A practical 7-day itinerary for Nevada's Highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America, from Carson City east to Great Basin National Park: where to stop, drive times and tips.
Nevada's Highway 50 was branded the Loneliest Road in America by Life magazine in 1986, which warned drivers to stay away unless they had survival skills. The towns along it took the insult as a badge of honour, and the route has been quietly rewarding travellers ever since. This Loneliest Road in America road trip itinerary breaks the 400-mile crossing into a relaxed seven days, with realistic driving legs and a clear sense of where to linger.
The drive runs west to east across the middle of Nevada, from Carson City near Lake Tahoe to Great Basin National Park on the Utah border. In between you cross a dozen mountain ranges and wide sagebrush valleys, passing through Fallon, the silver towns of Austin and Eureka, and the copper city of Ely. It is a one-way crossing rather than a there-and-back: most travellers carry on into Utah or head back west on the interstate.
This is a solitude-and-history drive, not a white-knuckle adventure. It suits travellers who like empty roads, frontier towns, dark skies and a national park without the crowds, and who do not mind long gaps between towns and fuel stops. Any car handles the paved two-lane highway in summer.
Seven days is comfortable: a night in each town and two at Great Basin, with time for the caves, the Wheeler Peak drive and a clear night under the stars. You can drive the whole road in two long days, but the appeal is in slowing down.
Start in Nevada's compact state capital under the Sierra. See the Nevada State Railroad Museum, then stock up on fuel, water and snacks before the quiet miles begin.
Drop down to the farming oasis of Fallon. On the way out, stop at the Grimes Point petroglyphs and Sand Mountain, a 600-foot dune that hums as the sand shifts.
Climb into the Toiyabe foothills to Austin, a half-ghost silver town at 6,600 feet. Visit Stokes Castle, a lone stone tower with valley views, and walk the old churches and trails.
Eureka calls itself the friendliest town on the loneliest road, and it has one of the best-preserved 1870s main streets in the West. Tour the restored Opera House and the brick courthouse.
Ely is the hub of the eastern half. Ride the heritage steam trains of the Nevada Northern Railway, see the beehive-shaped Ward Charcoal Ovens, and detour to Cave Lake.
Eight days through the finest UNESCO towns of Bohemia and Moravia: Prague's Astronomical Clock, the bone church of Kutná Hora, Telč's Renaissance square, the fairy-tale castle bend of Český Krumlov and Pilsner Urquell in Plzeň.
Finish at Great Basin, one of America's least-visited national parks. Tour Lehman Caves, drive the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to alpine lakes and 4,000-year-old bristlecone pines, and stay out after dark for the stargazing.
Keep the western legs short and the eastern end generous. Two nights at Great Basin lets you book a Lehman Caves tour, drive Wheeler Peak and still catch a clear night sky without rushing.
Late May to October is the window. The Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive is closed by snow from roughly November to May, and nights at Austin, Ely and the park are cold even in summer, so pack layers.
This is a self-drive route on a well-maintained paved highway, so any car will do. The catch is distance between services: fuel stations and shops can be 70 miles or more apart. Top up the tank in every town, carry water and snacks, and download offline maps, as mobile signal is patchy across the valleys.
Watch for free-range cattle and wildlife on the road, especially at dawn and dusk. Summer afternoons can bring sudden thunderstorms over the ranges. Reserve Lehman Caves tours in advance on recreation.gov, as they sell out in summer, and check that the Wheeler Peak road is open before you arrive.
Ready to plan it in detail? Use our full Loneliest Road route below to see every stop, driving leg and overnight on the map.
From Cambridge's Gothic spires to Ely's cathedral rising above the flat Fens, this journey through Cambridgeshire takes in Bronze Age causeways, a Norman cathedral with a theatrical three-arched West Front, and Stamford, England's finest stone town.
The full route — stops, maps, and driving times — is on Routebook by Kington.
A 7-day, 400-mile traverse of Nevada's Highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America, from Carson City east through frontier mining towns to the dark skies and alpine peaks of Great Basin National Park.
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