New York to Los Angeles

Three weeks from New York to Los Angeles, which is the crossing done at speed: twenty-one nights, around 3,200 miles, and no doubling back. Flights, car and hotels are arranged together from the UK with a road book for the driving.

Three nights in New York open it, then the car at Newark and a fast run west through the Finger Lakes to Niagara Falls and Detroit, with two nights in Chicago. Route 66 is picked up at Springfield in Illinois on the way to St Louis, then Kansas City and a night on the Kansas plains before two nights in Denver, which the page sensibly suggests using to get used to the altitude.

The second half is the reward. The road crosses the Rockies into Utah for two nights at Moab, with Arches on one day and Canyonlands on the other. Bryce Canyon and Zion follow, then two nights in Las Vegas and two in Los Angeles, finishing at the Santa Monica pier where Route 66 runs out.

Thirteen stops over twenty-one nights, so this moves at a genuine pace. Worth being direct about the season: the Colorado Rockies, the Kansas plains and Bryce Canyon at eight thousand feet are all serious winter propositions and the page says nothing about it, so settle the dates when you enquire. The itinerary is bespoke, with nights addable and stops removable, and departures arranged around your dates. It suits anyone who wants to say they drove across America and would rather do it in three weeks than six.