Scenic detours worth the miles, and how to tell

The detour is where road trips are won and lost. The right one becomes the story you tell for years. The wrong one is an hour of driving to a parking lot and a shrug. The trouble is that from the map they look identical, so people either take every detour and exhaust themselves, or skip them all and miss the point of driving.

Ask what it adds, honestly

A detour is worth it when the thing at the end is meaningfully different from what you are already seeing, and when the added time is small relative to what it gives back. A canyon overlook twenty minutes off a flat highway is almost always worth it. A second waterfall on a day that already has three is usually not. The question is not is it nice. Almost everything is nice. The question is will we be glad we stopped, given the hour it costs.

• Different, not more: a detour that changes the scenery beats one that gives you more of the same.
• Cheap in time: under an hour added is an easy yes, two hours needs to be special.
• Timed right: a viewpoint at golden hour or a swim on a hot afternoon is worth more than the same stop at a bad time.
• Room to enjoy it: a detour you rush through to make up time is not really a detour, it is a chore.

The best detours are the ones you would still take if you knew exactly how long they would cost.

Priya Anand, Roamly

Let the route protect your time

The reason Roamly surfaces detours separately, with the time they add and one honest line on why they are worth it, is so the decision is yours and it is informed. It will not pad a trip with filler stops to look generous, and it will leave a detour out when it does not earn its hour. Whatever you decide, check hours and seasonal access before you commit, because the best overlook in the state is no help if the road to it is closed.