Road Stories

The stories behind Europe's great roads

Why a road was built, what happened on it, and what is worth knowing before you drive it — researched from the sources listed under every story.

When the Alpine passes close: crossing the Alps by car in winterFrom late autumn the famous high roads shut one by one: the Grossglockner, the Stelvio, the Furka, the Iseran. The Alps do not close with them. A handful of passes are kept open all winter, and the rest of the traffic goes through the mountain, by road tunnel or on a car train.9 min read
Driving across the frozen Baltic: Estonia's ice roadsIn a hard winter, the sea between mainland Estonia and its islands freezes thick enough to drive on, and the state marks out official roads across it. Seat belts off, no stopping, never between 25 and 40 km/h. In most recent winters, though, there has been no ice road at all.9 min read
Driving to the North Cape in winter: the E69 convoyIn summer the E69 runs to the end of the road at the North Cape plateau at any hour. In winter, the last stretch from the Skarsvåg junction is driven in convoy behind a snowplough, at fixed times, and on bad days not at all. Here is how it works.9 min read
Chasing the northern lights by car from TromsøTromsø lies inside the auroral zone, but the lights of the city wash much of the sky out. On a clear winter night, people drive out over the bridges to Kvaløya, or east on the E8 towards Lyngen and Finland. The road is half of the hunt.7 min read
The Teide road: a drive through the caldera of Las CañadasFrom the warm north coast of Tenerife, the TF-21 climbs through pine forest into a volcanic crater about 16 kilometres long, past the Roques de García to the foot of the highest mountain in Spain. In winter it can be closed by snow.8 min read
The Atlantic Ocean Road: eight kilometres across the skerriesA road director thought it would never earn enough to pay its toll collectors. It was approved by one vote, built through twelve hurricanes and paid off five years early. In a storm, the sea still comes over it.6 min read
Renting a car in Iceland: what to know before you signThe Ring Road needs no special car. The highlands, the wind, the gravel and the rivers are another matter — and most of what goes wrong on an Icelandic rental is decided by the contract before you leave the car park.8 min read
The Delta Works: the road along the top of the answerIn one night in 1953 the North Sea killed 1,836 people in the Netherlands. The country's answer was to shut the sea out of Zeeland — and then, after a fight over oysters, tides and money, to leave one door open.7 min read
Deutsche Alpenstraße: the road the Nazis never finishedBavarian tourism officials dreamed of it in the late 1920s. Hitler made it a showpiece in 1933, the war stopped it in 1939, and the plan was never completed. Today it is a signposted holiday route from Lake Constance to the Königssee.8 min read
Trollstigen: eleven hairpins up the Troll's LadderFor centuries it was a path where cattle fell into the waterfall. The road was begun in 1916 and opened by the king in July 1936. Ninety years on, the mountain above it is the problem.7 min read
The Amalfi Coast road: a shelf cut into a cliffIt opened on a Bourbon king's birthday in 1853 and was named after him. Today it is so narrow that cars take turns by number plate — and in 2021 a landslide cut Amalfi in two.4 min read
North Coast 500: the road trip that was inventedIn 2015 a charity joined the roads of the far north of Scotland into one 516-mile loop and gave it a name. Ten years later it is worth almost £100 million a year — and most locals see the damage.5 min read
Stelvio: the emperor's road over the AlpsAustria built it so its armies could reach Milan without touching Switzerland. It became a front line in 1915, a Giro legend in 1953 — and in 2025 it turned two hundred.6 min read
Furka, Grimsel and Susten: three Swiss passes, a glacier and James BondTwo were built for the army in the 19th century, the third was Switzerland's first alpine road made for cars. Between them stand an empty hotel, a hospice under a lake and a glacier that has retreated almost two kilometres.5 min read
The Great Dolomite Road: built for soldiers and hotel guests, then a front lineAustria wanted it to move artillery, a Meran hotelier wanted it to bring motorists, and six years after it opened in 1909 the war between Italy and Austria-Hungary ran right across it.6 min read
Großglockner: the road Austria built to the glacierEngineer Franz Wallack planned it, governor Franz Rehrl pushed it through, and up to four thousand men built it in five years. It opened in August 1935 — and the glacier at its end is now breaking apart.4 min read
Transalpina: the King's Road nobody can agree onRomania's highest road was a shepherds' path, a royal project and seventy years of gravel before it was paved — and every source tells its history a little differently.5 min read
Transfăgărășan: the road Ceaușescu built over the mountainsArmy engineers blasted it across the Făgăraș in four and a half years, for a war that never came. Half a century later it is one of Europe's great drives — and a summer-only one.6 min read
Vršič: the road Russian prisoners built over the Julian AlpsIn 1915 the Austro-Hungarian army needed a winter supply road to the Soča front and built it with prisoners of war. Avalanches killed hundreds of them. A wooden chapel beside the road still remembers them.5 min read