6 of the Best European Mountain Passes Made Easy
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Whether you make a dash for the last of the snow, or wait for the summer sun, Europe’s mountain passes are always a drivers’s delight. The challenge of serial switchbacks and stunning views are what put these routes on bucket lists.
Our guides to six of the best European mountain roads are now available for free on the MIVIA app, with accurate, turn-by-turn navigation for every one. You can also use the app to book accommodation and sign up for discounts and deals to improve your driving life.
Just download MIVIA and use the links below to tackle these six very special Detours in Switzerland, France and Italy.
Maloja Pass, Switzerland
It’s a dizzying, arm-twirling ascent to Maloja. Hairpin after hairpin sees you climb over 800 metres in the space of a couple of miles. A mountain goat couldn’t have designed a steeper route.
Flüela Pass, Switzerland
This road’s heady mix of fast and slow bends, long straights, dips and climbs makes it a challenge in any car.
Julier Pass, Switzerland
In winter months the route is a monochrome meander through the mountains, in the summer a sea of lush green pastures and slopes topped with ever-present ice caps.
ColLE DEL NiVOLET
The final cliff-hanging bus crash scene in The Italian Job was filmed on this amazing mountain pass, which packs one of the steepest tunnels in the Alps and no less than 33 hairpin bends into its 32 miles.
Col D’iZoard
One of the toughest grinds in cycling is also a driver’s delight with road being remarkably smoothly surfaced for a mountain pass – a bonus of being a part-time race track.
Col De turini
Detour journeys from relaxing Playa de Mogán to the spectacular Mirador del Balcón in Gran Canaria – retracing a World Rally Championship route along the way.
In the space of just a few minutes it’s possible to drive through Worcestershire, Shropshire and Herefordshire.
It may not be quite as death-defying as the Grand Tour made it look, but a drive up the Skeleton Coast is definitely life-affirming.
Detour has joined forces with route-planning app MIVIA to share our favourite British driving roads with an even wider car community.
In the heart of Slovenia’s popular tourist region, Detour discovers a mountain pass with neck-craning vertical views.
In the great British Boaty McBoat Face tradition of giving things the most obvious of names, Scotland’s Snow Roads are exactly what the moniker suggests.
Jack Kerouac criss-crossed America to write On the Road - the seminal novel for the beat generation. Here’s how to follow his route.
Floodwaters and firing ranges are just some of the hazards of this Northumberland road trip.
France’s deepest canyon delivers a drive that’s turnful in the extreme, but can also be touristy to a similar degree.
Even if you lose in Las Vegas there’s a massive win just a few miles away in the incredible Valley of Fire.
The East Coast Road, or ECR to its fans, is a popular route among Chennai’s classic car enthusiasts. Paranjay Dutt hitches a ride to find out why.
Deep in wildest Wales you’ll find one of the most challenging drives, that’s heart-stopping both in its beauty and its danger.
Offering a twisting alpine-like road with an awe-inspiring waterfall at journey’s end, Lesotho’s A5 is one of Africa’s most exciting – if unsung – drives.
It’s the end of the road for 2025 and a chance to reflect on the best road trips of the year.
You’ll find a different kind of white Christmas on a drive around this namesake outpost where sandy beaches replace snow.
One of the highest navigable routes in the world, the Ruta de Las Lagunas is an off-road adventure with many risks, but just as many rewards.
South Africa’s Karoo offers open roads, big skies and plenty of 19th Century charm – but where exactly does it start and finish?
With a Bentley Continental GTC at Detour’s disposal we explore the works of Brunel and Banksy, taking the longer way between London and Bristol.
It’s hard to believe that the Tara Canyon’s wild landscape of deep gorges, glacial lakes and a Mordor-like moorland is even in europe.
The Atacama desert is where Detourism meets astrotourism on a drive around the astronomical triangle.
Go to Granada for the city’s historic streets, stay for the fabulous food, and leave to explore the amazing roads of the Sierra Nevada region and Gorafe desert beyond.
If you’re brave enough to undertake some car-based ghost hunting this All Hallows Eve then there’s no shortage of haunted roads to discover across England.
Ross Robbins took his tiny Elan on a massive journey of discovery, to reach the furthest points in the contiguous Continental United States.
The Pan-American highway is much more than just a bridge between continents, it’s one of the last great driving adventures.
Take a drive around Monterey and Salinas to discover stories of Steinbeck and contemporary car culture.
A drive right through the heart of Australia should be on every Detourist’s bucket list.
From the green green grass of the valleys to the highest peaks this tour of the Llŷn Peninsula is a day detour to savour.
Follow the greatest car chase ever captured on camera on the Bullitt route through San Francisco.
Our guides to six of the best European mountain roads are now available for free on the MIVIA app, with accurate, turn-by-turn navigation for every one.