Best driving roads in California
Every road here is measured, not just recommended. Corners are counted off the mapped centreline, elevation comes from USGS survey data, and any speed figure links to the document behind it — or says plainly that no such document was found.
- 94
- Roads
- 1,205
- Miles
- 5,493
- Counted bends
Pick a map
- Bay Area41 roads · 639 milesThe Peninsula ridge roads, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the East Bay, Marin, Napa and Monterey.
- Los Angeles44 roads · 448 milesThe Malibu canyons, the Angeles and San Gabriel mountains, and the Orange County hills.
- San Diego9 roads · 118 milesPalomar Mountain, the Laguna and Cuyamaca ranges, and the North County back roads.
The ten curviest roads in California
Ranked by degrees of direction change per mile, measured on the OpenStreetMap centreline at a fixed 20 m sampling step. It describes road shape — not difficulty, and not how fast anything should be driven.
| # | Road | Area | Length | Bends | °/mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuna Canyon Road | Malibu / Santa Monica Mountains | 4.3 mi | 61 | 1413 |
| 2 | Old La Honda Road | Peninsula | 4.9 mi | 59 | 1250 |
| 3 | Mount Hamilton Road | South Bay | 20.4 mi | 224 | 1201 |
| 4 | Pantoll & East Ridgecrest | Marin | 4.3 mi | 48 | 1137 |
| 5 | Mount Umunhum Road | South Bay | 5.4 mi | 56 | 1131 |
| 6 | West Alpine Road | Peninsula | 7.6 mi | 84 | 1119 |
| 7 | Mount Diablo roads | East Bay | 17.8 mi | 173 | 1107 |
| 8 | Latigo Canyon Road | Malibu / Santa Monica Mountains | 10.2 mi | 98 | 1106 |
| 9 | Palomar South Grade · S6 | Palomar & North County | 5.8 mi | 45 | 1092 |
| 10 | Yerba Buena / Little Sycamore | Malibu / Santa Monica Mountains | 10.9 mi | 127 | 1075 |