The Road Less Travelled: New Roads Now Covers 47 Countries

Some roads need very little introduction.

Say Furka Pass to a certain kind of driver and the mind immediately goes to Switzerland, snow walls, high altitude air, the old Hotel Belvédère and that unmistakable feeling of climbing into another world. Say Stelvio and you can almost picture the stacked hairpins before the sat nav has even loaded. Mention the North Coast 500 and it conjures Scotland at full scale: single-track sections, empty beaches, weather coming in sideways and that wild northern edge of the UK where the road seems to belong to the landscape more than the map.

These are the roads many of us know, or at least feel we know. The icons. The magazine covers. The bucket-list routes passed around between friends, car clubs and late-night route-planning conversations. Add in the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Austria, Col de Turini above the French Riviera, the Black Forest roads of Germany, the Pyrenean passes of Spain and Andorra, and the great Alpine ribbons of Italy, France and Switzerland, and you have a familiar European language of driving pleasure.

European Road Trips Beyond the Classics

But Europe is not only made of the roads we already talk about.

For every famous pass, there is a quieter road further east, further north, further inland or further off the usual itinerary. A road that does not always appear on the first page of a travel guide. A road that may not have a famous photograph, a motorsport legend or a well-worn nickname attached to it. Yet when you arrive, it delivers something just as powerful: rhythm, scenery, texture, space and the sense that you have found something for yourself.

That is where New Roads is becoming especially exciting.

New Roads now covers Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Vatican City.

That means the familiar favourites are still there, but they now sit within a much broader driving map. Here are some of the road trips in Europe that are most worth exploring.

Romania Road Trip: Beyond the Transfăgărăsan

Romania is a perfect example of what happens when you look past the obvious. For years, the Transfăgărășan has had near-mythical status: a road of big drama, military history, steep drops, sweeping climbs and corners that seem drawn for the pure theatre of driving. But Romania also gives you the Transalpina, a higher, wilder-feeling Carpathian route that rewards those willing to look beyond the obvious. Together, they show why some of the best road trips in Europe are not always in the Alps.

Croatia Road Trip: The Adriatic Highway

Croatia offers a completely different kind of pleasure. The D8 Adriatic Highway does not need snow peaks or altitude to be memorable. Its appeal is coastal rhythm: blue water to one side, rock and hillside to the other, the road moving between fishing towns, island views and long, sunlit sections where the landscape feels cinematic without trying too hard. It is not just a way to get between Split, Zadar or Dubrovnik. Driven properly, with time to stop and breathe, it becomes the point of the trip.

Norway Road Trip: Roads at the Edge of the World

Then there is Norway, where the scale changes again. The Atlantic Road is not long, but it feels elemental. Bridges, islands, sea spray and big weather make it a road that feels engineered against the edge of the world. Further north and inland, Norway’s scenic routes offer a different kind of luxury: silence, distance, water, rock and the rare privilege of a road that asks you to slow down rather than speed up.

Montenegro Road Trip: The Kotor Serpentine

Montenegro is another country that deserves to be spoken about more often by drivers. The Kotor Serpentine, climbing from the Bay of Kotor towards Njeguši and Lovćen, is the kind of road that feels almost impossible from below. It rises sharply, folds back on itself and reveals the bay in stages, each viewpoint slightly more extraordinary than the last. It is tight, demanding and not a road to rush, but that is exactly the point. Some roads are about precision over pace.

Greece Road Trip: Beyond the Islands

Greece, too, is far more than island beaches and ancient ruins. The Pelion Peninsula gives you forested mountain roads, stone villages and sudden openings to the sea. Northern Greece, especially around Zagori, Vikos Gorge and the routes between Meteora and the Pindus mountains, has a rugged, layered quality that feels made for curious drivers. It is Greece away from the obvious postcard: cooler, greener, more mountainous and deeply rewarding.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Road Trip: The Neretva Valley

Bosnia and Herzegovina brings another kind of discovery. Roads through the Neretva Valley, towards Mostar, Sarajevo, Sutjeska National Park and the surrounding mountain country, carry a sense of place that is hard to replicate. The scenery can be spectacular, but what makes it memorable is the mixture of river, rock, history and atmosphere. It is not polished in the way some of Western Europe’s classic routes can be. It feels more raw, more human and, in many ways, more affecting.

Forty More European Countries to Drive

Across the wider map, there are more road trips in Europe waiting to be experienced properly. Slovenia has the Vršič Pass and the Soča Valley. Albania has the Llogara Pass and mountain roads that push deep into the Accursed Mountains. Kosovo has the landscapes around Rugova Canyon. North Macedonia has Mavrovo and the roads towards Lake Ohrid. Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovakia all have mountain routes that rarely get the attention they deserve. Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania bring forest, lake and Baltic quiet. Iceland gives you volcanic scale and vast horizons. Ireland offers the Wild Atlantic Way, while Portugal has the Douro Valley, Serra da Estrela and Atlantic coast roads that combine beauty with warmth and culture.

Planning a Road Trip Across Europe with New Roads

This is what New Roads has always been about. Not simply getting from A to B, and not blindly chasing the fastest route. It is about understanding what makes a drive worth doing. The road itself matters, of course, but so does the car, the season, the weather, the hotel at the end of the day, the lunch stop, the viewpoint, the ferry crossing, the border, the coffee, the road surface, the rhythm and the reason for going in the first place.

The expansion across these 47 countries means New Roads can now help drivers plan far more ambitious European road trips. A long weekend in the Alps. A week through the Balkans. A coastal journey through Croatia and Montenegro. A Scottish escape. A Scandinavian summer route. A slow, beautiful drive across France, Switzerland and Italy. Or something more unusual: Albania to Greece, Slovenia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal into northern Spain, or the Baltic states stitched together through forests, capitals and coastline.

Some destinations will always need sensible planning, especially where official travel guidance changes quickly. But the principle remains the same: better journeys begin with better curation.

New Roads is built to help drivers discover the road trips they already dream about, and the ones they did not yet know to ask for. The famous passes, the quiet valleys, the coastal stretches, the mountain climbs, the lesser-known detours and the roads that turn a trip into a story.

The map is now bigger. The possibilities are wider. And the road less travelled is closer than ever.

Plan your next European road trip with New Roads and discover hyper-personalised itineraries across all 47 countries now covered.