Essential road, victoriaprobably the one in this section

Essential travel music for each of your favourite destinations. What makes a road trip a road trip? Some may paint pictures of travelling in rickety campervans or revving through windswept highways, but #ioho, what makes a road trip is the humble car music. The music sets the tone; it creates a shared environment and understanding for those in the car that they are setting off on an adventure to new places. In this instalment of our road trip guide, we scour the internet for the perfect music playlist to match the best road trips in the world – load up your Spotify or Apple Music with these ear candies and drive on! The Great Ocean Road, Victoria, AustraliaAustralia road trip: Australiana, AC/DC, and loads of indieThe Great Ocean Road, VictoriaProbably the one in this section that needs no introduction, the Great Ocean Road is a 224km coastal stretch that no doubt lives up to its hype as one of the most beautiful road trips in the world, let alone Australia. Soak up the beach vibes with the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2018 music playlist (on Spotify), curated by one of Melbourne’s biggest indie music tastemakers. The Alpine Way, New South WalesDramatic alpine views in Down Under? Check.

The 108km Kosciuszko – Alpine Way drive is a picturesque sprawl of mountainous vistas and forest-lined river banks. What better way then, to meet the mountains’ roar than with the rock of Australia’s most famous four-piece, in Apple Music’s AC/DC Essentials music playlist? Heritage Highway, TasmaniaWith plenty of farmland and old-town stopovers, Tassie’s (Australians’ term of endearment for Tasmania) Heritage Highway is a 200km journey for those who like their road trips with a large slice of history. This calls for a chill-out with an Australiana folk playlist – Woodford Folk Festival (Spotify only) does a great one up each year, to reflect the evolving cross-section of the country’s folk scene.

Bandai-Azuma Skyline, Fukushima, JapanJapan Road Trip: J-pop, city pop, and some crossoversIroha-zaka, TochigiThe 48 winding hairpin turns of Iroha-zaka are best not for the faint-hearted (read: easily motion-sick), which is something of a theme in Japan’s best highway drives. As you rev your modern ride on this ancient road, enjoy the aptness of Spotify Japan’s X-Over ??? (pronounced: ‘ crossover jazz-zu’) music playlist with accents of soul, jazz and chill-hop. Bandai-Azuma Skyline, FukushimaWith a 4. 5 average rating on Tripadvisor, we’ve included the admittedly short 28. 7 km Bandai-Azuma Skyline on this list for its rather breathtaking views from Mt. Azuma (and hot spring stopovers, of course). We’d love to tell you to play the psychedelic sounds of this Japanese Buddhist sound art show, but you will probably be better off with the selection of boppity J-pop on Apple Music’s A List: J-Pop music playlist.

Hakone Turnpike, KanagawaRegarded as one of the best driving roads in the country, the Hakone Turnpike is one for the auto-fanatics (and before you can say “ Fujiwara Tofu Store,” let us just say: no speeding or drifting, please). To match this one-of-a-kind driving experience, dig into this music playlist of feel-good city pop (a niche genre of mostly-80s Japanese pop having a mini-revival as an urban driving soundscape). Overseas Highway, Florida, USAUS Road Trip: Modern anthems and mystical bluesGreat River Road, Minnesota to Louisiana Unlike Japan, you’ll find that the best road trips in the US are often the ones that run over really long distances. Like the Great River Road that hugs the mighty Mississippi River – all 3329. 7km of it, according to Wikipedia. With the backdrop of time-forged Mississippi Delta blues (on this massive Spotify music playlist), you’ll be caught up in road trip magic dust in no time. Overseas Highway, FloridaThe 182km Overseas Highway from Miami to Key West in Florida sounds like a short drive compared to other interstate road trips in the States, but with 42 overseas bridges, it’s undoubtedly one of the most beautiful. Float on the sea as you drive with this excellent cut of modern mainstream anthems curated by Miami’s Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival (Spotify only).

Route 66, Illinois to Chicago Route 66: the majestic freeway that could hold the title of being the most referenced road in popular culture. What more can we add on about it? Probably that Buzzfeed has created an awesome music playlist/love letter to roadtrippers daring enough to tackle this bucket list wonder. To help you get ready for your next adventure, do check out our other article on mobile must-haves for your road trip as well.

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