From cliff-hugging California asphalt to Icelandic ring roads circling volcanoes, these are the drives people build road trips around. Vote for the coastal route that delivers the most unforgettable miles.
What counts: Ranked by a mix of scenic drama, worldwide fame/bucket-list status, and driving experience; length, ratings, tolls and best-season windows are approximate and meant as rough guides, not precise records.
Pacific Coast Highway (California, USA)
California's Highway 1 threads Big Sur's redwood-backed cliffs above the Pacific, past Bixby Bridge and McWay Falls, becoming the template every other 'great coastal drive' gets compared to. Landslides regularly close sections, which only adds to its mythic, fragile-beauty reputa
Length: 1,050 kmScenic Rating: 9.5/10Best Time to Drive: Apr–OctToll Fee: $0
added by IJR
Great Ocean Road (Victoria, Australia)
Built by returning WWI soldiers as the world's largest war memorial, this road delivers the Twelve Apostles limestone stacks rising from the Southern Ocean in golden late-afternoon light. It's Australia's single most-driven tourist route for a reason.
Length: 243 kmScenic Rating: 9.3/10Best Time to Drive: Dec–FebToll Fee: $0
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Amalfi Coast Drive, SS163 (Italy)
A narrow ribbon carved into vertical cliffs linking Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, this road turns every hairpin into a postcard of pastel villages and lemon groves plunging into turquoise water. It's terrifyingly narrow for tour buses, which is half the legend.
Length: 50 kmScenic Rating: 9.6/10Best Time to Drive: Apr–Jun, Sep–OctToll Fee: $0
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Ring Road, Route 1 (Iceland)
Circling the entire island past glaciers, black-sand beaches, waterfalls and lava fields, Route 1 turns a single highway into a full-country pilgrimage. Where else does a coastal drive include ice caves and puffin cliffs on the same afternoon?
Length: 1,332 kmScenic Rating: 9.4/10Best Time to Drive: Jun–AugToll Fee: $0
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Atlantic Road (Norway)
Barely 8 kilometers long, this engineering marvel skips across skerries and islets on bridges that seem to launch straight into the sea, most famously the storm-battered Storseisundet Bridge. Short, but pound-for-pound one of the most photographed roads on earth.
Length: 8.3 kmScenic Rating: 9/10Best Time to Drive: May–SepToll Fee: $0
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Garden Route (South Africa)
Stretching from Mossel Bay to Storms River, this route stitches together indigenous forests, lagoons, and dramatic ocean bluffs along the Indian Ocean. It's less about one killer view and more about a week-long crescendo of them.
Length: 300 kmScenic Rating: 8.8/10Best Time to Drive: Nov–MarToll Fee: $0
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Wild Atlantic Way (Ireland)
The world's longest defined coastal touring route runs the entire western edge of Ireland, past the Cliffs of Moher and the wind-scoured Dingle Peninsula. Its scale means no single drive covers it all, which is exactly why road-trippers keep coming back.
Length: 2,500 kmScenic Rating: 8.9/10Best Time to Drive: May–SepToll Fee: $0
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Causeway Coastal Route (Northern Ireland)
Linking Belfast to Derry via the Giant's Causeway's basalt columns and the rope-bridge drama of Carrick-a-Rede, this route packs geology and Game of Thrones scenery into one manageable day trip. Dunluce Castle teetering on its cliff is the drive's signature gut-punch.
Length: 195 kmScenic Rating: 8.7/10Best Time to Drive: Apr–SepToll Fee: $0
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Hana Highway (Maui, Hawaii)
620 curves and 59 one-lane bridges squeeze through Maui's rainforest coastline to reach waterfalls, black-sand beaches and the remote village of Hana. The journey is famously the destination — nobody drives it to save time.
Length: 103 kmScenic Rating: 8.9/10Best Time to Drive: Apr–OctToll Fee: $0
added by IJRin 2 rankings
Cabot Trail (Nova Scotia, Canada)
Looping around Cape Breton Highlands, this drive alternates between crashing Atlantic surf and moose-filled highland plateaus, exploding into color every fall foliage season. Whale-watching pullouts along the cliffs seal its reputation as Canada's premier road trip.
Length: 298 kmScenic Rating: 8.8/10Best Time to Drive: Sep–OctToll Fee: $0
added by IJR
North Coast 500 (Scotland)
A relatively new circuit around the Scottish Highlands' northern edge, the NC500 strings together white sand beaches, castle ruins and single-track roads past sea lochs. It's been credited with single-handedly reviving Highland tourism since its 2015 launch.
Length: 830 kmScenic Rating: 8.6/10Best Time to Drive: May–SepToll Fee: $0
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Chapman's Peak Drive (South Africa)
Blasted into the cliff face between Hout Bay and Noordhoek near Cape Town, this short toll road hairpins along sheer drops with the Atlantic crashing hundreds of feet below. Rockfall closures have only heightened its white-knuckle reputation.
Length: 9 kmScenic Rating: 8.7/10Best Time to Drive: Nov–AprToll Fee: $3
added by IJR
French Riviera Corniches (France)
Three parallel roads — Basse, Moyenne and Grande Corniche — climb the cliffs between Nice and Menton, overlooking Monaco's yacht-lined harbor and the Mediterranean glitter that inspired Hitchcock's 'To Catch a Thief.' Old-world glamour meets genuine driving thrills.
Length: 30 kmScenic Rating: 8.5/10Best Time to Drive: Apr–OctToll Fee: $0
added by IJR
Overseas Highway (Florida Keys, USA)
US-1 island-hops 113 miles across turquoise water on a chain of bridges, including the iconic Seven Mile Bridge, ending at the sunset-worshipping streets of Key West. It's the rare coastal drive where you're surrounded by ocean on both sides for most of the trip.
Length: 182 kmScenic Rating: 8.4/10Best Time to Drive: Nov–AprToll Fee: $0
added by IJR
Skeleton Coast Road (Namibia)
Fog-shrouded dunes meet a shipwreck-strewn Atlantic shoreline along this desolate, hauntingly beautiful route where the Namib Desert collides with the sea. Seal colonies and rusting hulks make it the eeriest entry on this list.
Length: 500 kmScenic Rating: 8.2/10Best Time to Drive: May–OctToll Fee: $0
added by IJR
Indian Ocean Drive (Western Australia)
Running north from Perth past the alien limestone spires of the Pinnacles Desert and pink Hutt Lagoon, this drive proves Australia's coastal drama extends well beyond the Great Ocean Road. Wide-open, empty highway and turquoise water for hours on end.
Length: 220 kmScenic Rating: 8/10Best Time to Drive: Apr–OctToll Fee: $0
added by IJR
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