The windswept tarmac of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way; the old world charm of Germany's Romantic Road; the nerve-racking hairpin bends of France’s Route des Grandes Alpes – Europe’s open roads dazzle drivers with their diversity. Here we round up 10 of the best routes on the continent, taken from our brand new book Unforgettable Journeys Europe.

Unforgettable Journeys Europe

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Iceland is famous for its wild landscape of huffing volcanoes and seething geysers. So it may surprise you to learn it’s quite easy to travel around this subarctic island on one main road, which runs around the country’s fascinating fringes. The Ring Road – aka Route 1 – loops right around the inhabited edges of Iceland in a civilised circle of two-lane tarmac. Technically, it would be possible to make a circuit in two days. But two weeks would be far better, allowing for stops-offs to feel the spray from its thunderous waterfalls, to comb its black-sand beaches, to jump into its thermals pools, to walk across its strange burping, steaming, extraterrestrial-looking terrain, and to meet its independent-spirited people.

Granite mountains looming ominously above the sea; scarlet-painted fishing villages clinging to a rugged coastline; glacial valleys unfurling to creamy sand beaches – the Lofoten Archipelago is Norway at its most wild and beautiful. You can drive this gorgeous landscape from tip to toe in a week, starting out from Svolvær in the north and ending at Å in the south. Along the way you can dip into cod-fishing traditions or jump in a kayak to weave around bays and islets, keeping an eye out for otters and white-tailed eagles. Or you might want to learn about the archipelago’s rich history at the Lofotr Viking Museum. The joy of road-tripping here is serendipity: keep your itinerary loose and your options open.

With submarine tunnels now in place, an inter island road trip on the Faroe Islands of Denmark is a novel possibility. Starting in the capital of Tórshavn, the route wends around the savagely spectacular coastline, passing lonely fjords and photogenic villages. En route: a dip beneath the sea via the world’s first underwater roundabout, a loop around the peak of Malinsfjall, perhaps a stop to hike up Slættaratindur, the Faroes’ highest summit, and cross the “Bridge over the Atlantic” to Fossá, the islands’ highest waterfall. Then it’s out to Vágar for the grand finale: the supernatural beauties of Sørvágsvatn, a huge lake balanced bizarrely on a cliff edge, and Múlafossur, a satin cascade plunging down a cliff face. This is the closest mortals ever come to Asgard, home of the Norse gods.

Beginning and ending at Inverness Castle, the circular North Coast 500 route takes in bone-white beaches, sleepy fishing villages, floppy-fringed Highland cows and mist-cloaked lochs. Ancient history echoes across the Black Isle, dotted with Pictish stones, while Easter Ross is home to traditional country pubs and the Glenmorangie whisky distillery. In Sutherland, crumbling castles dot some of Europe’s most dramatic scenery, where mountains collide with the sea while Wester Ross promises beaches to rival those of the Mediterranean.

With the jewel-blue Atlantic Ocean your constant companion, driving the length of Ireland’s western coast leads you to megalithic monuments, charming towns and scenic views. Starting at Ireland’s northernmost tip, the road picks through the rugged headlands of Donegal, where huge swells lash Tullan Strand in Bundoran, the country's surf capital. The beach bars around here tend to be the traditional stone-built type: whitewashed cottages with thatched roofs, real ales and whisky. When you cross into Galway from Mayo, you’ll notice its mellow coastline is laced with pretty coves, sandy bays and a jumble of offshore islands.

Snaking through no less than four national parks, Route des Grandes Alpes delivers some of Europe’s highest roads and most nerve-racking hairpin bends. While the roads can be challenging, they also reward with staggering views of snow-capped mountains, Alpine meadows and rolling green pastures. No where is the scenery more dramatic than Vanoise National Park, where ibex roam the rocky ridgelines. Just when you thought you couldn’t drive any further into the clouds, you’ll reach the vertiginous Col de l’Iseran – the loftiest on the entire route – before continuing into the idyllic green Maurienne valley, and onward to Provence. As you steer between hilltop villages, the sparkling Mediterranean rolls ever closer. Park up in Menton to toast your journey’s end with an Aperol Spritz.

It’s best to take it slow on this bucolic route through Germany’s southern region. As the Romantic Road unfolds from the River Main to iconic Schloss Neuschwanstein, it takes in vineyards unfurling across gently undulating hills, medieval towns bursting with half-timbered houses and Bavarian villages straight from the pages of a fairytale. This is the kind of route that reminds you it’s the small moments that matter most – sipping Riesling on the Alte Mainbrücke in Würzburg, strolling the gardens of Harburg Castle or taking in a view of tightly packed gingerbread houses in Dinkelsbühl.

The eastern coast of this beautiful Mediterranean island runs for around 250 km (155 miles), yet squeezes in so much history, culture and wild landscape that it could take a lifetime to explore. The most memorable way is to hop in a vintage Fiat 500 and start in Ragusa, a cluster of cathedrals and houses reached by a drive along a rocky ravine. From here, it’s a rewarding detour through the Baroque hilltop towns of Noto and Modica – where the Fiat’s dinky dimensions come into their own in the winding backstreets – to historical Syracuse and Catania and the smoking crest of Mount Etna, Europe’s highest active volcano. Finally, the trip north to Messina is not complete without a few days in Taormina, where houses cling to the cliffside as if by their fingertips and gorgeous soft-sand beaches wait to be discovered.

Both beautiful and tragic, the wind-whipped cliffs of the Costa da Morte – the Coast of Death – have lured countless sailors to shipwreck. Despite its grisly past, this coast offers a scenic sun-beaten road trip you won’t forget. Beginning in the fishing village of Malpica de Bergantiños, the route passes Romanesque churches, whitewashed lighthouses and gorgeous wave-beaten beaches. Along the way are lonely monuments like the Shrine of St Adrian of the Sea and Roncudo Point, where stone crosses stand on the cliffs in memory of the many sailors who perished on its jagged rocks. As you enter the route’s final narrow peninsula, the sight of the sun melting into the Atlantic makes it easy to see why they called this place Fisterra – the edge of the world.

Embark on your own odyssey across the Mani Peninsula of Greece’s Peloponnese region, a land shrouded in myth and legend. A road trip here starts at Areopoli, named for Ares, god of war. Stopping off down the coast, take a boat trip through the eerie Diros caves, where stalactites drip from the ceilings. Refuel on the local speciality of grilled octopus at Chalikia Beach and indulge in a cooling dip at Marmari, before heading to Cape Matapan: the second most southerly point of Continental Europe. This is where Greek legend placed the gates of Hades, guarded by the many-headed dog, Cerberus – though as you make the drive, it’s hard to think of the Mani as anything less than heavenly.

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