Where Water Meets the Road: The 5 Best Coastal Drives Worldwide

From California to Norway, these coastal drives prove that sometimes the best part of travel is the road beneath your wheels

Some drives are simply a way to get from one place to another, but others – the special ones filled with vista-laden curves and hairpin cliffhangers – transform the journey itself into the highlight of the trip.

Along the world’s most spectacular coastlines, a handful of legendary routes wind past beaches, villages, and open ocean in ways that make every mile memorable. So get ready to get behind the wheel and feel the wind in your hair on these five great coastal drives.

Few drives are more iconic than the Pacific Coast Highway, which traces California’s rugged shoreline between San Francisco and Los Angeles and beyond. The route from San Francisco to San Simeon delivers a constant interplay of cliffs, crashing surf, and sweeping Pacific views, with its most captivating stretch running through Big Sur. Here, the highway clings to mountainsides high above the ocean, with photo stops like Bixby Bridge offering one of the most recognizable coastal scenes in the world. Break up this epic drive into multiple segments with stops and stays in elegantly luxurious retreats like Post Ranch Inn, which perches on a cliff overlooking the Pacific.

Australia’s Great Ocean Road deserves its grand name thanks to its 150 miles of winding roadway along the southern coast of Victoria. Combining surf beaches, dramatic cliffs, and pockets of lush rainforest, the road offers a varied overview of the country’s wild landscape, with the drive’s most famous landmark being The Twelve Apostles, a collection of towering limestone stacks rising from the Southern Ocean. Along the way, detours into Great Otway National Park reveal waterfalls, fern-lined valleys, and wildlife-filled forests that feel worlds away from the coast just beyond.

The Amalfi Coast Drive links Sorrento and Salerno along a narrow road carved high into the cliffs above the Mediterranean. Hairpin turns reveal pastel villages cascading toward the sea and gentle climbs are lined with fragrant lemon groves and historic villas perched above the water. Stops in Positano and Ravello add to the route’s enduring allure, combining dramatic scenery with the unmistakable glamour of Italy’s southern coast. Spend a night in Positano at Covo Dei Saraceni, a quintessentially Amalfi boutique hotel built directly into a seaside cliff, before hitting the open road. A convertible is highly recommended.

Short but unforgettable, Norway’s Atlantic Ocean Road hops between a chain of small islands along the country’s rugged western coast. The route is famous for its series of sweeping bridges, most notably Storseisundet Bridge, which boasts a striking curve that appears to leap into the sea and offers gearheads a true driving challenge. When North Atlantic storms roll through, waves crash against the causeways, adding a dramatic edge to one of Europe’s most visually distinctive coastal drives.

Stretching more than 1,500 miles along Ireland’s western edge, the Wild Atlantic Way is less a single road than an epic coastal journey. The route threads together remote peninsulas, fishing villages, and unforgettable viewpoints, from the towering cliffs of Cliffs of Moher to the rugged landscapes of Connemara and the windswept beauty of the Dingle Peninsula. It’s a drive meant to be taken slowly, with countless stops and places to overnight along the way – including The Europe Hotel & Resort set on the placid shores of mirror-like Lough Leane. 

Together, these routes showcase the extraordinary variety of the world’s coastlines – from Mediterranean villages to windswept Atlantic cliffs. What they share is a sense of drama and discovery, where the scenery constantly shifts and the next bend in the road always promises something new, exciting, and unforgettable.