Discover the World's Most Scenic Roads
From winding mountain passes to breathtaking coastal drives. Your guide to the roads less traveled.
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Amalfi Coast Road
🇮🇹 Italy
The SS163 Amalfitana is a 50-kilometer stretch of coastal road carved into the cliffs of the Sorrentine Peninsula in southern Italy, connecting Vietri sul Mare to Positano. Built in the mid-19th century by the Bourbon dynasty, it hugs sheer limestone cliffs hundreds of meters above the Tyrrhenian Sea, passing through a series of tunnels, tight switchbacks, and picturesque villages that cling to the mountainside. The road connects some of Italy's most celebrated coastal towns including Amalfi, Ravello, Praiano, and Positano, each with its own distinct character. The drive is famously narrow in places, with barely enough room for two vehicles to pass, and local bus drivers navigate the hairpins with remarkable skill. Despite the challenges, the scenery is extraordinary: terraced lemon groves, pastel-colored houses cascading down to the sea, and sweeping Mediterranean views at every turn. The UNESCO-listed Amalfi Coast is one of Europe's most iconic driving destinations.
Atlantic Ocean Road
🇳🇴 Norway
The Atlantic Ocean Road (Atlanterhavsveien) is an 8.3-kilometer stretch of highway that connects the island of Averoy with the mainland in More og Romsdal county, Norway. Built on several small islands and skerries connected by eight bridges, causeways, and viaducts, the road is widely considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world. It was completed in 1989 after six years of construction during which builders endured twelve hurricanes. The most famous section is the Storseisundet Bridge, a dramatic cantilevered structure that appears to launch cars into the sky when viewed from certain angles. This optical illusion has made the bridge one of the most photographed road structures in the world. The road hugs the edge of the Norwegian Sea, and during storms, waves crash spectacularly over the bridges and barriers, giving drivers a thrilling experience of nature's raw power. The Atlantic Ocean Road is part of Norwegian County Road 64 and was designated a Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site in 2005. Beyond its engineering marvel, the route offers exceptional opportunities for whale watching, seal spotting, and sea bird observation. Fishing from the bridges is also popular, and several rest stops along the way provide panoramic views of the open ocean and the surrounding archipelago.
Avenue of the Baobabs Road
🇲🇬 Madagascar
The Avenue of the Baobabs is a group of approximately 25 towering Grandidier's baobab trees (Adansonia grandidieri) lining a dirt road between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in western Madagascar. These ancient trees, some estimated to be over 800 years old and standing up to 30 meters tall, create one of the most iconic and photographed landscapes in all of Africa. The road itself is a roughly 20-kilometer stretch of the Route Nationale 8. Once part of a dense tropical forest, the baobabs are now the sole survivors of extensive deforestation for agriculture, standing as majestic sentinels in an otherwise flat, open landscape of rice paddies and sugarcane fields. The road is at its most magical during sunrise and sunset, when the low-angle light casts long shadows and turns the bulbous trunks golden. Despite its fame, the road remains unpaved and can be challenging during the wet season when it turns into a muddy quagmire. The site was designated a national natural monument in 2007.
Beartooth Highway
🇺🇸 United States
The Beartooth Highway (US Route 212) is a 109-kilometer mountain road connecting Red Lodge, Montana, to Cooke City near Yellowstone National Park's northeast entrance. Climbing to 3,337 meters at Beartooth Pass, it is one of the highest paved roads in the United States. Charles Kuralt famously called it "the most beautiful drive in America." The road ascends through a dramatic landscape of glacially carved valleys, alpine plateaus, and rugged granite peaks. Above the treeline, the scenery opens into vast alpine tundra dotted with wildflowers in summer and snowfields that persist well into July. The highway features 20 major switchbacks and numerous hairpin turns as it climbs nearly 1,500 meters from the valley floor. Wildlife sightings of mountain goats, marmots, and bears are common along the route.
