Guide
The best driving roads in the world
Every list of the world’s best driving roads ends in an argument, so here is ours, with its reasoning on the table. These thirty are drawn from a catalogue of 566 roads across 27 countries, every one mapped from its real geometry and fact-checked by a human. The ranking leans on the roads drivers return to most, led by the icons every driver should meet once.
Bealach na Bà7 mi · 18 min · 633 m summitView the roadbook ›
Why it makes the list
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1
7 mi18 min
Bealach na Bà
Britain’s most dramatic mountain pass, Alpine hairpins climbing from sea loch to a 626-metre summit.
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2
10 mi20 minSnaefell Mountain Road
The legendary mountain section of the Isle of Man TT course.
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3
11 mi25 minTaroko Gorge Central Cross-Island
Marble gorge road carved through Taroko cliffs.
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4
1,983 msummitTransfăgărășan
Romania’s legendary ribbon of hairpins over the Făgăraș.
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5
1,183 msummitRoute Napoleon (Grasse to Castellane)
The most renowned stretch of the historic Route Napoleon, sweeping from the perfume town of Grasse up into the Provencal Alps.
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6
2,774 msummitStelvio Pass
The cathedral of mountain passes, 48 stacked hairpins to a 2,757 m sky.
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7
14 mi31 minGeiranger Eagle Road
Eleven hairpins above one of the world’s great fjords.
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8
2,526 msummitGrossglockner High Alpine Road
Austria’s grand toll road, sweeping past glaciers to 2,500 m.
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9
1,885 msummitZion–Mount Carmel Highway
Switchbacks and a famous tunnel through Zion’s red-rock canyons.
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10
1,174 msummitMount Haruna (Akina) Pass
The Ikaho to Lake Haruna climb that inspired Initial D’s Mount Akina, the most mythologised touge in Japanese car culture.
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11
7 mi16 minConor Pass
Ireland’s highest and most thrilling mountain road.
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12
20 mi36 minSouth Coast at Vík
Paved Ring Road run past waterfalls to black beaches.
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13
1,859 msummitDades Gorge
Photogenic switchback climb out of the Dades canyon.
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14
10 mi22 minArthur's Pass
Highest of the three Southern Alps road crossings via Otira Viaduct.
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15
3 mi7 minSa Calobra
Mallorca’s coiled serpent, a road that ties itself in a knot.
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16
2,466 msummitFurka Pass
A high Swiss pass of Bond-film fame above the Rhône glacier.
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17
16 mi32 minDouro Valley
Voted the world’s best driving road, through terraced vineyards above the Douro.
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18
1,616 msummitVršič Pass
Fifty cobbled hairpins over the Julian Alps.
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19
1,570 msummitSwartberg Pass
Iconic gravel pass over the Swartberg between two karoos.
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20
1,042 msummitSchwarzwaldhochstraße
The Black Forest High Road, fast sweepers through dark pine and open ridge.
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21
62 mi2 h 4 minSea-to-Sky Highway
Coastal mountain highway from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler.
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22
28 mi58 minGreat Ocean Road
Coastal clifftop drive along Victoria’s wild southern shore.
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23
13 mi32 minKotor Serpentine
Sea-level hairpin wall climbing high above the Bay of Kotor.
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24
2,141 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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25
8 mi17 minUčka Poklon Road
The old hairpin road over the Učka massif via Poklon pass, the mountain wall separating Istria from the Kvarner coast, bypassed by the A8 tunnel.
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26
6 mi11 minParnassus Delphi to Arachova Road
A high balcony road on the flank of Mount Parnassus linking the ancient oracle of Delphi with the stone village of Arachova, above the silvery olive sea of the Pleistos valley.
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27
25 mi46 minFlatruet
Sweden’s highest public road across an exposed gravel mountain heath at 975 m.
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28
8 mi16 minGlencoe
The A82 sweeps through Scotland’s most storied glen, ringed by brooding peaks.
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29
1,007 msummitSuhua Coast Qingshui Cliffs
Cliff-edge coast road above the Pacific Ocean.
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30
2,102 msummitTransalpina
The highest road in Romania, riding the open ridge.
More guides
Guide · 30 roads ranked
The best driving roads in Europe
Nearly three-quarters of our catalogue is European, and not by accident: Alpine passes stacked with hairpins, Highland single-tracks, fjord roads that end at the water.
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Guide · 30 roads ranked
The best driving roads in the UK
Britain’s best roads are a particular pleasure: narrow, old, draped over the landscape rather than carved through it.
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Guide · 30 roads ranked
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.
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