N2 (Estrada Nacional 2)
🇵🇹 Portugal
The Estrada Nacional 2 (EN2) is Portugal's longest road, running 738 kilometers from Chaves on the northern Spanish border to Faro on the Algarve coast in the south. Often called Portugal's Route 66, it traverses the entire length of the country through its rural heartland, passing through 35 municipalities and 11 districts, including some of the most remote and undiscovered landscapes in Western Europe.
The road winds through the terraced vineyards of the Douro Valley, the cork oak forests of the Alentejo, the granite villages of the Serra da Estrela (mainland Portugal's highest mountain range at 1,993 meters), and the rolling plains of the southern interior. Much of the route follows roads that have served as trade and pilgrimage paths for centuries. Unlike the modern motorways that connect Portugal's coastal cities, the EN2 passes through a slower, traditional Portugal of small towns, family-run restaurants, and landscapes largely unchanged for generations.