Black Forest High Road
🇩🇪 Germany
The Schwarzwaldhochstrasse (Black Forest High Road) is one of Germany's oldest and most scenic tourist routes, running 60 kilometers along the ridgeline of the northern Black Forest from Baden-Baden to Freudenstadt. Established in the 1930s as the B500 federal road, it traverses elevations between 800 and 1,164 meters, weaving through dense coniferous forests, past glacial lakes called tarns, and alongside panoramic viewpoints that stretch across the Rhine Valley to the Vosges Mountains in France. The route passes landmarks including the Mummelsee, a dark glacial lake steeped in legend, and the Hornisgrinde, the highest peak of the northern Black Forest at 1,164 meters. Unlike many alpine roads, the gradients here are gentle and the road is wide, making it accessible to all drivers. The surrounding forest is crisscrossed with hiking and cross-country skiing trails, and traditional Black Forest guesthouses offer regional cuisine and the famous Black Forest cake.
Blue Ridge Parkway
🇺🇸 United States
The Blue Ridge Parkway is America's longest linear park, stretching 755 kilometers through the Appalachian Highlands from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Often called "America's Favorite Drive," the parkway was designed as a scenic leisure road with no commercial vehicles allowed, a 45 mph speed limit, and countless overlooks along its length. The route traverses some of the oldest mountains on Earth, offering sweeping vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains that appear to glow blue from the natural isoprene released by the vast forests. Highlights include the Linn Cove Viaduct, a stunning engineering feat hugging the side of Grandfather Mountain, and the folk music heritage of the Appalachian communities along the way. Fall foliage season transforms the parkway into a kaleidoscope of color that attracts millions of visitors.
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Addis Ababa to Lalibela Road
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
The road from Addis Ababa to Lalibela covers approximately 700 kilometers through the Ethiopian Highlands, one of Africa's most dramatic and culturally rich landscapes. The route climbs through the central plateau at elevations consistently above 2,500 meters, passing through the ancient city of Dessie, over the spectacular Blue Nile Gorge (often called Africa's Grand Canyon), and through the Wollo highlands before reaching the sacred town of Lalibela at 2,630 meters. Lalibela is home to eleven medieval monolithic rock-hewn churches carved directly from the living rock in the 12th and 13th centuries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site often described as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World.' The road journey itself is unforgettable, traversing a landscape of volcanic plugs, eucalyptus forests, terraced hillsides cultivated by hand, camel caravans on the lowland sections, and dramatic escarpments. While sections of the road have been improved with Chinese-built tarmac, other stretches remain rough, and the journey takes a full 1-2 days depending on conditions.
Amalfi Coast Road
🇮🇹 Italy
The SS163 Amalfitana is a 50-kilometer stretch of coastal road carved into the cliffs of the Sorrentine Peninsula in southern Italy, connecting Vietri sul Mare to Positano. Built in the mid-19th century by the Bourbon dynasty, it hugs sheer limestone cliffs hundreds of meters above the Tyrrhenian Sea, passing through a series of tunnels, tight switchbacks, and picturesque villages that cling to the mountainside. The road connects some of Italy's most celebrated coastal towns including Amalfi, Ravello, Praiano, and Positano, each with its own distinct character. The drive is famously narrow in places, with barely enough room for two vehicles to pass, and local bus drivers navigate the hairpins with remarkable skill. Despite the challenges, the scenery is extraordinary: terraced lemon groves, pastel-colored houses cascading down to the sea, and sweeping Mediterranean views at every turn. The UNESCO-listed Amalfi Coast is one of Europe's most iconic driving destinations.
Atlantic Ocean Road
🇳🇴 Norway
The Atlantic Ocean Road (Atlanterhavsveien) is an 8.3-kilometer stretch of highway that connects the island of Averoy with the mainland in More og Romsdal county, Norway. Built on several small islands and skerries connected by eight bridges, causeways, and viaducts, the road is widely considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world. It was completed in 1989 after six years of construction during which builders endured twelve hurricanes. The most famous section is the Storseisundet Bridge, a dramatic cantilevered structure that appears to launch cars into the sky when viewed from certain angles. This optical illusion has made the bridge one of the most photographed road structures in the world. The road hugs the edge of the Norwegian Sea, and during storms, waves crash spectacularly over the bridges and barriers, giving drivers a thrilling experience of nature's raw power. The Atlantic Ocean Road is part of Norwegian County Road 64 and was designated a Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site in 2005. Beyond its engineering marvel, the route offers exceptional opportunities for whale watching, seal spotting, and sea bird observation. Fishing from the bridges is also popular, and several rest stops along the way provide panoramic views of the open ocean and the surrounding archipelago.
