Wanna Go For A Drive?
If it's on one of these roads, the answer should probably be...No! These roads aren't just dangerous—they're downright terrifying, and sadly, often deadly as well. These are the most dangerous, perilous, scary, (insert your own adjective here), roads on the planet.
North Yungas Road (Bolivia)
Also known as "Death Road" or "The Road of Death", this 49.7-mile stretch in Bolivia consists of over 200 hairpin turns and a 3,000-foot drop into the Amazonian rainforest. They have done some work to improve the conditions and safety of the road in the last decades—which makes sense given that prior to 1994, almost 300 travelers died on the road every year.
Killar To Pangi Road (India)
This one is 70 miles of sheer terror, with a six-mile stretch of rocky overhangs that give drivers the sense that they are about to crash down onto the road at any moment. It's unpaved, wide enough for one jeep only, and without any guardrails between you and the 2,000 foot cliff beside you.
World's Most Dangerous Road Killar TO KISHTWAR (PANGI VALLEY EPISODE 2) by The Indian MotoVentures
Stelvio Pass (Italy/Switzerland)
In Italy, along the border with Switzerland, you'll find what Top Gear magazine calls the greatest driving road in the world. It might be—but it's also one of the most dangerous with its maximum elevation of 9,045 feet, steep grade and, count 'em, 75 hairpin turns.
Raul Taciu raultaciu, Wikimedia Commons
The Apache Trail (Arizona)
This 40-mile piece of State Route 88 starts in Apache Junction and ends at the Roosevelt Dam. It's definitely a scenic route and provides some beautiful views. Although, checking out the scenery is secondary to making sure you stay on the road—with all the steep, winding turns, the precipitous drop-offs and minimal safety barriers (and the ones that are there are flimsy at best).
Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons
Dettah Ice Road (Canada)
Located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, this road's name isn't a metaphor or ironic. This road is literally ice. It runs just under four miles in length and when the ice is fully frozen it can support a truck fully loaded with over 44 tons of fuel.
Hyougushi - https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyougushi/, Wikimedia Commons
Skippers Canyon Road (New Zealand)
Built in the 1880s to provide better access for gold miners looking to strike it rich, these 16.5 miles of dirt road are treacherous at best. A narrow road and no guardrails means your vehicle is always feet from steep cliffs. So, take it really slow.
Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand, Wikimedia Commons
Million Dollar Highway (Colorado)
There are two theories as to how the steep and narrow road with an eight percent grade and hairpin turns got its name. Either it's because it cost a million dollars a mile to build—or, because it's so dangerous locals said they would only drive it for a million dollars.
Bella Coola Road (British Columbia)
The 454-kilometer (282-mile) drive between Bella Coola and Williams Lake, British Columbia sure is beautiful. There is no denying how scenic it is with all the natural beauty the west coast of Canada has to offer. However, there's also no denying just how dangerous it is.
Parts of the road are paved, but there are some unpaved sections as well, which—along with the steep descent and hairpin turns—make it best to go really, really slow. This road has scared some drivers to the point that they refused to do the return trip after having white-knuckled it in one direction.
Wallace Howe from Canada, Wikimedia Commons
The Kabul-Kandahar Highway (Afghanistan)
This road isn't steep or narrow or replete with crazy turns and scary drop offs. This 31-miles section of Afghanistan's Ring Road is dangerous for a whole bunch of other reasons—notably, the huge potholes created by massive trucks and terrorist attacks. In fact, the area is so dangerous, road crews often have armed guards to protect them while they work on the highway.
ISAF Headquarters Public Affairs Office from Kabul, Afghanistan, Wikimedia Commons
Cotahuasi Canyon Road (Peru)
The Cotahuasi Canyon is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and there is only one road leading to it. Much of the road is unpaved and one shouldn't even consider making the drive without a four-wheel drive vehicle. There are four bus companies that make the trip daily—with a total driving time of about 10-12 hours.
And speaking of canyons...
