Drivelines
Great Britain/8 min read

The 10 best driving roads in Great Britain.

Great Britain offers a surprisingly rich tapestry of driving routes, from sweeping Highland glens to the tightly coiled passes of Snowdonia. This list compiles the country's ten finest stretches of tarmac, chosen for their surface quality, sightlines, and sheer technical reward. Leave the motorway behind and head for the high ground.

By Drivelines·Published 06 May 2026
REGION OVERVIEW

The Geography of Great Driving

Finding a truly great road in Britain is an exercise in seeking out elevation. The best routes follow the old drovers' paths over the Pennines, thread the glacial valleys of Wales, or carve through the vast, open moorland of the Scottish Borders. What links them is a sense of purpose: these are roads built to traverse difficult terrain, resulting in alignments that naturally demand reading the camber, managing weight transfer, and looking far ahead. While modern traffic and weather constantly test their surfaces, the roads highlighted here have the width and grip required to make the journey worthwhile.

Routes mapped
10
Total distance
294km
Avg curve idx
6.4/10
Map of all 10 routes in gb
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Buxton New Road (A537)
10
A537 · Peak District · Spirited
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Buxton New Road (A537)

The A537 climbs out of Macclesfield to the Cat and Fiddle Inn at 1,689 ft over 7.5 miles of straights broken by sharp, often blind bends across open moor. The inn was Britain's second-highest pub until it shut in 2015 and is now the Forest Distillery's shop. The stretch carries a 50 limit and rear-facing average-speed cameras that have been in place since 2010, after the road was rated the most dangerous in the UK. What remains is a road that rewards reading the camber and placing the car early; the corners lose nothing at the posted 50.

The camera sites pair up unpredictably along the whole climb, so hold 50 from Macclesfield to the A54 junction. Cheshire East shuts the road in snow. Both the A537 and A54 closed in January 2025, so check before a winter run.

Distance
13.7km
Drive time
0h 16m
Curve idx
7.9/10
Climb
492m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Lartington Lane (B6277)
09
B6277 · Teesdale · Easy
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Lartington Lane (B6277)

Our stretch is 25 miles of the B6277 from Lartington up the north side of the Tees, through Cotherstone and Romaldkirk to the London Lead Company's old market town at Middleton-in-Teesdale, then past High Force and Langdon Beck to Harwood. It is a valley road rather than a pass: flowing corners between stone villages on a mostly smooth surface, with the gradient only really arriving beyond Langdon Beck where the road lifts onto open moor and snow poles start lining the verges. Riders score its corners highly and its straights poorly, which is the right balance for a curve index of 4.6.

Above the last farmhouse on the fell the surface turns bumpy and the sheep are unfenced and indecisive; lower down, the High Force car park beside the road fills with waterfall traffic in summer, so expect people crossing there.

Distance
39.7km
Drive time
0h 46m
Curve idx
4.6/10
Climb
311m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Pont Rhydlydan (A44)
08
A44 · Mid Wales · Easy
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Pont Rhydlydan (A44)

West of Llangurig the A44 climbs out of the Wye headwaters, clinging to the hillsides up to Eisteddfa Gurig at 408 m, its highest point, marked by the Elvis Rock. From there it comes off the watershed towards Ponterwyd in a series of long, sweeping bends. It is a trunk road with a trunk-road surface and only modest curvature, but the corners are big-radius and well sighted, which is what lets you plan a line a quarter-mile out and balance the car through it. The climb past Cwmbrwyno, a hundred metres in a mile under oversized chevrons, is the one section that asks for real concentration.

Sheep doze on the tarmac over the top, and the limits between Llangurig and Ponterwyd have been stepped down to 50, 40 and 30 in places since 2021. They change more often than the scenery. Stop at Ponterwyd for the Nant-y-moch turn or the kite feeding at Bwlch Nant yr Arian rather than in a lay-by on the hill.

Distance
21.2km
Drive time
0h 22m
Curve idx
4.9/10
Climb
302m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Thomas Telford Road (B709)
07
B709 · Scottish Borders · Easy
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Thomas Telford Road (B709)

Named for the engineer born up the valley at Glendinning in 1757, this is the Eskdale half of Britain's 58-mile B709: out of Langholm along the Esk to Eskdalemuir, past the Samye Ling temple, then over high wet moorland and through the forestry to Ettrick and Tushielaw. The southern section is the fluent part, with open, well-sighted bends through sheep country, while the 16 miles between Eskdalemuir and Ettrick are single track with passing places. It rewards patience and looking a long way ahead rather than steering effort.

Timber lorries work this road and there is no phone signal for long stretches; the sharp left over Eskdalemuir Bridge by the church is where the road changes character, and it is a poor place to break down.

Distance
41.2km
Drive time
0h 51m
Curve idx
5.1/10
Climb
968m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Townfoot (A686)
06
A686 · North Pennines · Spirited
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Townfoot (A686)

From Melmerby the A686 climbs in stacked hairpins to Hartside at 1,903 feet, runs on over Alston Moor to England's highest market town and drops down the Allen and South Tyne valleys to Haydon Bridge, a road the AA and Top Gear both put in their top-ten drives. The bends are wide and well cambered and the sightlines on the Melmerby side are long, so it rewards reading a corner ahead and smooth, deliberate inputs; the surface varies far more than the alignment does. The difficulty here is weather and exposure, not tightness.