Avenue of the Baobabs Road
🇲🇬 Madagascar
The Avenue of the Baobabs is a group of approximately 25 towering Grandidier's baobab trees (Adansonia grandidieri) lining a dirt road between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in western Madagascar. These ancient trees, some estimated to be over 800 years old and standing up to 30 meters tall, create one of the most iconic and photographed landscapes in all of Africa. The road itself is a roughly 20-kilometer stretch of the Route Nationale 8. Once part of a dense tropical forest, the baobabs are now the sole survivors of extensive deforestation for agriculture, standing as majestic sentinels in an otherwise flat, open landscape of rice paddies and sugarcane fields. The road is at its most magical during sunrise and sunset, when the low-angle light casts long shadows and turns the bulbous trunks golden. Despite its fame, the road remains unpaved and can be challenging during the wet season when it turns into a muddy quagmire. The site was designated a national natural monument in 2007.
Baja Highway 1 (Transpeninsular Highway)
🇲🇽 Mexico
Baja Highway 1, officially the Carretera Transpeninsular, runs 1,711 kilometers from Tijuana at the US-Mexico border to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Completed in 1973, this was the first paved road to traverse the entire length of the peninsula, opening up one of North America's last great frontier landscapes to road trippers. The highway crosses some of the most stark and beautiful desert scenery on the continent, from the wine country of Valle de Guadalupe to the otherworldly boulder fields of the Central Desert, where massive cardon cacti (the world's largest) stand sentinel. Along the way, travelers can detour to the Pacific coast for world-class surfing, visit ancient cave paintings in the Sierra de San Francisco, or stop at the magical lagoons of Guerrero Negro where grey whales calve each winter. The Sea of Cortez side offers pristine beaches and some of the best sport fishing in the world.
Beartooth Highway
🇺🇸 United States
The Beartooth Highway (US Route 212) is a 109-kilometer mountain road connecting Red Lodge, Montana, to Cooke City near Yellowstone National Park's northeast entrance. Climbing to 3,337 meters at Beartooth Pass, it is one of the highest paved roads in the United States. Charles Kuralt famously called it "the most beautiful drive in America." The road ascends through a dramatic landscape of glacially carved valleys, alpine plateaus, and rugged granite peaks. Above the treeline, the scenery opens into vast alpine tundra dotted with wildflowers in summer and snowfields that persist well into July. The highway features 20 major switchbacks and numerous hairpin turns as it climbs nearly 1,500 meters from the valley floor. Wildlife sightings of mountain goats, marmots, and bears are common along the route.
Black Forest High Road
🇩🇪 Germany
The Schwarzwaldhochstrasse (Black Forest High Road) is one of Germany's oldest and most scenic tourist routes, running 60 kilometers along the ridgeline of the northern Black Forest from Baden-Baden to Freudenstadt. Established in the 1930s as the B500 federal road, it traverses elevations between 800 and 1,164 meters, weaving through dense coniferous forests, past glacial lakes called tarns, and alongside panoramic viewpoints that stretch across the Rhine Valley to the Vosges Mountains in France. The route passes landmarks including the Mummelsee, a dark glacial lake steeped in legend, and the Hornisgrinde, the highest peak of the northern Black Forest at 1,164 meters. Unlike many alpine roads, the gradients here are gentle and the road is wide, making it accessible to all drivers. The surrounding forest is crisscrossed with hiking and cross-country skiing trails, and traditional Black Forest guesthouses offer regional cuisine and the famous Black Forest cake.
Blue Ridge Parkway
🇺🇸 United States
The Blue Ridge Parkway is America's longest linear park, stretching 755 kilometers through the Appalachian Highlands from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Often called "America's Favorite Drive," the parkway was designed as a scenic leisure road with no commercial vehicles allowed, a 45 mph speed limit, and countless overlooks along its length. The route traverses some of the oldest mountains on Earth, offering sweeping vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains that appear to glow blue from the natural isoprene released by the vast forests. Highlights include the Linn Cove Viaduct, a stunning engineering feat hugging the side of Grandfather Mountain, and the folk music heritage of the Appalachian communities along the way. Fall foliage season transforms the parkway into a kaleidoscope of color that attracts millions of visitors.
