Originally Posted by
bluehills3149
For route planning, Strava's heat maps are a good way to see what are the most popular routes in a given area and aside from commuter routes it's usually because they are the most scenic or bike friendly.
In addition to Strava's heat maps, the same feature is available on ridewithgps.com.
ridewithgps.com also has many curated routes that you search for, or you can create a route yourself.