When A Longer Route Is Worth It

The landscape itself is the reason

Some routes are worth taking simply because of what's outside the window. An alpine pass road, a coastal drive along the Mediterranean, a train line that hugs a lake for forty minutes: these aren't detours to somewhere, the road itself is the somewhere.

If the direct route between two cities happens to bypass genuinely striking terrain in favour of a tunnel or a motorway, that's usually a sign the longer version is worth considering, at least once.

When the direct option is unpleasant, not just slower

Sometimes the fastest route isn't just quick, it's actively worse to travel: a cramped budget flight with a long airport slog on either end, versus a comfortable train that takes twice as long but leaves you rested. In that case the longer route wins on more than nostalgia, it wins on comfort.

This calculation changes a lot depending on who's travelling. Two adults with light bags weigh it differently than a family with a toddler and three suitcases.

• Compare total door-to-door time, not just the transport leg itself
• Factor in how much of the fast option is spent in transit hubs versus moving
• Weigh comfort, not just hours, especially on trips longer than 4 hours

When a ferry replaces a flight

A ferry crossing is almost never the fastest way anywhere, and that's rarely the point. Taking a ferry instead of a short flight adds hours, sometimes most of a day, but it also adds an experience that a 50-minute flight simply can't offer: open water, changing light, a different rhythm to the day.

This is worth it when your schedule genuinely has room for it and when the alternative flight doesn't save enough real time once airport transfers and check-in are factored in.

When it isn't worth it

Be honest about the trips where a longer route is just romantic thinking. If you're arriving late at night, travelling with people who get carsick, or working with a genuinely tight schedule where one missed connection collapses the whole itinerary, the longer route can turn into a liability rather than a highlight.

The test that tends to work: would you choose this route even if it weren't the scenic option? If the answer is a clear no once you strip away the view, that's useful information.