Guide
The best driving roads in the Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are the Alps with the traffic turned down. A little lower, just as steep, and far emptier, with a border that means you can start the morning in France and take lunch in Spain. These are the 17 we have mapped across France, Spain and Andorra, from the 2,205 m Col du Portet down, taking in the cirque roads that dead-end at a wall of rock and the ski climbs above Andorra. Each one is traced from real road geometry and fact-checked.
Col du Tourmalet12 mi · 25 min · 12 hairpinsView the roadbook ›
Summit
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1
2,110 msummit
Col du Tourmalet
The Pyrenees' most storied Tour de France climb.
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2
1,706 msummitCol d'Aubisque
A balcony road across the high Pyrenees.
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3
2,205 msummitCol 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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4
2,138 msummitOrdino-Arcalis Road
The CG-3 climb from Ordino through El Serrat up to the Arcalis ski area and Tristaina lakes.
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5
2,087 msummitPort de la Bonaigua
Through pine and out into open mountain above 2,000 m, cresting at a stark summit before the drop into the Val d’Aran.
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6
2,001 msummitPort de Pailhères
High Ariège Pyrenees pass with stacked hairpins above Ax-les-Thermes.
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7
1,992 msummitColl d'Ordino
Seventeen hairpins stacked through the trees above Ordino, topping out near 1,980 m with the valley floor far below.
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8
1,594 msummitPort de Larrau
Remote high border pass between French Basque country and Navarre.
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9
1,588 msummitCol de Peyresourde
Steady ramps through green high pasture from Bagnères-de-Luchon to the Louron valley, raced by the Tour de France so often the road feels familiar before you arrive.
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10
1,572 msummitCol 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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11
1,561 msummitHourquette d'Ancizan
Quiet pasture pass beside the busier Col d’Aspin.
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12
1,490 msummitCol d'Aspin
A gentle, beautiful Pyrenean col through pine and pasture.
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13
1,482 msummitCirque de Troumouse
A toll-gated switchback climb to the rim of a vast Pyrenean glacial cirque.
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14
1,467 msummitCol du Soulor
A grand Pyrenean pass whose cliff-cut balcony toward the Aubisque, the Cirque du Litor, is one of the most dramatic roads in the range.
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15
1,379 msummitCirque de Gavarnie
The valley road to a UNESCO-listed Pyrenean cirque and its great waterfall.
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16
1,231 msummitEje Pirenaico (Ordesa)
The Pyrenean Axis through the Sobrarbe canyons toward Ordesa and Biescas.
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17
1,040 msummitCol de Marie-Blanque
Steep, narrow western-Pyrenees pass between the Aspe and Ossau valleys.
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