Bolu Mountain Pass (D655)
🇹🇷 Turkey
The Bolu Mountain Pass road in northwestern Turkey crosses the Bolu Mountains between Ankara and Istanbul, climbing to approximately 1,500 meters through dense forests of black pine, fir, and beech. While the modern O4 motorway now tunnels beneath the mountains, the old D655 road over the pass remains one of Turkey's most enjoyable mountain drives, winding through Abant Nature Park and the Bolu Mountain forests. The region around Bolu is known as one of Turkey's greenest areas, with a climate more reminiscent of Central Europe than the dry Anatolian steppe. The road passes through the Yedigoller (Seven Lakes) National Park, where seven small lakes formed by landslides sit in a forested valley. The autumn colors here rival those of New England, with the mixed deciduous and coniferous forest creating a spectacular palette of reds, oranges, and golds. Bolu is also famous throughout Turkey for its cuisine and its culinary school, making it a destination for food lovers as well as drivers.
Cabot Trail
🇨🇦 Canada
The Cabot Trail is a 298-kilometer loop road in Nova Scotia, Canada, circling the northern tip of Cape Breton Island through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Named after the explorer John Cabot, who is believed to have landed on the island in 1497, the trail passes through some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in eastern North America. The road climbs from sea level to over 450 meters, traversing a landscape of lush boreal forests, dramatic coastal cliffs, and pastoral Acadian and Scottish highland communities. The most dramatic sections of the trail run through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, where the road hugs the cliff edge high above the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. French Mountain and MacKenzie Mountain offer the steepest grades and most sweeping views, with switchbacks climbing to plateaus that offer panoramic vistas of the ocean and the forested highlands. Moose are commonly spotted along the road, particularly at dawn and dusk, and whale watching from the cliffs is excellent from June through September. The trail passes through a patchwork of cultural communities, including Acadian French-speaking villages on the western coast, Scottish Gaelic heritage towns like Englishtown and Baddeck, and Mi'kmaq First Nations communities. Each area offers distinct cuisine, music, and traditions. The fall foliage season, typically mid-October, is considered the finest in eastern Canada, with the highlands blazing in reds, oranges, and golds. The trail is open year-round, though some services close in winter, and the road can be challenging during Nova Scotia's frequent storms.
Cameron Highlands Road
🌍 Malaysia
The Cameron Highlands Road climbs from the lowland town of Tapah through dense tropical rainforest to the tea plantations and cool hill stations of the Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia. The original road (Route 59) is a classic 60-kilometer mountain drive with over 400 curves as it ascends from near sea level to approximately 1,500 meters, passing through multiple climate zones and vegetation types along the way. The Cameron Highlands were developed as a hill station by the British in the 1930s, and the winding road retains much of its colonial-era character. The journey takes travelers from the steamy tropical lowlands through dipterocarp forest and cloud forest to emerge among the neatly manicured rows of the famous BOH tea plantations, strawberry farms, and flower nurseries. The cooler temperatures at the top (averaging 18-22 degrees Celsius) make this a popular escape from Malaysia's heat, and the road itself is a joy for driving enthusiasts.
Carretera Austral
🇨🇱 Chile
The Carretera Austral is a 1,240-kilometer road running through the remote Aysen region of Chilean Patagonia, from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins. Construction began under the Pinochet government in 1976 and was not completed until 2000. The road traverses one of the wildest and least populated regions in South America, a landscape of temperate rainforests, hanging glaciers, turquoise rivers, and snow-capped volcanoes. The route passes through the Northern Patagonian Ice Field region, where massive glaciers calve into milky blue lakes. Key highlights include Queulat National Park with its stunning hanging glacier, the turquoise confluence of the Baker and Nef rivers, and the marble caves of General Carrera Lake. Much of the road remains unpaved, and several sections require ferry crossings. The Carretera Austral has become a bucket-list destination for cyclists and overlanders seeking adventure in one of the world's last true wilderness frontiers.