Skip to main content

VIDEO: Norway’s Atlantic Ocean Road is “ultimate summer drive”

Norway’s twisting and sea-battered Atlantic Ocean Road is the “Ultimate Summer Drive”, with Portugal’s Estoril Ocean Drive close behind, research has found. In third place was Lake Como, Italy, followed in fourth place by the Peloponnesus in Greece. Fifth ultimate summer drive was a Scottish Highland drive The North Coast 500, as pictured below. The 8.3km Atlantic Ocean Road was judged to be best according to a statistical formula developed for Tom Tom. The road has a blend of spectacular views, quali
July 20, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
Scotland’s North Coast 500 – 830km of summer pleasure
Norway’s twisting and sea-battered Atlantic Ocean Road is the “Ultimate Summer Drive”, with Portugal’s Estoril Ocean Drive close behind, research has found.

In third place was Lake Como, Italy, followed in fourth place by the Peloponnesus in Greece. Fifth ultimate summer drive was a Scottish Highland drive The North Coast 500, as pictured below.

The 8.3km Atlantic Ocean Road was judged to be best according to a statistical formula developed for Tom Tom. The road has a blend of spectacular views, quality pavement and perfect light conditions. It is part of County Road 64 that runs through an archipelago in Eide and Averøy in Møre og Romsdal. It was opened in 1989.

As the video also shows, there can also be at times a certain excitement to driving the Atlantic Ocean Road. Just remember to thoroughly wash your vehicle after passing through one of the salt-water waves that might engulf you.

The European research was conducted by Censuswide with fieldwork conducted in May. Data was secured by an online survey of 14,000 adults over the age of 18 in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and The Netherlands – around 2,000 from each country.
Is your favourite road included? Check the results of 3972 TomTom’s 25 Ultimate Summer Drives in Europe that were split into five categories:

Best Coastal Roads
Amalfi Coast – Italy
Ireland's Causeway Coastal Route – Ireland
Costa Brava – Spain
Estoril Coast Drive, Portugal
Dalmatian Coast – Croatia  
 
Best Woodland Roads
Route 500 Schwarzwald Hochstrasse, Black Forest – Germany
A5 Chirk to Bethesda via Snowdonia Park – Wales
Los Alcornocales national park – Spain
New Forest – England
Lake Como – Italy
 
Best Mountain Roads
Furka Pass – Switzerland
The Stelvio Pass – Italy
Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse – Austria
Col Volteux – France
Trollstigen – Norway
 
Most Epic Road Trip Drives
The North Coast 500, Scottish Highlands
Atlantic Ocean Road – Norway
Route One – Iceland
Wild Atlantic Way – Ireland  
Basque Circuit – Spain, France
 
Best Historical Drives   
Route Napoleon, Alpes-Maritimes – France
Romance Road – Germany
The Marguerite Route – Denmark
The Peloponnesus - Greece
Transfagarasan – Romania

Think you have a better road? Send a picture and a brief 200-word description about why your road is best to %$Linker: 2 Email <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkEmail [email protected] email: [email protected] false mailto:[email protected] true false%>

A formula was used to classify the drives:

((P+T) x (R+SC)) x100/21.3333
                              SS+AT+W    
where:
T = Type of Road
SS = Slope and Skew
AT = Amount of Traffic
P = Stopping Points
R = Remoteness of Road
SC = Surrounding Scenery
W = Weather
 
The formula outputs a Perfect Drive percentage score that was used to identify the best routes.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • TISPOL 2017: Europe’s road safety record suffers as austerity bites hard
    December 21, 2017
    Police budgets are being slashed, staff numbers are falling and Europe’s long-term trend towards ever-fewer road deaths has ground to a halt. Does Europe’s road network face a far more dangerous future? Geoff Hadwick reports from TISPOL 2017 in Manchester, UK. Europe’s road safety record is under threat. Lower and lower funding levels have become a very serious, and very worrying, problem for the EU’s traffic police bosses. They know that they must find new ways to focus road users on changing their beha
  • Improving barrier safety for motorcyclists
    February 23, 2012
    Mike Woof reports on delays to better barrier safety for Europe’s powered two wheeler riders. Safety for vulnerable road users continues to be a matter of some debate in Europe. Although powered two wheelers account for a comparatively small number of Europe’s vehicles as well as total distance travelled, they account for a disproportionately large number of accidents. Statistical data shows that by far the greatest risk to users of powered two wheelers as well as other vulnerable road users comes from driv
  • Conquer technology interoperability gaps with DCW’s productivity-focused and digitally-connected platform
    July 14, 2022
    Digital Construction Works is all about the “transformative power of digital.” It is designed to be a leading integrator of construction technology services… a power that will help to deliver your projects smoothly, on time, and on budget. DCW’s mission is to “create innovative solutions to complex challenges by understanding the pressure firms are under to increase productivity, reduce risk… and deliver reliable, efficient project results.” Are you connected?
  • Norwegian road contract awarded
    April 21, 2023
    An important Norwegian road contract has been awarded.