Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
The Blue Ridge Parkway winds for 469 miles through the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, a road built for slow driving and long views over the Appalachian Highlands. The National Park Service, which runs it, lists about 300 miles of walking trails along the way and updates its road closures page daily.
Gentle£100 to £500 / $130 to $650A few weeksOutdoorsAlone or with othersVirginia, North Carolina
How to start
- Read the National Park Service's Plan Your Visit pages for the Parkway and choose your start and finish.
- Check the Current Road Status and Closures page before you set off and again each morning.
- Book overnight stops along the route and pick a few trails to walk between drives.
Where to go
We opened this link on 8 October 2026 and found it to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. The hard part of a day out is the timing: the right season, tickets and getting there. The plan watches the calendar for you.
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