Guide
The highest mountain passes you can drive
The highest paved roads on earth are a category of their own: thin air, snow banks into summer, and a road that climbs until the view falls away on every side. These are the highest summits in our catalogue you can actually drive, ranked by elevation. Every height is taken from the road's real geometry, not a rounded-up legend.
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1
4329 m14203 ft
Mount Evans Road
The highest paved road in North America, climbing past 14,000 ft.
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2
4295 m14091 ft
Pikes Peak Highway
Toll road climbing 19 miles to a 14,115 ft summit.
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3
3714 m12185 ft
Trail Ridge Road
The highest continuous paved road in the US, over Rocky Mountain National Park.
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4
3686 m12093 ft
Independence Pass
A narrow, high crossing of the Continental Divide above Aspen.
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5
3521 m11552 ft
Slumgullion Pass
Steep San Juan climb on the Silver Thread Byway
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6
3392 m11129 ft
Million Dollar Highway
A spectacular, guardrail-free climb in the Colorado San Juans.
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7
3312 m10866 ft
Beartooth Highway
Switchbacks to nearly 11,000 ft on the Montana–Wyoming line.
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8
3298 m10820 ft
Hehuanshan Wuling Pass
Climb to the highest paved road in Taiwan
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9
3245 m10646 ft
Sandia Crest Road
A switchback climb to a 10,600 ft crest above Albuquerque.
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10
3238 m10623 ft
Cedar Breaks Scenic Byway
A short, high byway along the rim of a red-rock amphitheatre.
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11
3036 m9961 ft
Tioga Pass
Yosemite's high country crossing, the highest highway pass in the Sierra Nevada.
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12
2916 m9567 ft
Sonora Pass
A steep, narrow crossing of the Sierra Nevada with sharp gradients.
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13
2862 m9390 ft
Ötztaler Gletscherstraße (Sölden Glacier Road)
Toll climb from Sölden to Europe's second-highest paved road at 2830m glacier
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14
2780 m9121 ft
Coronado Trail
Arizona's wildest paved climb, reputedly 460 curves from the desert at Clifton up into spruce forest near Hannagan Meadow, on the old Route 666 alignment.
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15
2774 m9101 ft
Stelvio Pass
The cathedral of mountain passes, 48 stacked hairpins to a 2,757 m sky.
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16
2764 m9068 ft
Col de l'Iseran
The highest paved mountain pass in the Alps, at 2,764 m.
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17
2730 m8957 ft
Col Agnel
A very high paved Alpine pass on the France–Italy border in the Queyras
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18
2690 m8825 ft
Col de la Bonette
One of the highest paved roads in the Alps.
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19
2683 m8802 ft
Lamoille 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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20
2682 m8799 ft
Ebbetts Pass
A narrow, wild Sierra crossing with no centre line over the top.
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21
2678 m8786 ft
Sawtooth Scenic Byway
Idaho State Highway 75 over 8701ft Galena Summit, with the jagged Sawtooth peaks filling the valley below.
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22
2666 m8747 ft
Kaunertal Glacier Road
Tyrolean toll road climbing to a glacier at about 2750m.
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23
2617 m8586 ft
Passo di Gavia
A wild, narrow, high pass for the brave, barely two cars wide near the top.
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24
2609 m8560 ft
Colle del Nivolet
A breathtaking dead-end climb to a string of high lakes.
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25
2604 m8543 ft
Lassen Park Highway
A volcanic high road past steaming fumaroles and a lava peak.
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26
2583 m8474 ft
Teton Pass
Steep hairpin climb between Jackson and Teton Valley
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27
2563 m8409 ft
Whitney 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
2554 m8379 ft
Col du Galibier
A Tour de France giant on the Route des Grandes Alpes.
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29
2526 m8287 ft
Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Austria's grand toll road, sweeping past glaciers to 2,500 m.
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30
2515 m8251 ft
Catalina Highway (Mount Lemmon)
Tucson desert floor to alpine Mount Lemmon, climbing 6,000 feet through stacked switchbacks
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