6 roads · Europe

Best driving roads in Europe

6 famous driving roads in Europe, each called corner by corner by Turini’s pace-note engine. On the routes here, the Stelvio Pass has the most hairpins (47); the Transfăgărășan is the longest at 32.3 km and has the biggest climb, about 1,550 m in all. They are listed by the number of hairpins Turini calls, then by length: a count from the map, not a verdict on which road is best.

Europe, by hairpins

1. 1
   Stelvio PassPasso dello Stelvio · SS38 · Italy15.7 km · 165 calls · 47 hairpins · ↑1,350 m

   At 2,757 m it is the second-highest paved pass in the Alps, and the Prad side is known for its numbered hairpins, 48 of them, stacked one above another up the mountainside.

2. 2
   TransfăgărășanDN7C · Făgăraș Mountains · Romania32.3 km · 235 calls · 29 hairpins · ↑1,550 m

   It was built in the early 1970s as a strategic route over the mountains, and its north side ends in the stacked switchbacks that appear in almost every photo of it.

3. 3
   Col de TuriniD2566 · Alpes-Maritimes · France12.6 km · 153 calls · 19 hairpins · ↑1,060 m

   The climb has been a stage of the Monte Carlo Rally for decades, often run at night and in snow and ice.

4. 4
   Evo TriangleA543 · Denbigh Moors · Wales20.1 km · 91 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑300 m

   It takes its name from evo magazine, which used these roads for years for its road tests and photo shoots.

5. 5
   GlencoeA82 · Glen Coe · Scotland19.0 km · 54 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑60 m

   It passes Buachaille Etive Mòr at the head of the glen and the Three Sisters further down, and it is the classic road to Fort William and Skye.

6. 6
   Atlantic Ocean RoadFv64 · Norway8.6 km · 34 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑0 m

   It opened in 1989, and its curving 260 m Storseisundet Bridge, which from some angles seems to end in mid-air, is the picture most people know it by.

Counts are from Turini’s pace-note engine on the route shown on each road’s page, which is often one side or one stretch of the road. Climbs come from terrain data.

What the numbers mean

Each corner is called as a direction and a grade from 1 (tightest) to 6 (nearly straight). Hairpins are the turns that double back on themselves. The counts come straight from Turini’s engine reading the OpenStreetMap road, the same calls you hear in the car. The climb (↑) is the height gained over the route, from terrain data. New to it? Read how to read pace notes.

Always drive within the law, the conditions and what you can see. Turini tells you what the map says; the road is what counts.

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