Highway 1 of Australia is with a length of 14,500 km (9,000 mi) the longest highway in the world. It can be considered a giant "ring road" as it except for a few shortcuts in the north follows the entire coastline of mainland Australia. Part of the road also traverses Tasmania.

Circumnavigating mainland Australia, this road goes through all states and their capitals and through or near most major attractions in Australia (two major omissions being Canberra and Uluru). Therefore, if you have time and don't mind long driving distances this is one of the best ways to see almost all of Australia.

Created in 1955 out of existing state and local roads and tracks, Highway 1 is actually a network of roads. It's marked "1", "M1", "A1" or "B1" depending on the type and the quality of the route.

If you come from abroad you will probably arrive by plane to one of the state capitals and buy or rent the vehicle that you will make the trip with.

Read up on driving in Australia before going on a trip like this. Australia is a huge country and doing the whole Highway 1 will certainly take several weeks; even the shortest of the sections below are almost a 1000km drive. Especially in the western two thirds of the country, expect there to be stretches of several hundred kilometres between roadhouses where you can get fuel, food and water.

See also: Sydney to Melbourne by car

See also: Eyre Highway

See also: North West Coastal Highway, Great Northern Highway

See also: Pacific Highway

• Driving in Australia