Guide
Great driving roads you can drive in winter
Winter shuts the high passes, but it does not end the driving year. Low passes, coastal roads and moorland crossings come into their own when the crowds go home and the light gets long. These are the roads in our catalogue we rate for winter, each one still mapped, fact-checked and worth the trip in January.
Route Napoleon (Grasse to Castellane)39 mi · 1 h 11 min · 7 hairpinsView the roadbook ›
Distance
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1
39 mi1 h 11 min
Route 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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2
19 mi37 minIzu Skyline
40.6 km ridge toll road down the Izu Peninsula spine with Mt Fuji and twin-bay views.
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3
20 mi36 minSouth Coast at Vík
Paved Ring Road run past waterfalls to black beaches.
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4
18 mi44 minSwartberg Pass
Iconic gravel pass over the Swartberg between two karoos.
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5
11 mi23 minCol de la Forclaz
The Martigny to Trient pass on the Mont Blanc axis toward Chamonix, a Tour de France climb.
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6
13 mi23 minCol de Montgenevre
The lowest and oldest Franco-Italian Alpine crossing, a historic Roman and Napoleonic route from Briancon into Piedmont.
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7
13 mi27 minThe 309 Road
Twisting gravel crossing of the Coromandel Range famed for its many bends and kauri grove.
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8
7 mi12 minColle del Sestriere
A wide, fast Piedmontese climb to the chocolate-box ski resort of Sestriere, woven into Tour and Giro folklore.
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9
19 mi42 minMount Hamilton Road
Endless switchbacks from San Jose up to Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton.
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10
10 mi20 minSierra de Aitana Road
Alcoy to the Guadalest valley over the passes of inland Costa Blanca.
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11
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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12
14 mi26 minFoothills Parkway (Western Section)
Ridge-running National Park parkway with open views to the high Smokies.
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13
14 mi32 minCarretera de la Cabra
The Road of the Goat, a serpentine old mule route from the Granada hills to the Tropical Coast.
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14
18 mi41 minMacquarie Pass
Steep, tight hairpin climb of the Illawarra escarpment between Albion Park and Robertson.
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15
3 mi6 minMeteora Monastery Road
The short panoramic loop through the Meteora rock pinnacles above Kalambaka and Kastraki.
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16
16 mi30 minKirishima Kogen Road (Ebino-Maruo)
A volcanic highland traverse from the Ebino Plateau down to Maruo Onsen, winding among steaming peaks and crater lakes of the Kirishima range.
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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
11 mi20 minCrimea Pass
Open mountain crossing on the A470 between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Dolwyddelan.
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19
4 mi7 minNatchez Trace Parkway (Tennessee)
The northern Tennessee reach of the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway, an unhurried National Park Service parkway that opens at the cathedral-like Double Arch Bridge over Birdsong Hollow near Franklin.
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20
5 mi11 minFlexenpass
A dramatic Vorarlberg pass road clinging to a cliff face through avalanche galleries, linking Stuben with the chic resort of Lech.
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21
3 mi5 minCol du Pillon
Year-round pass below Glacier 3000.
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22
10 mi19 minMadeira North Coast (ER101)
Madeira’s dramatic north-coast road between São Vicente and Porto Moniz, hugging cliffs above the Atlantic past Seixal and waterfall-streaked rock.
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23
43 mi1 h 31 minSuhua Coast Qingshui Cliffs
Cliff-edge coast road above the Pacific Ocean.
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24
24 mi44 minLukmanier Pass
Lowest main Alpine watershed crossing, Disentis to Ticino.
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25
44 mi1 h 42 minApache Trail
Historic 1900s wagon route past the Superstition Mountains to Roosevelt Dam.
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26
15 mi29 minOuteniqua Pass
Fast tarred pass linking George to the Karoo.
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27
3 mi7 minKourtaliotiko Gorge Road
Winding cliff road into Crete’s south coast.
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28
9 mi17 minPass of Brander
A tight defile where the A85 squeezes between Ben Cruachan and the shore of Loch Awe, part of it built on stilts over the water, between Lochawe village and Taynuilt.
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29
26 mi52 minCaptain Cook Highway
Tropical coast road between rainforest and the reef.
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30
13 mi32 minCol de Braus
A celebrated ladder of stacked hairpins in the Maritime Alps behind the Riviera, long a fixture of the Monte Carlo Rally.
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