There’s nothing quite like a relaxing drive down a country road, sun shining and music playing. There’s also nothing like nearly plummeting off the edge of a cliff because you didn’t quite make a tight turn.
These wild roads around the world will get your adrenaline pumping, or at least give you a view like no other. Some are hand carved and some disappear completely during certain hours of the day or months of the year. Fasten your seat belt before setting off down any of these wild roads.
oji La, India
This 5.6-mile road connects Ladakh and Kashmir, and is the second highest pass on the Srinagar-Leh highway, at 11,575 ft.
The first highest pass is Fotu La. “La” means “pass” in several Himalayan languages.
Image: Blaine Harrington III/Corbis
Transfăgărășan, Romania
This 60-mile road runs between Romania’s two highest peaks.
Image: 145/Friedrich Schmidt/Ocean/Corbis
Dalton Highway, Alaska
The James. W. Dalton Highway gained its fame from popular television show Ice Road Truckers, and consists of a barren 414-mile road with only three small villages along the way.
Image: Patrick J. Endres/AlaskaPhotoGraphics/Corbis
Khardung La, India
Despite claims that this is the highest motorable road in the world, there are actually a handful of other roads that are higher. Even so, at 17,582 feet, Khardung La is practically in the sky.
Image: Photosindia/Corbis
Yungas Road, Bolivia
Considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world, this road claims 200 to 300 lives each year.
With a wall of rock on one side and a 2,000-foot drop on the other, it’s almost scary to think about driving this road.
Image: John Coletti/AWL Images/Corbis
Atlantic Ocean Road, Norway
The Storseisundet Bridge is the longest of eight bridges along this 5.2-mile stretch of Country Road 64.
The road runs through an archipelago in Eide and Averøy, in Norway.
Image: Winfried Rothermel/dpa/Corbis
Guoliang Tunnel, China
The road through the Taihang Mountains was built by local villagers. Until 1972, the path chiseled into the rock was the only link between the Village of Guoliang and the outside world. It took five years to finish the 1,200-meter-long tunnel which is about 5 meters high and 4 meters wide, and is open to vehicular traffic.
Image: Fang dehua/Imaginechina/Corbis
Passage du Gois, France
This 2.7-mile-long causeway is passable for only a few hours a day. The rest of the time, it is submerged in the Atlantic by incoming tides.
The water-logged passage links the island of Noirmoutier to the mainland.
Image: MAURICE ROUGEMONT
Tianmen Mountain Road, China
A 6.8-mile road with 99 bends reaches the top of the mountain.
This 64.4-mile road connects Kahului with the town of Hāna in Maui.
The narrow, winding highway passes over 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one lane wide. The road is the way to many popular treasures, such as the Seven Sacred Pools. However, the dirt road past Route 31 is sometimes closed to traffic due to landslides and most major rental car contracts forbid driving this section.
Image: Douglas Peebles/Corbis
Kolyma Highway, Russia
Without a rail link to the city, the “Road of Bones” remains the only major land route into and out of Yakutsk.
The highway was constructed with gulag prison labour and prisoners who died during construction were interred in the fabric of the road.
Image: Amos Chapple/Corbis
Col de la Bonette, France
This high mountain pass is situated at 8,907 feet in the French Alps, near the border with Italy.
Image: Holger Weitzel/imageBroker/Corbis
Gotthard Pass, Switzerland
This road connects the Uri and Ticino, in Switzerland.
Image: Markus Altmann/Corbis
Caucasus Mountain Road, Russia
The narrow road from Sochi to Lake Ritsa in the Caucasus Mountains.
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