Route 66 Holiday Packages from the UK 2026: The Classic American Road Trip Guide
Route 66 is not primarily a road. A Route 66 holiday package from the UK is the classic American road trip — 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica through eight states of extraordinary landscape and culture. It is an idea — the American idea of freedom, self-determination, and the possibility of driving west until you hit the Pacific Ocean and something in your life has changed. The 2,400-mile stretch of the original US Highway 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, passes through eight states and three time zones, crosses the Painted Desert and the Mojave, threads through neon-lit small towns that exist only because Route 66 passed through them, and ends on the Santa Monica Pier with the Pacific Ocean at your feet and 2,400 miles of America behind you. A Route 66 holiday package from the UK is one of the most complete American travel experiences available — a 14 to 16-night journey combining driving freedom with luxury accommodation across eight states.
Specifically, for UK travellers, a Route 66 holiday package in 2026 is one of the most complete American travel experiences available — a 14 to 16-night journey that combines driving freedom with luxury accommodation at anchor cities, curated cultural stops, and the specific quality of experience that only the American road provides. This guide covers everything you need to plan it properly.
Your Route 66 Holiday Package — Route 66 holiday: The Route: Chicago to Santa Monica, Broken Into Stages
However, the classic Route 66 direction is east to west — Chicago to Santa Monica. This is the historical direction (the road was built to connect the industrial Midwest to California during the Dust Bowl migration) and the psychologically correct direction (you are moving toward the Pacific, toward warmth, toward the end of the journey). Flying into Chicago O’Hare and returning from Los Angeles International is the standard UK routing — a convenient one-way flight structure that Icelandair, British Airways, and American Airlines all accommodate with open-jaw tickets.
Stage 1: Chicago, Illinois (2 nights)
Chicago is the starting city and one of the great American cities in its own right — the birthplace of the skyscraper, the home of deep-dish pizza and the Chicago Blues, a city with a lakefront architecture that rivals any European waterfront. The Architecture River Cruise (90 minutes, the best introduction to Chicago’s extraordinary built environment), Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate sculpture, the Art Institute of Chicago (one of the finest art museums in the USA), and a blues night at Kingston Mines or Buddy Guy’s Legends are essential Chicago experiences. Best luxury hotel in Chicago: The Langham Chicago (in a former IBM tower designed by Mies van der Rohe, from approximately £350/night); The Peninsula Chicago (the finest hotel on the Magnificent Mile, from approximately £400/night).
Stage 2: Springfield to St Louis, Missouri (2 nights)
The first section of Route 66 through Illinois and into Missouri is the most historically authentic — small towns like Pontiac, Dwight, and Litchfield still have the original neon-signed motels, diners, and roadside attractions that characterised the road in its 1940s and 50s peak. Springfield, Illinois (Abraham Lincoln’s home city — the Lincoln Presidential Museum is outstanding) and St Louis, Missouri (the Gateway Arch, the best piece of public architecture in the American Midwest, visible from 30 miles) are the anchor cities. Best luxury hotel in St Louis: The Angad Arts Hotel (boutique, design-forward, from approximately £200/night). For more, see our Luxury Usa Holiday Packages guide.
Stage 3: Oklahoma City and Amarillo, Texas (2 nights)
Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle provide the most quintessentially American sections of Route 66 — wide open sky, cattle ranches, oil derricks, and towns with names like Erick, Sayre, and McLean that exist entirely because Route 66 passed through them. Amarillo, Texas is the midpoint city — the Big Texan Steak Ranch (a Route 66 institution since 1960, offering a free 72oz steak to anyone who can eat it in under an hour) is obligatory. The Palo Duro Canyon State Park, 30 miles south of Amarillo, is the “Grand Canyon of Texas” — a spectacular red rock canyon that almost no international tourists visit despite being genuinely extraordinary. Best hotel in Amarillo: The Nat, a boutique hotel in downtown Amarillo (from approximately £150/night).
Stage 4: New Mexico and the Painted Desert (2 nights)
New Mexico is where Route 66 becomes visually overwhelming — the landscape transitions from flat Texas grassland to the high desert of the Colorado Plateau, with the Painted Desert to the north, the Petrified Forest National Park to the south, and Albuquerque’s Old Town (the oldest European settlement in the American Southwest, founded in 1706) as the cultural anchor. The Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque turn pink at sunset — explaining their name (Spanish for watermelon). Santa Fe (a 90-minute detour from Route 66 but entirely worth it — one of the most distinctive cities in the USA, a concentration of Native American art, Spanish colonial architecture, and extraordinary food) is an optional but strongly recommended addition. For more, see our West Coast Usa Holiday Packages guide.
Stage 5: Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, Arizona (2 nights)
Arizona is the visual peak of Route 66 — the red rock landscape of Sedona, the prehistoric cliff dwellings of Montezuma Castle, the 50,000-year-old Meteor Crater, and the terminus of the 85-mile road from Route 66 to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. A sunrise at the Grand Canyon South Rim — arriving in darkness, watching the canyon emerge from nothing as the light increases, with the Colorado River 1,800 metres below glinting silver in the first light — is one of the most powerful natural experiences on earth. Two nights in Flagstaff with a Grand Canyon day trip (or one night at the El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim for the full sunrise experience) is the optimal Arizona allocation. Best Grand Canyon hotel: El Tovar Hotel, directly on the South Rim (a Fred Harvey hotel operating since 1905, from approximately £250/night — book 6 months in advance).
