Guide
The best driving roads in America
American roads do scale like nowhere else: a coast road that runs for a hundred miles, a mountain pass that takes all morning, a desert highway with the horizon for company. These are the finest drives in the United States from our catalogue, ranked with the icons first, every one mapped from its real geometry and fact-checked.
Zion–Mount Carmel Highway20 mi · 42 min · 1,885 m summitView the roadbook ›
Why it makes the list
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1
20 mi42 min
Zion–Mount Carmel Highway
Switchbacks and a famous tunnel through Zion’s red-rock canyons.
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2
57 mi1 h 53 minAngeles Crest Highway
A long, sweeping mountain road in the San Gabriels above Los Angeles.
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3
6 mi13 minMount Washington Auto Road
Private toll road to the Northeast’s highest summit.
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4
43 mi1 h 29 minRoad to Hana
600 curves and 50 bridges through Maui’s rainforest coast.
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5
58 mi1 h 57 minTioga Pass
Yosemite’s high country crossing, the highest highway pass in the Sierra Nevada.
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6
8 mi16 minBlue Ridge Parkway Linn Cove
Parkway section curving around Grandfather Mountain.
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7
23 mi47 minPacific Coast Highway, Big Sur
California’s cliff-hanging coast road through Big Sur.
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8
11 mi27 minPikes Peak Highway
Toll road climbing 19 miles to a 14,115 ft summit.
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9
47 mi1 h 34 minTrail Ridge Road
The highest continuous paved road in the US, over Rocky Mountain National Park.
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10
23 mi50 minMillion Dollar Highway
A spectacular, guardrail-free climb in the Colorado San Juans.
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11
64 mi2 h 14 minBeartooth Highway
Switchbacks to nearly 11,000 ft on the Montana–Wyoming line.
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12
50 mi1 h 45 minGoing-to-the-Sun Road
A cliff-carved climb over the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park.
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13
13 mi32 minTail of the Dragon
318 curves in 11 miles, America’s most famous driving road.
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14
22 mi40 minGrafton Notch (ME 26)
Quiet pass through Grafton Notch State Park past Screw Auger Falls.
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15
13 mi24 minLamoille Canyon Road
A twelve-mile dead-end climb into a glacier-carved gorge of the Ruby Mountains, Nevada’s answer to Yosemite Valley.
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16
16 mi31 minHighland Scenic Highway (WV 150)
High Allegheny ridge parkway over 4,500 feet through the Monongahela forest.
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17
5 mi11 minMount Greylock (Rockwell Road)
A nine-mile climb up Rockwell Road to the summit of Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts.
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18
22 mi43 minRangeley Lakes / Height of Land (ME 17)
Western Maine climb to the Height of Land overlook above Mooselookmeguntic Lake.
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19
12 mi25 minStorm King Highway (NY 218)
Cliff-edge ledge road carved into Storm King above the Hudson at West Point.
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20
2 mi5 minBrasstown Bald Spur (GA 180 Spur)
The short, steep paved spur from Jacks Gap to the summit parking of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, climbing roughly 1,700 feet in under three miles.
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21
19 mi42 minMount Hamilton Road
Endless switchbacks from San Jose up to Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton.
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22
5 mi13 minThe Diamondback (NC 226A)
Twelve miles of relentless switchbacks dropping off the ridge at Little Switzerland.
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23
14 mi26 minFoothills Parkway (Western Section)
Ridge-running National Park parkway with open views to the high Smokies.
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24
3 mi6 minMount Equinox Skyline Drive
The longest privately owned paved toll road in the US, climbing 5.2 miles of hairpins up Mount Equinox above Manchester, Vermont.
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25
73 mi2 h 34 minMoonshiner 28 (NC 28)
Old moonshine-running route of sweepers and twisties from Deals Gap toward Highlands.
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26
10 mi18 minCedar Breaks Scenic Byway
A short, high byway along the rim of a red-rock amphitheatre.
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27
12 mi25 minWhitney Portal Road
A short, dramatic switchback climb out of Lone Pine through the Alabama Hills to the foot of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48.
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28
33 mi1 h 13 minBurr Trail
Boulder red-rock backway through Long Canyon to the Burr switchbacks.
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29
24 mi47 minMohawk Trail (Route 2)
Historic Berkshires byway over the Hoosac Range, climbing to the famous Hairpin Turn.
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30
14 mi28 minVermont Route 100, Granville Gulf
Winding wooded gulf past Moss Glen Falls.
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