Road-trip guide · Lighthouses
Twelve Lighthouses Worth Building a Road Trip Around
Twelve of America’s most storied beacons — from Maine’s Portland Head to a lava-rock light on a Kauai cliff — pulled from our full set of 60. Pick a coast, string a few together, and let the lighthouses set the route.
A lighthouse gives a coastline a reason to stop. It marks the end of a road, the edge of the continent, the exact place where the land quits and the water takes over — and it hands a long drive a destination you can see from miles off. Chase a few up a shoreline and the lighthouses become the trip: the pull-offs, the climbs, the sunset you time on purpose.
These twelve are the flagships, pulled from our full set of 60 across five coasts — the rocky Atlantic, the Gulf, the Great Lakes, the Pacific cliffs, and a lone light on a Hawaiian bluff. Each one links to its own guide, so you can build a run down any coast and know exactly what you’re driving toward.
- 1Portland Head LightCape Elizabeth, Maine
Maine’s oldest beacon, lit in 1791 on George Washington’s order, and the most painted lighthouse in America — the light every Maine coast trip is measured against.
- 2Cape Neddick “Nubble” LightYork, Maine
A stout tower on its own tiny rock island just off York — one of the most photographed lights anywhere, shot from the mainland as the sun drops behind it.
- 3Cape Hatteras LightBuxton, North Carolina
The tallest brick lighthouse in America, its black-and-white barber-pole spiral rising over the Outer Banks — famously rolled 2,900 feet inland in 1999 to outrun the sea.
- 4Sandy Hook LightSandy Hook, New Jersey
The oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the country — the same beam since 1764 — standing watch over the mouth of New York Harbor from the Jersey side.
- 5St. Augustine LightSt. Augustine, Florida
A black-and-white spiral tower over the nation’s oldest city; climb its 219 steps for a view across the inlet and the red rooftops below.
- 6Biloxi LightBiloxi, Mississippi
A slender cast-iron tower marooned in the median of US-90 — the symbol of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and a rare light you pass at highway speed.
- 7Split Rock LightTwo Harbors, Minnesota
The most iconic light on the Great Lakes, standing on a 130-foot cliff above Lake Superior — the North Shore’s signature silhouette.
- 8Point Betsie LightFrankfort, Michigan
One of Michigan’s most photographed lights, set low on a Lake Michigan dune coast where the sunset does half the work.
- 9Pigeon Point LightPescadero, California
One of the tallest lighthouses in America at 115 feet, standing white against the surf just south of Half Moon Bay on Highway 1.
- 10Point Reyes LightPoint Reyes Station, California
Bolted to a wind- and fog-lashed headland and reached by 300-plus steps down the cliff — a bracing climb, and one of the best whale-watching perches on the coast.
- 11Heceta Head LightFlorence, Oregon
The most photographed lighthouse on the Oregon coast, tucked into a green headland above the surf — with a B&B in the old keeper’s house if you want to wake up beside it.
- 12Kīlauea Point LightKīlauea, Hawaii
A small white tower on a Kauai cliff inside a seabird refuge, with whales offshore in winter and nene grazing the bluff below.
Stylized illustration, not a photo — the real place looks different (and that’s half the fun).
Most of these pair with the coast road that connects them — Highway 1 in California, US-1 down the Maine shore, the North Shore drive above Lake Superior. Roamward strings the beacons into a route, times the climbs and the light, and flags the harbor towns worth a night along the way.
Common questions
What is the most famous lighthouse in the United States?
Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine is the usual answer — lit in 1791 on George Washington’s order and the most painted lighthouse in America. Its closest rival for the title is Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, the tallest brick lighthouse in the country, with its unmistakable black-and-white spiral.
Which state has the best lighthouses to visit?
Maine is the classic pick — Portland Head and the Nubble anchor a shoreline dense with beacons. Michigan and the Great Lakes rival it for sheer number, North Carolina’s Outer Banks stack several climbable giants led by Cape Hatteras, and California’s Highway 1 strings dramatic cliff lights the length of the coast. The best state is usually the one your route already runs through.
Can you go inside and climb these lighthouses?
Many of them, yes. Cape Hatteras, St. Augustine (219 steps), and other tall towers are climbable to the lantern room for the view. Others are best seen from outside — the Nubble sits on its own rock island you photograph from shore, and Split Rock is admired from the clifftop and the state park below. Hours are seasonal, so check each light before you go.
How do you plan a lighthouse road trip?
Pick one coast and string three or four beacons into a line rather than crisscrossing — a stretch of the Maine shore, the Outer Banks, or California’s Highway 1. Time the climbs for clear mornings and the photos for the hour before sunset, and leave room for the harbor town at each stop. Roamward maps the scenic order and the lights in between.