Is the Pan-American Highway the ultimate road trip?

Ask your friends what their idea of a cool road trip is and you’ll get some great suggestions. South of France in summer in a convertible. Safari in Africa in a jeep. Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.

But you can laugh in the face of their puny routes by answering with the Mother of all Road Trips – the Pan-American Highway (PAH). Traveling from the top of Alaska to the tip of Tierra del Fuego, this is the tire-testing, jawdropping, gas-guzzling journey that will impress all your friends.

A highway through dense forest, with a large mountain looming above — Driving the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93), in Alberta province, Canada © Feng Wei Photography / Getty Images

History of the Pan-American Highway

In 1889 at the First International Conference of American States, the USA proposed closer links to its neighbors via a continent-spanning railroad. The idea never amounted to much but years later, at the Fifth International Conference held in Chile in 1923, a Pan-American Highway was proposed. This time the idea received a more enthusiastic response from the participating nations, though it wasn’t until the sixth conference, in Cuba in 1928, that the proposal was approved.

The suggestion was to have the highway start in Mexico and run south to Buenos Aires, and it was the financial support from the United States that was key to its development, even though the US didn’t have an official part of the PAH running through it.

Creating the PAH was a slow process, with war, money and lack of governmental cooperation providing constant issues, but it’s now possible to travel the length of the Americas (more or less) by car.

The route

First off, there is no one route. The original and only official section of highway runs from Laredo in northern Mexico to the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, but there are many branches that allow you to cover the full Arctic to almost Antarctic distance, adding up to a whopping 30,000 miles/48,000km in total.

Aerial view of the Mexico City's grid layout, with a white domed building in the foreground, and a taller structure to the right — The original Pan-American Highway is from Laredo to Mexico City © Alija / Getty Images

North America

Prudhoe Bay in is the starting point if you’re heading north–south. From here, the PAH continues into where a few different routes head further south into the United States.

It’s here that things get a little confusing as the US federal government has declared ALL interstate roads to be part of the Pan-American Highway. On our map, we’ve chosen the best north–south freeways that link up with the main and official PAH in Mexico, passing through spectacular landscapes, cute small towns and famous cities like , and on the way.

The original Pan-American Highway begins in Laredo, , just across the border from in Texas, and continues to . A separate route runs down Mexico’s western coastline before joining up with the original road in Mexico City.

<span class="caption">The North America section of the Pan-American Highway runs from the top of Alaska to the jungles and capitals of Central America.</span>

Central America

From Mexico the PAH passes through every capital, except Honduras’ Tegucigalpa (though it passes just 60 miles/100km south of it), before it hits the only section that can’t be traveled by car – the Darien Gap, an area of mountains and jungle about 50 miles/80km long, lying between and Colombia.

A cobbled street lined with colorful painted low-rise properties. A yellow arch with a clock on the top rises over the street. A large mountain covered with cloud looms over the town — The historic center of Antigua, Guatemala © SL_Photography / Getty Images

Environmental concerns and the opposition of local people have consistently put a stop to any road building in the area, meaning that this stretch can only be covered by plane, with your vehicle traveling separately in a shipping container. Crossing the region by bike or on foot is not advisable because of the difficult terrain and possibility of dangerous smuggler gangs.

South America

The PAH picks up again in Turbo, before continuing south, following the western side of South America through (including the capital ) and (including the capital ) and on into . Here a branch makes its way to Quellón while the main route heads to and .

A small harbor lined with boats and catamarans; snow-capped mountains rise behind the town — Ushuaia, Argentina, marks the end of the Pan-American Highway © saiko3p / Shutterstock

Another branch then diverges to and north into , passing through on the way to , while those determined to get to the southernmost point of the PAH head in the opposite direction to mind-blowing natural beauty and the road’s final destination, on the main island of , at the bottom of the planet.