Where to stay
LuxuryCortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Underground garage with valet, and a first-light departure straight onto the Falzarego ramp before the coaches wake.
Driver Hotel Score
9.4
From route
0.4 km
£££££
HistoricLake Garda, Italy
A lakefront villa with gated gravel courtyard, five minutes from the Gardesana's tunnelled corniche.
Driver Hotel Score
9.1
From route
1.2 km
££££
LuxuryAndermatt, Switzerland
Arguably the finest driver's basecamp in Europe: Furka, Susten, Gotthard and Oberalp all within twenty minutes.
Driver Hotel Score
9.7
From route
0.1 km
£££££
BoutiqueSaint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France
Steep but smooth approach; the Moyenne Corniche is a four-minute roll from the gates at sunrise.
Driver Hotel Score
8.9
From route
2.6 km
££££
Country HouseRibeauvillé, Alsace
Half-timbered wine village, courtyard parking behind locked gates, and the Route des Crêtes for breakfast.
Driver Hotel Score
8.6
From route
0.8 km
£££
HistoricLochaber, Scotland
Loch-side shooting lodge with a gravel sweep; empty single-track glory from the front door before eight.
Driver Hotel Score
8.4
From route
0.3 km
£££
LuxuryRavello, Italy
Valet garage cut into the cliff, which solves the one real problem with the Amalfi coast. Leave at six and the corniche belongs to you.
Driver Hotel Score
9
From route
0.6 km
£££££
Country HouseChianti, Italy
A gated courtyard behind stone walls, a cypress avenue for the drive out, and cold water and cloths waiting when you come back dusty.
Driver Hotel Score
9.2
From route
1.1 km
££££
Best ValueGorges du Verdon, France
Honest rooms, serious cooking and a gravel yard fifty metres from the rim road. Breakfast is served early because the owner drives too.
Driver Hotel Score
8.6
From route
0.1 km
££
BoutiqueValldal, Norway
Timber and glass on the water, chargers on every bay, and twenty minutes of empty fjord road before the first ferry queue forms.
Driver Hotel Score
8.9
From route
0.4 km
£££
HistoricRonda, Spain
Whitewashed farmhouse above the gorge with a walled parking court, and the A397 starts before the town wakes up.
Driver Hotel Score
8.8
From route
2.0 km
£££
SpaBaiersbronn, Germany
Underground garage, a spa built for stiff shoulders and the B500 five minutes away in either direction.
Driver Hotel Score
9.1
From route
0.5 km
££££
BoutiqueApplecross, Scotland
The only sensible base on the peninsula, with langoustines at night and an empty Bealach na Bà at first light.
Driver Hotel Score
8.5
From route
0.2 km
£££
LuxuryBig Sur, California
Cabins on the ridge above the fog line, chargers under the redwoods and Highway 1 empty until the Monterey traffic climbs south.
Driver Hotel Score
9
From route
0.8 km
£££££
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Proprietary scoring
A hotel can be excellent and still be wrong for a driver. We score what matters behind the wheel, where the car sleeps, whether the ramp will scrape it, and what the road out looks like at seven in the morning.