Guide
The best driving roads in France
No country is better set up for this. France has the Alps down one flank and the Pyrenees along the other, the Massif Central in the middle and the Riviera underneath, and it paved all of them properly. These are the best of the 62 French roads in our catalogue, icons first, topping out at the 2,757 m Col de l’Iseran. Every one is traced from real road geometry and fact-checked.
Route Napoléon (Grasse to Castellane)39 mi · 1 h 11 min · 7 hairpinsView the roadbook ›
Why it makes the list
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1
39 mi1 h 11 min
Route Napoléon (Grasse to Castellane)
The most renowned stretch of the historic Route Napoléon, sweeping from the perfume town of Grasse up into the Provençal Alps.
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2
26 mi1 hMont Ventoux
The Giant of Provence, a bare limestone climb to 1,909 m.
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3
9 mi22 minAlpe d'Huez
Twenty-one hairpins of Tour de France legend above Bourg-d’Oisans.
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4
17 mi35 minCol du Galibier
A Tour de France giant on the Route des Grandes Alpes.
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5
29 mi1 h 4 minCol de la Bonette
The summit isn’t a col so much as a loop, the tarmac circling right around the Cime de la Bonette at 2,802 metres.
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6
18 mi41 minCol de Turini
The Monte Carlo Rally’s fabled night stage above the Côte d’Azur.
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7
24 mi51 minCol d'Izoard
A legendary Tour de France climb through the Casse Déserte.
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8
11 mi22 minCol d'Aubisque
A balcony road across the high Pyrenees.
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9
18 mi40 minCol de l'Iseran
The highest paved mountain pass in the Alps, at 2,764 m.
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10
12 mi25 minCol du Tourmalet
The Pyrenees' most storied Tour de France climb.
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11
26 mi57 minGorges du Verdon
The cliff-edge Corniche Sublime above Europe’s grandest canyon.
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12
6 mi13 minCol de l'Échelle
A narrow, tranquil forest crossing from the wild Claree valley into Italy, the quiet cult alternative to the busy Montgenevre.
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13
13 mi23 minCol de Montgenèvre
One of the lowest and oldest Franco-Italian Alpine crossings, a historic Roman and Napoleonic route from Briancon into Piedmont.
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14
20 mi39 minCol de la Schlucht
A historic forested pass linking Gérardmer and Munster across the high Vosges.
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15
4 mi9 minCirque de Troumouse
A toll-gated switchback climb to the rim of a vast Pyrenean glacial cirque.
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16
13 mi26 minCol de la Forclaz de Montmin
The D42 crests at 1,147 m above Lake Annecy’s eastern shore, a balcony over the water so open that paragliders use the summit as a launch pad.
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17
6 mi13 minCol de Vence
The Riviera back-country road carmakers head straight for when launching a new car, a twisting climb above Vence into a lunar plateau.
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18
23 mi44 minGorges de l'Ardèche
A rim road above the Grand Canyon of France past the Pont d’Arc natural arch.
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19
17 mi32 minCol du Petit Saint-Bernard
An ancient, history-soaked pass between Savoie and the Aosta Valley, climbing past La Rosiere to a broad 2188 metre saddle.
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20
7 mi15 minGorges de Daluis
A red-rock canyon road nicknamed the Colorado of Nice, threaded with cliff tunnels.
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21
11 mi24 minCol du Portet
The highest paved road pass in the French Pyrenees at 2215 metres, a brutal modern Tour de France climb above Saint-Lary-Soulan.
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22
11 mi22 minHourquette d'Ancizan
Quiet pasture pass beside the busier Col d’Aspin.
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23
7 mi14 minCol de la Croix Fry
Tight wooded hairpins up to 1,467 m between Manigod and La Clusaz, on a climb the Tour de France has raced since 1994.
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24
19 mi38 minCol de la Faucille
A Jura pass with a sudden, vast view over Lake Geneva to Mont Blanc.
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25
6 mi14 minCalanche de Piana
Twelve kilometres of UNESCO-listed red-granite cliffs plunging into the turquoise Gulf of Porto, widely considered one of the great drives of Europe.
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26
15 mi34 minGorges de la Bourne
A 19th-century balcony road carved into the cliffs of the Vercors gorges.
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27
9 mi18 minCol d'Agnès
A steady Tour de France climb to 1,570 m in the Ariège Pyrenees, tight wooded hairpins out of Aulus-les-Bains giving way to high pasture near the Étang de Lers.
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28
12 mi24 minCirque de Gavarnie
The valley road to a UNESCO-listed Pyrenean cirque and its great waterfall.
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29
17 mi35 minGorges de la Nesque
A balcony road carved along a deep Provençal gorge.
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30
21 mi51 minCol de la Lombarde
A relentlessly twisting border climb above the Isola 2000 ski resort, famous for its near-continuous ladder of hairpins.
Common questions
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