The best UK driving roads

Isle of Man Snaefell Mountain Road

Roads: A18

What motorist can deny the appeal of the Isle of Man Snaefell Mountain Road? Thirteen-miles of exhilarating, speed limitless tarmac, sweeping to 422 metres above sea level, with gradients of up to 14 per cent, and countless tight bends and sheer drops.

What’s more, on this road you’re tyre treading the hallowed halls of the history books, with the road making up part of the Isle of Man TT course – the UK’s oldest motorcycle racing circuit still in use.

In 2014, National Geographic magazine designated the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road as No. 8 in the Top 10 Driver's Drives.

Cat and Fiddle

Roads: A537, A54, A53

An unfortunate but necessary victim of the average speed camera, the Cat and Fiddle is a road of mythical proportions, stretching between Buxton, Derbyshire, and Macclesfield, Cheshire, through the Peak District. Over 12-odd miles, it features sharp bends, sheer drops and historic stone walls bordering livestock fields.

Named for the pub-come-whisky distillery that sits at its peak, the road has also been dubbed the ‘British Widow Maker’ and ‘the most dangerous road in Britain’, due to its incredible high number of accidents and deaths. Between 2002 and 2006, there were 35 serious or fatal crashes, followed by 44 over the next five years. Since 2001, there have been 264 casualties, approximately 70 per cent of which were motorcyclists. Speed reduction measures were introduced in 2011 and now while the road is much slower, it’s still just as jaw dropping.

Evo Triangle

Roads: A5, A543 and B4501

What makes a great road? Low traffic, beautifully curving, cambered bends and scenery stretching as far as they eye can see? The Evo Triangle has it all – and then some!

Buried deep in the heart of North Wales it has been a mecca for motoring aficionados ever since Evo magazine began conducting road tests there.

Stretching 20 miles along the A5, A543 and B4501, the Isosceles triangle sweeps through dramatic rolling countryside, with only sheep to witness your driving prowess – that was until 2019, when the triangle sadly succumbed to the average speed camera, following the deaths of four motorists.

North Coast 500

Roads: A9, A386, A838, A894, A837, A385, A832, A396, A390, A832

Easily the newest road to make our round-up, the North Coast 500 was created solely to bring tourism to Scotland’s nether regions. And what a job it has done. Since its launch in 2015, hundreds of thousands of motorists have embarked on the 516-mile round trip, which begins at Inverness Castle and loops through the counties of Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness.

Passing John O’Groats, Cape Wraith and the Point of Stoer (if you follow the route anti-clockwise), the road encompasses the very best that the Highlands have to offer, from beautiful lochs to huge sea stacks and the stunning scenery that comes between. In fact, such is its beauty that the NC500 regularly features on lists of the world’s best coastal drives.

Giants Causeway

Roads: A2

There is nothing quite like the Giants Causeway, a UNESCO heritage site comprising around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, thought to be the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. Located in County Antrim on Northern Ireland’s North Coast, the incredible rock formation usually draws countless visitors each year.

And accompanying the Causeway in the beauty books is a 120-mile Causeway Coastal route, which hugs the coastline between Belfast and Derry-Londonderry, taking in the rock formation plus many more natural and manmade wonders – the beautiful Ballintoy Harbour, for example. And, if you have the time, why not continue down the Wild Atlantic Way, which promises one of the world’s most dramatic coastlines and an abundance of incredible Irish heritage.

The A272

Roads: As the name suggests, just the A272…

Call us biased, but the A272, which stretches along the South Downs from Winchester, Hampshire, to Heathfield, East Sussex, is one of the finest stretches of road in the South.

Home to the bikers’ haunt that is Loomies, it winds through quaint villages, valleys and along hilltops – a well-maintained stretch of tarmac that if you catch it at the right time is often almost empty. Covering 77 miles, it takes less than two hours on a good day, and passes plenty of pubs where you can stop for some traditional grub.  

While the scenery is nowhere near as dramatic as the Giants Causeway, and the bends not quite as tight as the Cat and Fiddle, the A272 is a beautiful drive nonetheless. 

Main image by Colin Horn.