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

  • Promoting advances in sustainable roads worldwide
    February 8, 2012
    The International Road Federation (IRF), founded in 1948, is the only world forum advocating better and safer roads through better road design and construction bearing in mind the user. It is a unique institution that brings together members active in road infrastructure from both the private and public sectors.
  • Norway’s Blakkesrud Bridge to remain closed
    November 24, 2022
    The wooden bridge, which has undergone inspection, is one of a dozen or so wooden bridges closed after the collapse of the Tretten Bridge in August.
  • All change: get ready to rethink everything
    November 10, 2022
    How can we make our infrastructure ready for new sustainability challenges? What kind of investments are needed? And who will finance them? Tolling association Asecap has some thoughts. Geoff Hadwick reports from Lisbon
  • Upgrade planned for Australia’s historic Great Ocean Road
    December 19, 2013
    Australia’s historic Great Ocean Road looks set to benefit from a major upgrade. This twisty tourist route runs along the coast in the state of Victoria and will receive US$44.7 million (A$50 million) in funding, which is being provided in an equal split between the Australian Federal Government and the Victoria State Government. The scenic route was constructed between WWI and WWII and largely by hand as part of a government scheme to reduce unemployment, as well as to provide access to a remote area of th