By car type
A grand tourer wants distance and rhythm, not a five kilometre hairpin sprint. These are the roads with enough length to justify the car.
The whole point of a GT is that you can drive it all day and arrive fresh. That calls for a different road again, one with sustained flow, real length and somewhere worth arriving at.
We rank on a blend of driving and scenery, then reward length heavily. Short technical climbs, however brilliant, are not what this car is for.
Checked by the Drivers Atlas desk
Scored and written by the Drivers Atlas editorial desk, drawing on driven routes across the UK and Europe, mapping data and member road reports. Rankings combine the Atlas driving and scenery scores with a fit score written specifically for grand tourers. How we score roads.
Last reviewed 9 May 2026
The criteria
Pushed up the list
Pushed down, or worth avoiding
Ranked
01 · Romania
Ceausescu's mountain folly, the most photographed hairpin stack in Europe.
90 km · 55.9 mi · Fit score 11.9 / 10
02 · Italy
Eighty four hairpins stacked above the treeline make this Europe's most theatrical mountain pass.
49 km · 30.4 mi · Fit score 11.8 / 10
03 · Austria
Austria's grandest high alpine road climbs to Franz Josefs Hohe beneath the country's tallest peak.
48 km · 29.8 mi · Fit score 11.7 / 10
04 · Italy
A cliffside ribbon of hairpins clinging above turquoise water and pastel towns.
50 km · 31.1 mi · Fit score 11.7 / 10
05 · United States
Swaths of switchbacks climb to 3337 metres past alpine lakes and snowfields.
109 km · 67.7 mi · Fit score 11.7 / 10
06 · Romania
Romania's highest road runs along bare alpine ridgelines with almost no barriers.
148 km · 92 mi · Fit score 11.6 / 10
07 · Norway
Hairpins spiral down to the Geirangerfjord past waterfalls with names like the Seven Sisters.
106 km · 65.9 mi · Fit score 11.6 / 10
08 · Turkey
Thirteen stacked hairpins on a cliff face make this one of the world's scariest roads.
106 km · 65.9 mi · Fit score 11.6 / 10
09 · New Zealand
A glacial valley run to the Homer Tunnel and a fiord surrounded by vertical rock.
119 km · 73.9 mi · Fit score 11.6 / 10
10 · United States
The Pacific coast at its most theatrical, cliff curves above the open ocean.
145 km · 90.1 mi · Fit score 11.5 / 10
11 · Argentina
A stack of Andean snail bends beneath Aconcagua on the road to Chile.
100 km · 62.1 mi · Fit score 11.5 / 10
12 · Spain
Mallorca's spine road strings together sea cliffs, terraces and mountain villages.
75 km · 46.6 mi · Fit score 11.4 / 10
13 · Morocco
A stack of orange hairpins climbs out of a red rock gorge into empty highland.
63 km · 39.1 mi · Fit score 11.4 / 10
14 · Canada
Glacier after glacier lines a road through the spine of the Canadian Rockies.
232 km · 144.2 mi · Fit score 11.4 / 10
15 · Argentina
A dizzying climb from painted desert hills to a blinding white salt flat.
65 km · 40.4 mi · Fit score 11.4 / 10
16 · Chile
Patagonia's legendary road through rainforest, fjords and hanging glaciers.
600 km · 372.8 mi · Fit score 11.4 / 10
17 · Germany
The western German Alpine Road weaves past castles beneath jagged limestone peaks.
90 km · 55.9 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
18 · Germany
Sweeping alpine curves link lake resorts on the way to the Austrian border.
150 km · 93.2 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
19 · Croatia
The Magistrala hugs bare karst cliffs above island studded blue water for hours.
180 km · 111.8 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
20 · Canada
An empty mountain road of long climbs and glacial lakes beyond Whistler.
99 km · 61.5 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
21 · Morocco
The rebuilt main Atlas crossing, wide fast sweepers to the edge of the Sahara.
196 km · 121.8 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
22 · Australia
Cliff hugging coastal curves past surf breaks and the Twelve Apostles.
243 km · 151 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
23 · Chile
A 4780 metre Andean crossing past penitentes ice spikes and no traffic at all.
180 km · 111.8 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
24 · France
A river hugging road beneath towering limestone cliffs, one of the Massif Central's great drives.
52 km · 32.3 mi · Fit score 11.3 / 10
Before you go
A good grand touring day is roughly three hundred to four hundred kilometres with a long lunch. Beyond that the driving stops being the pleasure.
The arrival matters as much as the road. Book somewhere with secure parking and route the day to reach it in daylight.
A GT boot is a compromise. Soft bags travel better than hard cases and keep the rear axle behaving.
Common questions
The Route des Grandes Alpes is the classic, running the full length of the French Alps. The Great Dolomites Road and the Norwegian fjord routes are the other two that consistently justify the car.
Two hundred to two hundred and fifty miles of interesting road is a full and satisfying day. More than that and you are commuting, not touring.
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