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Ascenic route,tourist road,tourist drive,scenic byway, orholiday road is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or culturalbeauty. It often passes byscenic viewpoints. The designation is usually determined by a governmental body, such as aDepartment of Transportation or aMinistry of Transport.
Atourist highway,tourist route, orholiday route is a road that ismarketed as being particularly suited fortourists. Tourist highways may be formed when existing roads are promoted withtraffic signs andadvertising material. Some tourist highways such as theBlue Ridge Parkway are built especially for tourism purposes.[1] Others may be roadways enjoyed by local citizens in areas of unique or exceptional natural beauty, such as theLake District. Still others, such as theLincoln Highway in Illinois are former main roads, only designated as "scenic" after most traffic bypasses them (termedscenic highway in the United States). Some tourist routes, such asGreat West Way, can be described as 'multi-modal', able to be followed by a mix of transportation types, including road, waterway, rail, bicycle or on foot.
In Europe and other countries around the world, they are often marked with browntourist signs with the individual route symbol or name, or both.
In the United States, ascenic route may also refer to a type ofspecial route of theU.S. highway system that travels through a particularly beautiful area. These special routes, which boast "Scenic" banners are typically longer than the "parent route". There is only one route in the country that remains with the official scenic designation:U.S. Route 40 Scenic inMaryland.
Scenic byways in the United States also include state,National Scenic Byway,National Forest Scenic Byways andBureau of Land Management Back Country Byways programs which designate roads or routes as scenic byways due to some unique characteristics.
National Parkways are scenic roads in theNational Park System built for recreational driving through scenic or historic areas. Unlike most scenic routes, National Parkways are built with a buffer of park land along both sides of the roadway. They also may have large satellite parks or recreation areas built periodically along their length.
MostNational Historic Trails are commemorative motor routes which follow historic pathways.
Theme routes are special theme-based tours, aimed at providing a visitor or tourist with a better insight on that theme. Being popular in Europe, they can cover anything from an individual city, a wine growing region,Dutch tulip fields,Swiss Mountains, toNorwegian Fjords. Subjects can be architectural, historical, or cultural.
Examples of theme routes:
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