Very Narrow road in Cotahuasi Canyon. by Venicio Wilson
Taroko Gorge Road (Taiwan)
Taiwan's Taroko Gorge is the world's deepest canyon and it is said that just its construction took 450 lives. Unlike some other roads on this list that see few cars, the Taroko Gorge Road is rather heavily trafficked, and as such cars, scooters, buses and more are all competing for space.
Passage Du Gois (France)
This one is all about timing. The road is a 2.6-mile long causeway between Beauvoir-sur-Mer and the island of Noirmoutier. The issue comes with the fact that the high tides flood the road twice a day.
Marc Ryckaert, Wikimedia Commons
Karakoram Highway (Pakistan And China)
Opened to the public in 1985, the Karakoram Highway (AKA: KKH or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) reaches elevation peaks of 4,714 meters (15,466 feet)—making it the highest paved international road in the world.
Fairy Meadows Road (Pakistan)
Don't let the sweet "fairy" name fool you. This road in Pakistan is super dangerous. The name comes from the fact that the road is found in Fairy Meadows National Park—and it's just under 10 miles of unpaved terror.
Running north-south from the previously mentioned Karakoram Highway, Fairy Meadows road is situated over 3,000 feet above sea level and given how excruciatingly narrow it is, the thought of plummeting down all those feet must be ever present in a driver's mind.
Shahbaz Aslam, Wikimedia Commons
Butcher Of The Extreme (France)
"Butcher" and "extreme" are two words that you probably don't want to hear when it comes to a road. The fact that this road is rather narrow, with steep cliffs off the side, is one thing. It's another thing to note that it's a logging road, so the vehicles making the treacherous drive are usually large logging trucks.
Kolyma Highway (Russia)
The Kolyma Highway in Russia's far east region got its nickname—"The Road of Bones"—due to the thousands of gulag prisoners who lost their lives constructing it. And as unsafe as it was to build, it is similarly dangerous to drive on—especially given the cold, harsh conditions of the region.
Missy Leone, Wikimedia Commons
James Dalton Highway (Alaska)
One of the most famous roads on our list, the James Dalton Highway was the subject of the second episode of America's Toughest Jobs, the setting for seasons 3 and 4 of Ice Road Truckers, and was featured on the first episode of the BBC's World's Most Dangerous Roads.
Bureau of Land Management Alaska Photo by BLM Alaska/Karen Deatherage, Wikimedia Commons
Col Du Chaussy (France)
Basically, this road climbs a cliff via 17 hairpin turns one on top of the other—going up (or down) 400 meters (1,312 feet) in just a three-mile stretch. There are also some sections in the mountains where the road isn't wide enough for two cars to pass—so, just keep in mind that, in general, the vehicle going up has priority over the one going down.
Florian Pépellin, Wikimedia Commons
Sichuan-Tibet Highway (China)
The over 1,300 miles of highway connecting Chengdu in Sichuan with Lhasa in Tibet features hairpin turns, switchbacks, and elevation levels that have been known to cause altitude sickness in travelers. And we haven't yet mentioned the rockslides, mudslides, avalanches that best the road as well. Thousands of people have died traveling this road.
El Caracol (Chile And Argentina)
Maybe the fact that the road is named after a snail is a hint that you should take this one slow should you ever decide to brave it. Hairpin turn after hairpin turn up a cliff on a road littered with trucks doesn't sound like a relaxing Sunday drive to us.
Robert Cutts from Bristol, England, UK, Wikimedia Commons
Guoliang Tunnel Road (China)
The Chinese government decided that it wasn't worth it to construct a road for just 300 villagers—so a few of those villagers took the matter into their own hands and dynamited their way through a cliff to build the Guoliang Tunnel Road. However, while they were brave and determined, they weren't professional road builders—so, lives were lost in the process.
FANG Chen from Beijing, China, Wikimedia Commons
Karnali Highway (Nepal)
This unpaved road connects Jumla to the capital and is of vital importance to the region. And yet, it is so dangerous that police have banned its use at night.
