It's hard to resist the lure of the open road when summer rolls around -- and with our editors' favorite scenic drives across the U.S., you'll know exactly where to point your car this year. We've listed our favorites from west to east -- including everything from the obvious Highway 1 in California to the less-obvious -- but brilliantly named -- Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana. We've picked routes for their history (US Route 1 in New England and Million Dollar Highway in Colorado); for their natural scenery (Blue Ridge Parkway, Red Rock Scenic Byway, Highway 12); for their romantic appeal (routes through Sonoma and Napa); and for their remote wild beauty (Hana and Seward highways). Best of all, most of these routes make for splendid drives all year long, so you can get out and explore their bounty whenever the mood strikes. So rev your engines . . . and hit the road.

Stretching some 469 miles along the southern Appalachian Mountains and linking two Eastern national parks -- Virginia's Shenandoah National Park and North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains -- the Blue Ridge Parkway has often been referred to as "America's Favorite Drive." It's certainly the country's first rural parkway -- parts of it date back to the 1930s (when construction began as a make-work project during the Depression) -- and the longest, with breathtaking scenery and dozens of recreational opportunities to distract you when you need to stretch your legs.

It's no wonder the spirit of "aloha 'aina" (love of the land) is the bedrock of Hawaiian tradition. A drive on Maui's beloved Hana Highway (also called "the road to Hana") offers such an awe-inspiring display of natural beauty that you'll soon revel in the same sentiment. This serpentine 53-mile trek starts off in Paia, famous for its surfer-swept shores, and zigzags east along the coast, all the while embracing 600 hairpin curves, 54 one-lane bridges, and some of the island's most spectacular sights. To get the most out of the drive, pick up "The Hana Road Self-Guided Drive" CD from the Shell gas station on Route 380 in Kahului; it narrates the journey and highlights all of the must-sees.

California's State Route 1 (aka Highway 1) skirts the Golden State's glorious Pacific coastline from "So Cal," near San Luis Obispo northwest to the forests of Monterey. While the twists and curves, and occasional precariously perched cliff-top road, may prove challenging at times (one section has been ominously dubbed Devil's Slide, thanks to landslides and erosion that have occasionally made the road impassable), the magnificent vistas of ocean waves breaking on rocky sea-sculpted shores, windswept beaches dotted by frolicking otters or sea lions, and magnificent forests presiding above it all can rouse even the wariest of drivers behind the wheel.

Utah Highway 12, also known as Highway 12 Scenic Byway, is one of only 27 nationally designated All-American Roads -- the highest honor a road can get for attractive scenery. This spectacular route travels away from Bryce Canyon, through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and over the forested Boulder Mountain and the Dixie National Forest, before winding down near the entrance to Capitol Reef. The scenery is unforgettable along the entire length of the road -- especially during the brilliant red-rock sunsets that provide a glorious grand finale to a day's driving adventure here.

This spectacular 52-mile drive is the best way to see the dramatic remnants and rugged path left by gargantuan glaciers in Montana's striking Glacier National Park. Only open from early-June to mid-October (or until first snowfall), the Going-to-the-Sun Road, aptly named for its ever-escalating sky-high stretch with switchbacks up and over the magnificent Continental Divide, traverses Glacier National Park from West Glacier to St. Mary and covers untapped wilderness, rugged mountains, glistening lakes, deep river gorges, glacial canyons, and the long Garden Wall.

Despite varying explanations as to the origin of its name (one claims it cost $1 million a mile to build in 1924; another says it contains $1 million in gold ore), there's no disputing the fact that the 75-mile stretch of scenic highway known as Million Dollar Highway is a breathtaking journey through the majestic mountain passes of western Colorado. Crossing part of the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, and following route US 550 between the old mining towns of Silverton and Ouray, the route's twists and turns wend high above the Red Mountain Pass -- an 11,018-foot-high collapsed volcano whose lava flow was found to contain gold in 1860 -- and past the deep Uncompahgre Gorge, into which flow several waterfalls.