Stage 6: Las Vegas, Nevada (2 nights)
Route 66 does not pass through Las Vegas — the modern I-40 bypasses it entirely — but Las Vegas is a natural and irresistible addition for UK travellers on the Route 66 circuit, easily reached by a 2.5-hour drive north from Flagstaff via Kingman. Two nights in Las Vegas mid-itinerary provides the spectacle interlude before the final California push. See our complete Las Vegas guide within our Vegas and Hawaii holiday packages page for hotel and experience recommendations. For more, see our Vegas Hawaii Holiday Packages guide.
Stage 7: The Mojave Desert and Santa Monica, California (2 nights)
The final stretch from Needles through the Mojave Desert to Barstow and then down through San Bernardino and Pasadena to Santa Monica is the denouement. The Mojave at dawn — the Joshua Trees, the silence, the surreal light — is one of the most cinematically American landscapes on the entire route. The Route 66 official end point at the Santa Monica Pier, where a small sign marks the terminus of the highway at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, is a genuinely moving conclusion to the journey. Stand at the end of the pier, look west, and feel 2,400 miles of America behind you. Then spend the afternoon in Venice Beach, dinner on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and a final night at a Santa Monica or Beverly Hills hotel before flying home from LAX.
How to Structure a UK Route 66 Holiday Package
The key decisions for a UK Route 66 holiday are: hire car vs guided tour vs self-drive; accommodation mix (full luxury hotels at every stop vs motels for authenticity vs a mix); and whether to add Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and the Grand Canyon as extensions.
Self-drive (our recommendation): Route 66 is designed for self-driving and the freedom to stop when something interesting appears is core to the experience. A hire car (automatic, GPS included) collected at Chicago O’Hare and returned at LAX is the practical solution — open-jaw hire cars are standard and straightforward. The road itself is very well signposted and the Historic Route 66 brown tourist signs mark every section of the original alignment.
Guided tour: For travellers who want someone else to manage the logistics (accommodation booking, car navigation, cultural context), a guided Route 66 tour with a small group or private guide is an excellent alternative. We work with specialist Route 66 tour operators who provide expert driver-guides for the complete itinerary. SuperDestinations coordinates these as part of the package.
Route 66 Holiday Costs from the UK
- 14 nights self-drive (mid-range accommodation, luxury at Chicago + LA): From £2,200 to £3,500 per person including flights and hire car
- 16 nights with Las Vegas and Santa Fe additions: From £2,800 to £4,500 per person
- 16 nights premium (luxury hotels throughout, Grand Canyon El Tovar): From £3,500 to £6,000 per person
Practical Planning
Hire car: Collect at Chicago O’Hare, return at LAX. Budget for approximately 2,400 miles of driving plus detours — typically 2,800 to 3,000 miles total over 14 days. Most Route 66 travellers drive 150 to 250 miles per day, taking 3 to 5 hours of driving and leaving ample time for stops. An automatic transmission is strongly recommended for UK drivers unfamiliar with US traffic patterns. Fuel costs at US prices are modest — budget approximately £200 to £300 for the full fuel bill depending on the vehicle.
ESTA: UK passport holders require a valid ESTA for entry to the USA. Apply at least 72 hours before departure at esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Cost approximately $21, valid for two years.
Best time: April to June and September to October. Summer (July to August) brings extreme heat in the Arizona and Mojave desert sections (45°C+) that makes outdoor activity unpleasant. Spring and autumn provide comfortable temperatures across all eight states and dramatically better photography light in the desert sections.
Planning Your Route 66 Holiday Packages Uk: Key Considerations
Every Route 66 holiday packages UK holiday from the UK has a set of planning considerations that significantly affect the quality of the experience. Booking timing is the most important — the best accommodation at every price level books out months in advance, and the clients who secure the most memorable rooms and the best rates are invariably those who committed early. For premium properties across all of the destinations covered in this guide, six to nine months in advance is the standard recommendation for peak season travel, with twelve months required for cherry blossom season Japan, peak African safari windows (July to October), and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race weekends.
Additionally, the sequencing of a multi-centre holiday matters more than most travellers realise. The direction of travel, the order in which you experience contrasting environments, and the specific days on which you reach each destination (arriving in a new city on a Tuesday rather than a Friday can change the restaurant availability, the crowd levels at major sites, and even the light conditions for photography) all contribute to the overall quality of the experience. SuperDestinations consultants plan these details as part of every itinerary we build — not as an afterthought, but as a core part of the design.
For a free, expert consultation on your Route 66 holiday packages UK holiday from the UK, call our specialists on 0203 727 6363. We are available 7 days a week, ATOL protected (No. 10713), and rated 4.9 stars on Trustpilot by over 3,200 clients who have travelled with us.