There is no café at Hartside any more, as it burned down in 2018 and was demolished, but the summit car park still fills with bikes on a dry weekend, and the police know it: Melmerby is a known speed-check spot and the 50 limit toward Langwathby is enforced.

Distance
46.3km
Drive time
0h 52m
Curve idx
6.1/10
Climb
954m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Duke's Pass (A821)
05
A821 · The Trossachs · Expert
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Duke's Pass (A821)

Built by the Duke of Montrose in 1885 as an estate road and opened to the public in 1931, the Duke's Pass climbs out of Aberfoyle through three hairpins at up to 9.9% to a 240-metre summit, then keeps changing direction through the forest all the way down to Loch Achray and Brig o' Turk before easing off towards Callander. The tarmac is smooth but the road is narrow, the crests are blind and no two corners are alike, so it rewards line-choice and steady inputs rather than pace. The AA was selling it as the classic Sunday drive in the 1950s and the description still fits.

Gravel washes across the bends after heavy rain and coaches use the pass all day in season; the quiet window is early evening, once the day traffic has gone.

Distance
22.7km
Drive time
0h 34m
Curve idx
10.0/10
Climb
403m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Rhigos Road (A4061)
04
A4061 · Rhondda · Easy
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Rhigos Road (A4061)

The A4061 is two 1920s relief-works mountain roads joined by the Rhondda Fawr: Bwlch-y-Clawdd (450 m) above Treorchy and the Rhigos (421 m) between Treherbert and Hirwaun, both laid out in hairpins because the valley walls left no other way up. It is wide, well surfaced and unusually well sighted for a pass: the Rhigos climb averages five per cent over six kilometres with three hairpins, so most corners are long open arcs that take one clean input rather than a saw at the wheel. Inside the 40 mph limit on the Rhigos it is a road about flow, not brakes.

The summit lay-by on the Rhigos looks down on Llyn Fawr and the old Tower Colliery, and there has been an ice cream van at the Bwlch top since the 1930s; both fill by mid-morning on a sunny weekend. Sheep graze loose on both tops and the tarmac carries the marks of drivers who met one.

Distance
25km
Drive time
0h 34m
Curve idx
4.7/10
Climb
676m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Kirkstone Pass (A592)
03
A592 · Lake District · Spirited
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Kirkstone Pass (A592)

At 1,489 ft the A592 over Kirkstone is the highest Lake District pass open to traffic, and unusually for the Lakes it is a proper two-way A-road with centre lines and no hairpins. From the Windermere side it is a long, shallow climb, 10 km at an average of 3.6% and peaking at 12 to 13% near the top, which is why it rewards momentum and smooth steering rather than gear-hunting; the Patterdale side is shorter and steeper, up to 18% past Brothers Water. The Brotherswater-to-Hird Wood section was rebuilt under the Safer Roads Fund in 2023 to 2024 with new drainage and crash barriers, so the surface is as good as it has been.

The road was shut for eight months after the November 2025 landslip at High Kingate and only fully reopened in July 2026. The summit inn had been closed for some years by then, though its pay-by-app car park kept operating, so plan a stop in Ambleside or Glenridding rather than at the top.

Distance
52.4km
Drive time
1h 17m
Curve idx
6.0/10
Climb
1115m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Llanberis Pass (A4086)
02
A4086 · Eryri · Spirited
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Llanberis Pass (A4086)

Built in the 1830s to get ore down from the Snowdon mines, the A4086 climbs from Nant Peris to Pen-y-Pass at 359 m in under five kilometres, averaging 5% with a short pitch over 10%. The valley is straight and steep-sided, so the road's interest is in its camber changes and the way dry-stone walls and roadside boulders trim your sightline rather than in any great number of corners. It rewards smooth inputs and a lane-centred line; the Cromlech Boulders that crowd the carriageway are there because locals fought off a 1973 widening scheme.

Pen-y-Pass has 68 pre-booked spaces and the verge is a clearway that gets towed, so the pass itself stays clearer than you'd think; the queue you meet is for the Nant Peris park-and-ride, three miles below.

Distance
14.6km
Drive time
0h 20m
Curve idx
6.4/10
Climb
464m
StartEnd
Plan a drive to Heol Brynamman (A4069)
01
A4069 · Black Mountain · Expert
Dual-trackSmooth surface

Heol Brynamman (A4069)

Climbing out of Brynamman over the Black Mountain to Llangadog, the A4069 tops out at around 495 metres beside the disused limekilns of Herbert's Quarry, with the Tro Gwcw hairpin tucked under the scarp near the summit. The corners are a genuine mix, hairpins into third-gear sweepers into sighted crests, on tarmac that is good by rural-Wales standards, but the whole Brynamman to Llangadog section is now a 40mph limit under average-speed cameras, so the reward is entirely in line and rhythm. It is open common: sheep and the odd pony are on the carriageway, especially beyond blind crests.

There is no fuel on the pass, and Carmarthenshire's weather camera at the quarry car park is worth checking before you leave; this is among the first roads in Wales to get low cloud, standing water and snow.

Distance
17km
Drive time
0h 25m
Curve idx
8.7/10
Climb
432m
// KEEP READING
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