View larger map
From Fairbanks to Ushuaia. The route starts from the extreme northern Alaska, just below the Arctic Circle. And some 60,000 km (37,000 miles) further, there is Ushuaia. The capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego is considered the southernmost city in the world.
Biodiversity, geodiversity. Between those two towns, I would have passed through 16 countries, faced the frozen vastness of the Canada’s North-West territories, gone along the Rocky Mountains, criss-crossed Aztecs’ and Mayas’ Mexico and Central America, explored numerous Columbian ecosystems, crossed the Equator, travelled up and down the country of the Incas, overcome the harshness of the Altiplano, gone through the Atacama Desert, got over the Andes and been thrilled by the variety of Argentine landscapes.
The Pan-American Highway. It is a network of roads running along the American continent. It is composed by a main route from North to South America and several unofficial ones. It passes through 14 countries in Northern, Central and Southern America, without mentioning ramifications towards Venezuela, Brazil or Bolivia. Its length varies between 15,000 and 30,000 miles, depending on including or not unofficial sections.
According to Guinness World Records, the Pan-American Highway is the world’s longest “motorable road”, much longer than the Australia’s Highway 1 (9,000 miles around the Australian continent), the Trans-Siberian Highway (6,800 miles from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok) and the Trans-Canada Highway (5,000 miles linking the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic ocean).
The must-visit sites. In front of the gigantism of the Americas, there are some inevitable places to stop off at: frozen lakes in Canada, numerous national parks, San Francisco, the Grand Canyon, remnants of Maya civilisation, the Panama Canal, Machu Pichu, Buenos Aires, Patagonia.
Date | Km (Mile) | Day | ||
Fairbanks | Alaska | 23 January | 0 | 1 |
Anchorage | Alaska | 5 February | 785 (488) | 14 |
Prince Rupert | Canada | 20 February | 2,775 (1,725) | 29 |
Edmonton | Canada | 27 February | 4,310 (2,679) | 36 |
Calgary | Canada | 5 March | 4,610 (2,865) | 43 |
Bozeman | USA | 16 March | 6,045 (3,757) | 54 |
Portland | USA | 24 March | 7,290 (4,531) | 62 |
San Francisco | USA | 14 April | 8,750 (5,438) | 83 |
Grand Canyon | USA | 7 May | 10,850 (6,743) | 106 |
Chihuahua | Mexico | 4 June | 13,610 (8,459) | 134 |
La Paz | Mexico | 13 June | 14,605 (9,077) | 143 |
Mexico | Mexico | 4 July | 16,740 (10,404) | 164 |
Oaxaca | Mexico | 13 July | 17,790 (11,057) | 173 |
Merida | Mexico | 30 July | 20,865 (12,968) | 190 |
Belize City | Belize | 4 August | 21,815 (13,558) | 195 |
Guatemala | Guatemala | 14 August | 23,255 (14,453) | 205 |
San Salvador | Salvador | 18 August | 23,525 (14,621) | 209 |
Choluteca | Honduras | 20 August | 23,825 (14,807) | 211 |
Managua | Nicaragua | 20 August | 24,040 (14,941) | 211 |
San Jose | Costa Rica | 26 August | 24,630 (15,308) | 217 |
Panama | Panama | 3 September | 25,865 (16,075) | 225 |
Bogota | Colombia | 17 September | 27,175 (16,889) | 239 |
EQUATOR | Ecuador | 20 October | 29,980 (18,633) | 272 |
Galapagos | Ecuador | 25 October | 30,445 (18,922) | 277 |
Lima | Peru | 14 November | 33,710 (20,951) | 297 |
Machu Pichu | Peru | 23 November | 35,415 (22,011) | 306 |
La Paz | Bolivia | 28 November | 36,385 (22,613) | 311 |
San Pedro de Atacama | Chile | 30 December | 41,960 (26,078) | 343 |
Santiago | Chile | 4 January | 44,020 (27,359) | 348 |
Córdoba | Argentina | 24 January | 48,440 (30,106) | 368 |
Asunción | Paraguay | 27 January | 50,620 (31,461) | 371 |
Iguazú | Argentina | 4 February | 51,350 (31,914) | 379 |
Porto Alegre | Brazil | 6 February | 52,260 (32,480) | 381 |
Montevideo | Uruguay | 10 February | 53,150 (33,033) | 385 |
Buenos Aires | Argentina | 13 February | 53,375 (33,173) | 388 |
Patagonia | Argentina | 5 March | ||
Ushuaia | Argentina | 15 April |