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

  • TomTom survey shows congestion worsening in 200 global cities
    April 10, 2015
    A survey of more than 200 major global cities shows that commuters in Istanbul experience the worst overall traffic congestion. The average 30-minute drive in Istanbul takes more than an hour during evening rush hour, leading to an extra 125 hours wasted stuck in traffic every year, according to the latest Traffic Index Survey from Tom Tom. However, in Los Angeles, a 30 minute commute in the evening rush hour will take 54 minutes, adding an extra 92 hours annually.
  • Europe’s toxic drivers as ranked by Eco Experts
    June 25, 2018
    Drivers in the Czech Republic are deemed to be the most “toxic” drivers in Europe, according to a survey from a UK solar panel energy supplier, Eco Experts. Meanwhile, Sweden is home to Europe’s most eco-friendly drivers. The company ranked 25 European countries on four measures of vehicle toxicity: average vehicle age, the number of vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, the percentage of alternative fuel passenger cars and the ambient air pollution. The survey was based on data from the ACEA (European Automobil
  • Norway moves toward more E39 coastal road improvements
    April 4, 2019
    Norway is working on plans to make more of the major north-south E39 coastal route a ferry-free highway, coasting €35.3 billion, according to media. In Norway, the trans-European route 39 is part national road system and is developed and maintained by the public roads administration. It runs for 1,330km along the coast from Klett just south of Trondheim to Nørresundby. Norway’s E39 is mostly a two-lane undivided road with only relatively short sections near Stavanger, Trondheim and Bergen being motorw
  • TomTom launches of International Traffic Foundation
    April 30, 2012
    A year since committing to reduce congestion for all in its Traffic Manifesto, TomTom today launches the world's first Traffic Foundation dedicated to fostering collaboration and nurturing talent in the field of traffic management.