California Touge.Best driving roads in California

Carmel Valley Road

A Monterey-area extension inland through Carmel Valley, with village stretches and increasingly rural bends.

Medium speedDifficulty 2/3 · WindingMonterey County

Road shape

Length
8.7 mi
Bends
8
Switchbacks
0
Bends per mile
0.9
Turning per mile
99°
Curviest rank
83of 85

Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.

Elevation

Low 58 ft6.8 mi · longest continuous section, 78% of the roadHigh 298 ft
Total climb
636ft
Climb per mile
73ft
Highest point
293ft
Steepest grade
4.3%

Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.

Speed limits

25–45 mph

Mapped limits

Approximate guide; limits vary by section. Follow posted signs.

OpenStreetMap tags cover approximately 48% of this trace. These values have not been checked against current signs.

Speed-limit source ↗

Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.

Sources

Difficulty 2/3 (Winding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Medium speed” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:

Reviewed 2026-09-08. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.

Roads nearby

View on the Bay Area map →Check road conditions ↗Open in Google Maps ↗All 85 roads →