cars do the climbing, so a day can include a high walk without a long drive.
The Peloponnese
Greece's mainland peninsula, with more per kilometre than almost anywhere.
Nafplio as a base, with Mycenae and Epidaurus within half an hour.
Mystras, a Byzantine city on a hillside.
Monemvasia, a fortified town on a rock, invisible from the landward side.
The Mani, with stone tower villages.
Ancient Olympia, inland.
A week, with beaches throughout.
Hokkaido, Japan
Compact by Japanese standards, with empty roads that feel unlike the rest of the country.
Furano and Biei for the rolling farmland and flower fields.
Daisetsuzan for the mountains.
Shiretoko for the wild peninsula.
Roads are good, traffic is light, and distances are Japanese rather than American.
The Basque country
San Sebastián, Bilbao, the coast between them, and the Rioja Alavesa vineyards inland.
Everything within ninety minutes, with the best eating in Spain and a green landscape that surprises people expecting Spanish heat.
What these have in common
Mountains and coast close together, which produces landscape change without transit.
Somewhere worth two nights in the middle, so the trip has a pause in it.
Short legs, which means the driving is a pleasure rather than a cost.