The best driving route in the UK is the North Pennines to Swaledale, a 119-mile run from Penrith to Reeth that spends 75% of its driving time on roads Cambr rates S or A tier, including 100 minutes on S-tier road. That is more top-tier driving than any other route in Britain, and roughly twice the S-tier mileage of the next best.
We know because we measured it. Cambr has scored the driving roads of Britain and Ireland, region by region, and hand-built 46 routes on top of them. Then we measured each route minute by minute to work out what share of it is on genuinely good road and what share is just getting you there.
Most “best road trip” lists rank scenery. This one ranks road.
How we ranked these routes
Every road in Cambr gets a score out of 100. An algorithm measures the things you can measure (corners, climb, protected landscape, road class, width, surface, how fast traffic really moves, camera coverage), and for our founding roads that score is combined with what the motoring press has said about the road over the years. Roads scoring 77 and above are S tier, 67 to 76.9 are A tier, and 55 to 66.9 are B tier. Anything below 55 we don’t surface.
To rank the routes we took all 46 drives and loops in Cambr and calculated the share of total drive time spent on S or A tier road. A route can be long and beautiful and still score badly here, because an hour on a dual carriageway to reach a good pass is still an hour on a dual carriageway.
That measure rewards density. It is why a 91-mile Exmoor loop beats a 215-mile Cornish coast run, and why four of the ten are in Scotland while none are south of Exmoor.
The 10 best driving routes in the UK
1. North Pennines to Swaledale
Penrith to Reeth · 119 miles · 4h 00 · 75% top-tier road · 100 minutes S tier
The route opens on Hartside, which at 88.9 is the highest-scoring road in Britain, and does not let up from there. From the summit you drop into Alston and spend the next two hours threading the North Pennines B-roads that almost nobody outside the north east has driven: the B6277 over to Barnard Castle, the Harthope Moss road, the B6295 from Cowshill to Allenheads at 80.9, the B6276 down to Brough at 81.2. Then Hawes, then Buttertubs at 86.0, then the long run down Swaledale to Reeth.
Four of Britain’s 22 S-tier roads are on this one route. Nothing else comes close, and the reason it works is that the good roads join each other. There is almost no connective tissue, which is exactly what the 75% figure is measuring.
Drive it north to south and finish on the Buttertubs descent into Swaledale. It is the best closing ten minutes of any route we have built.
2. Moor to Moor
Tavistock to Porlock · 102 miles · 3h 39 · 75% top-tier road
Dartmoor and Exmoor in one afternoon, and the highest A-tier density of anything in Cambr at 140 minutes. Out of Tavistock on the B3357 to Two Bridges, across the middle of Dartmoor on the B3212, then north through mid-Devon farmland and onto the A396 along the Exe before Exmoor proper and the A39 at 87.8.
This ties with the North Pennines on share but gets there differently. Where the Pennines route stacks S-tier roads back to back, this one is a long sustained run of A tier with two moor crossings bolted on. Fewer headline moments, almost no dead ground.
Cattle grids and livestock on both moors. Ponies stand in the road on Dartmoor and they do not move for you.
3. Spine of Wales
Llanberis to Rhayader · 155 miles · 5h 44 · 68% top-tier road · 66 minutes S tier
The length of Wales, north to south, and the only route in Cambr that strings the Welsh passes together. Llanberis Pass out of Snowdonia at 75.9, down through Nantgwynant, then the B4391 across to Bala at 87.1, over Bwlch-y-Groes at 75.4, and finally the Elan Valley road at 78.6 into Rhayader.
Five hours and forty-four minutes makes it the longest drive on the list, and it needs a full day rather than an afternoon. The payoff is that no other route in Britain gives you this many distinct mountain roads in one line.
Start at Llanberis early. The Snowdonia section is the busiest part and it clears if you are through it before nine.
4. Applecross and Wester Ross
Lochcarron to Ullapool · 134 miles · 4h 31 · 57% top-tier road
The Bealach na Bà scores 75.9, which puts it in A tier rather than S, and the reason is worth knowing. The algorithm rates it the highest-scoring road in the entire database, ahead of Hartside. What keeps it out of S tier is the editorial side of the score, where it carries less press endorsement than the roads above it. Make of that what you will. The climb and the hairpins are extraordinary either way.
What makes this route is what comes after. North through Torridon, along Loch Maree, then the A832 across Wester Ross at 71.1 and up to Ullapool. Four and a half hours with barely 21 minutes off a scored road, which is the highest proportion of any Highland route we have.
No S-tier road on it at all. It earns fourth place on A-tier density alone.
5. Lomond to Lochaber
Balloch to Fort William · 114 miles · 3h 21 · 51% top-tier road · 46 minutes S tier
The road everyone drives, with a detour that most people skip. Up the west shore of Loch Lomond, west over the Rest and Be Thankful at 74.2, back through Crianlarich, then north across Rannoch Moor and down through Glen Coe on the A82 at 84.5.
Being the most popular drive in Scotland is the problem with it. In July you will spend an hour behind a motorhome. Go in October on a weekday and it is one of the great drives in Europe.
The Glencoe section is twenty minutes long and worth planning your light around.
6. Exmoor Ring
Loop from Porlock · 91 miles · 3h 01 · 51% top-tier road
The shortest route in the top ten and the most efficient. 96% of it is on scored road, higher than anything else in Cambr, which means almost every minute of the three hours is on something we rate.
Out of Porlock on the A39 coast road to Lynton at 87.8, inland across the moor, then back down the Exe valley on the A396 at 71.9. Porlock Hill is 1 in 4 and has a toll alternative if you would rather not.
This is the one to drive if you have half a day rather than a whole one. It also works as a loop in either direction, which most of our point-to-point routes do not.
