Guide
The best driving roads in the Alps
No mountain range concentrates great driving like the Alps. Stacked hairpins, glacier-fed valleys and passes that top out above the snowline, all within a day's drive of each other. These are the finest Alpine roads in our catalogue, across France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, each one mapped from real geometry and fact-checked.
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1
2862 msummit
Ötztaler Gletscherstraße (Sölden Glacier Road)
Toll climb from Sölden to Europe's second-highest paved road at 2830m glacier
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2
2774 msummit
Stelvio Pass
The cathedral of mountain passes, 48 stacked hairpins to a 2,757 m sky.
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3
2764 msummit
Col de l'Iseran
The highest paved mountain pass in the Alps, at 2,764 m.
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4
2730 msummit
Col Agnel
A very high paved Alpine pass on the France–Italy border in the Queyras
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5
2690 msummit
Col de la Bonette
One of the highest paved roads in the Alps.
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6
2666 msummit
Kaunertal Glacier Road
Tyrolean toll road climbing to a glacier at about 2750m.
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7
2617 msummit
Passo di Gavia
A wild, narrow, high pass for the brave, barely two cars wide near the top.
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8
2609 msummit
Colle del Nivolet
A breathtaking dead-end climb to a string of high lakes.
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9
2554 msummit
Col du Galibier
A Tour de France giant on the Route des Grandes Alpes.
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10
2526 msummit
Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Austria's grand toll road, sweeping past glaciers to 2,500 m.
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11
2508 msummit
Umbrail Pass
Switzerland's highest paved pass road, hairpins up to the Stelvio
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12
2486 msummit
Timmelsjoch
A high toll pass on the Italy–Austria border, 2,474 m.
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13
2479 msummit
Nufenen Pass
The highest paved pass lying entirely within Switzerland, 2,478 m.
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14
2466 msummit
Furka Pass
A high Swiss pass of Bond-film fame above the Rhône glacier.
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15
2463 msummit
Great St Bernard Pass
The historic Alpine climb of The Italian Job's opening titles.
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16
2407 msummit
Col du Granon
One of France's highest paved cols, a steep dead-end above Briançon
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17
2393 msummit
Flüela Pass
A bare, beautiful pass between Davos and the Engadin.
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18
2355 msummit
Col de la Lombarde
A relentlessly twisting border climb above the Isola 2000 ski resort, famous for its near-continuous ladder of hairpins.
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19
2340 msummit
Col d'Izoard
A legendary Tour de France climb through the Casse Déserte.
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20
2313 msummit
Albula Pass
Quiet Graubünden pass shadowing the UNESCO Albula Railway viaducts
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21
2308 msummit
Passo del Bernina
A high glacier pass between the Engadin and Valtellina.
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22
2301 msummit
Passo del Foscagno
The high pass guarding the duty-free enclave of Livigno.
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23
2288 msummit
Julier Pass
An ancient, fast Roman pass into the Engadin.
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24
2280 msummit
Col de la Cayolle
A wild, gorge-and-meadow pass in the southern Alps.
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25
2279 msummit
Tre Cime di Lavaredo Toll Road
Steep tolled hairpin ramp from Misurina up to Rifugio Auronzo beneath the Three Peaks.
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26
2261 msummit
Passo Sella
A Dolomites pass beneath the sheer Sella massif.
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27
2256 msummit
Col du Sanetsch
Reputedly the most demanding climb in Valais, Sion up to the 2250m col and Lac de Senin.
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28
2253 msummit
Col d'Allos
A narrow, hairpin southern-Alps col above Barcelonnette.
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29
2247 msummit
Passo Pordoi
Flowing Dolomite hairpins on the legendary Great Dolomites Road.
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30
2226 msummit
Passo Giau
A wild, hairpin-stacked Dolomites pass above Cortina.
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