The top ten scenic drives in the UK

Road Trips

Oct 3

Picked on scenery alone Scotland’s North Coast 500 has been voted the most picturesque road trip in the UK in a survey of 2,000 drivers.

The study for Fiat put the 500-mile round trip from inverness in first place for scenery, followed by Kendal to Keswick in the Lake District and Cheddar Gorge in Somerset.

St Ives to St Just in Cornwall took fourth place, with Snake Pass in the Peak District rounding out the top five. Filling the final five spots were the A169 and A170 in Yorkshire, Cheltenham to Stratford in the Cotswolds. the A82 towards Loch Ness, the A39 from Minehead to Barnstape and the Black Mountain Pass in Wales.

According to the survey 78 per cent of drivers questioned said they prefer to take the scenic route to their destination – The Longer Way, as we say at Detour.

To find out more about these routes just click the highlighted text or visit Fiat Scenic Drives.

You may also like these Great British Road Trips

Detour #253: A Capital Run Around W.O. Bentley’s London, UK

What better way to explore Bentley’s London history than in a modern interpretation of his most famous model?

Detour #247: A Twiddle on the Cat and Fiddle, Derbyshire-Cheshire, UK

Now home to the highest distillery in England the cat and fiddle has a sobering reputation.

Detour #238: The Steepest Road in England, Yorkshire, UK

Rosedale Chimney Bank is so steep that cyclists call it The Chain Breaker, but what’s it like to drive?

Detour 235: Bowling through the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, UK

Enjoy a rollercoaster ride across Lancashire thanks to our friends at Rush Magazine.

Detour #233: Across the New Forest in a silent classic, UK

It’s good to take your foot off the pedal once in a while. To slow down and take in the surroundings instead of watching them rush by in a blur, and a drive across the New Forest will force you to do just that.

Detour #229: The best of Buckinghamshire and beyond in an exceptional E-Type

A half-million-pound Jaguar and some delicious diner food make this road trip on the edge of the Chilterns even more charming.

Detour #666: Britain's Most Haunted Road

The A616 Stocksbridge Bypass in south Yorkshire is widely believed to be the most haunted road in the UK.

Detour #222: The Best of Snowdonia on Four, Three and Two Wheels, Wales, UK

If it’s got wheels then it’s fit for a Detour, we say. Putting that theory into practice Nik Berg explores Snowdonia by Caterham, Morgan and Norton.

Detour #221: Classic cars, Caffeine and Clarkson in the Cotswolds, UK

Take a road trip through classic and contemporary car culture in the heart of England.

Detour #212: Hounding the Beasts of Dartmoor in a KAMM 912c, UK

Howling along the moorland roads in a race-ready classic Porsche, Nik Berg seeks out the legends of Dartmoor.

Detour #208: Beachy Head, East Sussex, UK

There is no beach at Beachy Head, but there is a fabulous road with commanding coastal views and cracking corners.

Detour #183: The Legends of the Wales Way, UK

Scotland has the North Coast 500, England has the South West 660 and Wales weighs in with 440 magical, mythical miles of the Wales Way.

Detour #181: Dales, Moors and Much More, Yorkshire, UK

A one-day dash across God’s Own Country leaves Nik Berg wanting Yorkshire more.

Detour #176: Fairway to heaven: a golf drive with a difference in the Tweed Valley, Scotland, UK

Golf, mountain bikes and electric cars come together on a road trip to Scotland’s most scenic links.

Detour #168: Horsing around Wessex, UK

Simon Heptinstall takes a Detour-exclusive gallop between the nine Wessex white horses.

How to find the world's best roads without leaving the UK

Britons don’t need to travel far from home to find the very best drives say Getty Images and Alfa Romeo.

Detour #161: Three-wheelin' through the Malvern Hills in a Morgan Super 3

Can there be a better way to spend a summer’s day than driving a roadster through rural England?

Detour #156: Wolds apart in undiscovered Yorkshire, UK

Squeezed between Yorkshire’s urban centres of Leeds and York, its busy east coast holiday resorts and the open spaces of the moors is an under-appreciated region rich in history and cracking driving roads.

Detour #154: Electrifying the Norfolk coast, UK

Our first fully electric Detour takes Nik Berg on a shore-hugging tour of Norfolk. Will the battery end up as flat as the landscape?

Is this England's straightest road?

Spearing across the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk is the B1098 and nine miles of arrow aligned road.

Detour #145: The South West 660, UK

The South West 660 is a new and soon-to-be iconic route around the British coastline from Dorset to Somerset. Simon Heptinstall helped plan it so who better to be our tour guide?

Aural pleasure: Britain's best-sounding tunnels

A team of acoustics experts has named the finest-sounding road tunnels in Britain by driving an Alfa Romeo through them and recording the sonorous soundtracks.

Detour #130: Kirkstone Pass, Cumbria, UK

Simon Heptinstall takes on one of Britain’s steepest climbs, which would have even Wordsworth breathless.

Detour #127: Jurassic Coast, UK

It’s all about the sea and what you see on this World Heritage Site drive, says Simon Heptinstall.

Detour #125: On two wheels across the North Pennines, UK

North Wales, North Coast 500, Nordschleife? You can keep ‘em, says Sim Mainey.

Detour #105: Cornwall or Bust, UK

Whenever Bill Dunn felt Cornwall calling he would just jump in his car and drive. Even when there was sometimes a slim chance of making it.

Detour #103: Hardknott Pass, Cumbria, UK

Incredibly steep and probably more suited to sheep, the Hardknott Pass is a right of passage for drivers and cyclists, says Simon Heptinstall.

10 of the best ocean drives in the world

Endless views to the horizon, the smell of salt spray in the air and asphalt that twists and turns with the coastline. There’s nothing quite like an ocean drive. Here are ten of Detour’s favourite seaside sojourns.

Detour #74: Salisbury Plain, UK

The fast and flowing roads of Salisbury Plain come with an added frisson of danger. Stray off them and you may find yourself in the middle of a war game with all-too-real consequences.

5,000 miles across Europe in a £600 Saab - Part 1

London to Kos in an eBay banger to deliver a bicycle? Why not?

Scenic driveNorth Coast 500NC500Cheddar GorgeSnake PassEnglandScotlandWales

Nik Berg https://detour-roadtrips.com

The top ten scenic drives in the UK

Picked on scenery alone Scotland’s North Coast 500 has been voted the most picturesque road trip in the UK in a survey of 2,000 drivers.

Detour Pit Stop #93: Slab City, California, USA

Detour #174: Danger on the D915 Derabasi Turns, Turkey