7. Elan and Cambrian Mountains Ring
Loop from Rhayader · 114 miles · 4h 12 · 50% top-tier road
The emptiest driving in Wales. Out of Rhayader past the Elan reservoirs on a road scoring 78.6, over the Abergwesyn Pass with the Devil’s Staircase in the middle of it, then north and back through Cwmystwyth.
Mid Wales gets overlooked because Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons take the attention, and the roads here are better than both for traffic. You can drive the Abergwesyn on a Saturday in summer and see six cars.
Fuel in Rhayader before you set off. There is very little between.
8. Trossachs and Loch Tay Ring
Loop from Callander · 159 miles · 4h 49 · 47% top-tier road
The longest loop in Cambr, and the one that changes character most as it goes. Duke’s Pass out of Aberfoyle at 86.5 is the headline, a tight climb through the forest that is one of the highest-scoring roads in Scotland. Then the Trossachs lochs, the north shore of Loch Tay, and the quiet road through to Tummel Bridge.
Four hours and forty-nine minutes of loop means you end up where you started having driven almost 160 miles, which makes it the best option in Scotland if you are staying put for a weekend.
9. Dark Peak Loop
Loop from Buxton · 93 miles · 3h 29 · 45% top-tier road · 52 minutes S tier
Four named Peak District roads back to back: the Cat and Fiddle at 87.3, Snake Pass at 79.0, Holme Moss at 73.0 and Strines at 74.7. Fifty-two minutes of S-tier road, second only to the North Pennines route.
No route on this list carries more enforcement. The Cat and Fiddle is average-speed camera’d from end to end, and the whole loop sits inside ninety minutes of Manchester and Sheffield, so it is busy at weekends. Cambr flags cameras and average-speed zones as you drive, which on this route matters more than on any other.
For anyone in the north west or south Yorkshire this is the best driving within an hour of home, by a distance.
10. Galloway and the Borders Hills
Newton Stewart to Moffat · 111 miles · 3h 41 · 45% top-tier road
Southern Scotland is the most underrated driving in Britain and this route is the argument. East out of Newton Stewart through Galloway Forest on the A712 at 69.5, up over the Dalveen Pass at 68.2, past the Devil’s Beeftub on the A701 at 70.1, and into Moffat.
Like Applecross, no S-tier road on it anywhere. What puts it here is 99 minutes of A tier and the emptiness. Most people driving to Scotland are on the M6 forty miles west of here and have no idea this exists.
Three and three quarter hours from the Lake District, which makes it the obvious add-on to a trip north.
What the data says about where Britain’s good roads are
Ranking all 46 routes the same way exposes something that no amount of scenic photography will tell you.
Nothing in the South East or the Midlands gets near the top ten. The best route in the South East is the Surrey Hills and North Downs run from Sevenoaks to Cranleigh, and it is 11% top-tier road. The South Downs end to end is 13%. The best Midlands loop, through the Leicestershire wolds and the Vale of Belvoir, is 8%.
Those are real routes on genuinely pleasant roads. They are just competing with the North Pennines at 75%, and a four-hour drive where three of those hours are on S and A tier road is a different thing entirely.
Half of Britain’s 22 S-tier roads are in England, and four of those eleven are in the North Pennines alone. One upland area a little over twenty miles across holds more top-tier road than the whole of southern England.
If you live south of Oxford, the honest answer is that the great driving is a drive away. The useful version of that is knowing which four hours to spend getting there.
How to drive these routes
All ten are in Cambr under Discover, with turn-by-turn navigation, the scored roads named as you reach them, and speed camera and average-speed zone warnings. You can drive them as published or use them as the spine of a longer trip.
A few things worth knowing before you go.
Timing matters more than season on the popular ones. Glen Coe, Snowdonia and the Cat and Fiddle are all transformed by being there before nine or after six. The empty routes, Galloway and the Cambrian Mountains, are quiet whenever you turn up.
Winter closes some of this. The Snake Pass, the Lecht and the Cairnwell shut in snow, and the Bealach na Bà is gated when the weather turns. Check before committing to a route that depends on one pass.
Fuel ranges are longer than you expect on the Highland and mid Wales routes. Ullapool to Bettyhill and the Elan loop both have long stretches with nothing open on a Sunday.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best driving road in the UK?
Hartside Pass, the A686 between Penrith and Alston, is the highest-scoring road in Britain in Cambr at 88.9 out of 100. It is also the opening road of the number one route on this list.
What is the best driving route in the UK for a weekend?
The Exmoor Ring from Porlock at three hours, or the Dark Peak Loop from Buxton at three and a half. Both are loops, so you finish where you started, and both pack a high share of good road into half a day.
How does Cambr score a driving road?
An algorithm measures corners, climb, protected landscape, road class, width, surface, how fast traffic really moves and camera coverage, and produces a score out of 100. For our founding roads that score is combined with what the motoring press has said about the road. S tier is 77 and above, A tier is 67 to 76.9, B tier is 55 to 66.9.
What does “top-tier share” mean?
The percentage of a route’s total drive time spent on roads Cambr scores 67 or above, which is A tier and S tier combined. A route at 75% spends three quarters of its driving time on road we rate as genuinely good.
Are these routes suitable for motorbikes?
Yes. The scoring measures the road rather than the vehicle, so a road that scores well drives and rides well. Riders should note that the single-track sections on the Applecross and Cambrian Mountains routes have gravel in the passing places after rain.
Can I drive these routes in reverse?
The loops work in either direction. The point-to-point routes are built with a preferred direction, and in a few cases it matters a lot: the North Pennines route is better north to south so that it finishes on the Buttertubs descent.
Is there an app that finds driving roads near me?
Yes. Cambr scores every road in Britain and Ireland for how good it is to drive and routes you along the best ones, rather than the fastest ones.