Prabinkhadka, Wikimedia Commons
Kahekili Highway (Maui)
Recently repaved, this road is a tad safer than it used to be—however, it still easily ranks among the most dangerous in the world. Barely wide enough for one car, the road does have two-way traffic. It should be avoided in rainy conditions due to how slippery it gets and the possible mud and rock slides as well.
Kahekili Highway Drive Along - Maui's Dangerous Road by BJ Cinematic Productions
Iron Mountain Road (South Dakota)
Built in 1933 and located just east of Mount Rushmore, let's just look at the stats for Iron Mountain Road: 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, and 3 tunnels (two of which are super narrow one-way tunnels). Still interested?
Belissarius, Wikimedia Commons
Zoji La (India)
An unpaved road with no guardrails that meanders through the Himalayas—need we say more? How about frequent landslides and a top elevation of 11,000 feet? Oh, and there are also the huge snow drifts that generally close the road down in the winter time.
Yogeshgupta26 at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Ibar Highway (Serbia)
At first glance, State Road 22 in Serbia (AKA Ibar Highway) doesn't look all that dangerous. This busy highway looks like, well, like many other highways you might see in Europe. However, the highway features many long stretches on which vehicles build up speed—only to then be met with a steep curve, leading to plenty of accidents. In fact, locals have nicknamed it "Black Highway".
Pantic Marko, Wikimedia Commons
Tian Men Shan Big Gate Road (China)
Also known as Tianmen Winding Mountain Road—and for good reason. The 11-kilometer (6.8-mile) long road starts 200 meters above sea level and winds itself up to 1,300 meters above sea level via 99 sharp winding turns. Or, you could forget driving and take the longest cableway in the world to the top.
xiquinhosilva, Wikimedia Commons
Bayburt D915 (Turkey)
The full Bayburt D915 road in Turkey runs for over 100 miles. However, for our purposes here, it is the northern Derebaşı curves section that is often talked about among the most dangerous and scary drives on the planet. This section features 13 hairpin turns at an elevation around 6,000 feet, and all within a length of just over three miles.
Turkey's most extreme road, Bayburt of Yolu (D915) ⚠️🇹🇷 🌎🏍 by Jackinthesaddle
Quepos Bridge (Costa Rica)
Okay, so this is a bridge, not a road. And it's a relatively short bridge at that. However, when a bridge is known as "The Bridge of Death" and "Oh My God bridge"—it has to be on our list. This narrow bridge is one-way only and it honestly looks like it could collapse at any moment. And yet, cars and trucks go back and forth across it all the time. Although, that knowledge probably doesn't stop the fear from rising into your throat as the loose slats clank and the bridge shakes as vehicles pass over it.
Shafer Trail Road (Utah)
This drive through Utah's Canyonlands National Park is definitely scenic, as much of it is surrounded by the beautiful and steep red canyon walls (this is where the final scene of Thelma & Louise was filmed). It's pretty much all unpaved—and even though the National Park Service has done work on the road, the danger factor is always present. So, go slow! We're talking steep 16% gradient sections, combined with low overhanging rocks in some areas and atop sheer cliffs in others. Anyone attempting the drive is also told to bring extra fuel.
CanyonlandsNPS, Wikimedia Commons
Bealach Na Bà (Scotland)
This 11 miles of winding road through the Scottish Highlands features gradients close to 17%, sharp turns and given how narrow it is, there are actual designated "passing places" for when a car is coming from the opposite direction. Rising to 626 meters (2,054 feet) above sea level, there's good reason it's called the "UK’s toughest climb".
Stefan Krause, Germany, Wikimedia Commons
Eshima Ohashi Bridge (Japan)
The Eshima Ohashi Bridge earned its nickname (Rollercoaster Bridge), with its crazy steep slope (rising up high enough to allow ships to pass underneath). It's only about a mile long, but the rise and fall of the ride is enough to make even the most confident of drivers take deep breaths and hold on tight.
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