The 10 Best Fjord Road Trips Around the World, Ranked

The best fjord road trips are Norway's Norwegian West Coast, New Zealand's Milford Sound Drive, and Chile's Carretera Austral, drives that run alongside glacier-carved sea inlets with cliff walls, hanging waterfalls, and deep still water. Our top pick, the Norwegian West Coast, strings together Geirangerfjord, Nærøyfjord, and the Flåm valley over six days on Norway's National Tourist Routes. The ten drives below span Norway to New Zealand, each with its real distance, season, and stops from our catalog.

A fjord is a sea arm cut by a glacier, so these drives share a rhythm. The road hugs a water's edge under steep rock, then climbs a hairpin over a headland to the next inlet. That geography also shapes the driving. Many of these routes rely on vehicle ferries, single-lane sections, and mountain weather that closes passes without much warning. We ranked the ten on the fjord scenery itself, how much of each drive runs within sight of the water, and how reliable the road and the season are.

The best fjord road trips at a glance

1. Norwegian West Coast, Norway

No country packs more fjord into one drive than Norway, and the Norwegian West Coast is the route that collects the best of it. Over about 850 km and six days from Bergen, it follows the National Tourist Routes past the Stegastein viewpoint above the Aurlandsfjord, down to Flåm, along the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord, and over the Atlantic Ocean Road's low bridges to Kristiansund. A fjord cruise from Flåm adds the water-level view the road cannot. The driving is moderate rather than hard, but snow and rockfall close the mountain legs, so check vegvesen.no before every pass and ferry.

2. Milford Sound Drive, New Zealand

The one road into Milford Sound is the Southern Hemisphere's great fjord drive. From Te Anau it traces the inland-fjord shore of Lake Te Anau, crosses the Eglinton Valley past the Mirror Lakes, climbs to the Divide, then drops through the 1.2 km Homer Tunnel into a sound ringed by vertical mountains, 240 km there and back across two days. This is wet, remote country where avalanche, rockfall, and flooding can shut the road, so check the NZTA Journey Planner and the official Milford Road status the morning you drive and keep a spare day in hand. New Zealand's summer, November to April, gives the longest settled weather.

3. Carretera Austral, Chile

For the wildest fjord drive here, Chile's Carretera Austral runs 1,240 km of mostly gravel Ruta 7 through Patagonian fjords, rainforest, and glaciers over twelve to fourteen days. From Puerto Montt it threads a vehicle-ferry sequence past Parque Pumalín, the hanging glacier of Queulat National Park, the marble caves at Capillas de Mármol, and the stilt village of Caleta Tortel before ending at Villa O'Higgins. This one earns its hard rating: book the Hornopirén and Fiordo Largo ferries ahead, bring an SUV, and treat the November to March window as the only sensible one.

4. Ring Road, Iceland

Iceland's Ring Road is a full-island loop, and its fjord payoff is the eastern leg, where Route 1 winds through a chain of narrow fjords between Höfn and Mývatn. The nine-day clockwise circuit from Reykjavík also takes in Seljalandsfoss, the black sands at Vík, and the icebergs of Jökulsárlón and Diamond Beach, so the East Fjords are one leg of a longer loop. It is 1,332 km on a paved numbered highway, moderate because of weather rather than grade. Check road.is and SafeTravel before each leg, and keep a standard car off the F-roads entirely.

5. Sea to Sky Highway, Canada

If you want a fjord drive you can finish in a weekend, British Columbia's Sea to Sky Highway runs just 125 km from Vancouver to Whistler along the edge of Howe Sound, a fjord that opens below the road almost from the start. BC-99 is paved and easy, passing Shannon Falls, the granite dome of the Stawamus Chief, and Brandywine Falls on the climb inland. Mountain fog, weekend traffic, and rockfall still slow it, and winter tyres or chains are required by law from October 1 to April 30. May to October keeps the road clear and the trailheads open.

6. Faroe Islands Weather-Flex Drive, Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are fjord country in miniature, 18 North Atlantic islands laced with sea arms, sheer cliffs, and waterfalls that blow upward in a gale. This five-day, roughly 250 km loop bases out of Tórshavn and Vágar and takes in the turf-roofed village of Saksun, the lake of Sørvágsvatn that appears to hang above the ocean, and a guided walk out toward the Drangarnir sea stack. The four subsea tunnels charge tolls with no booths, so settle the billing with your rental company and check current prices at tunnil.fo. Keep the movable weather day the route is named for.

7. Seward Highway, United States

Alaska's Seward Highway carries you 202 km from Anchorage to Seward along Turnagain Arm, with glacier-capped peaks on one side and the tidal water on the other. Beluga Point, Portage Valley, and the short Byron Glacier trail break up the drive, and Seward itself opens the door to Kenai Fjords National Park at the end. The road is paved and easy, best treated as a long day with a separate Seward day for the fjords. Check Alaska 511 before you set out, and never step onto the Turnagain Arm mudflats, which trap and drown people every few years.

8. Westfjords Route 60 Circuit, Iceland

Iceland's second entry trades the busy Ring Road for the empty northwest. The Westfjords Route 60 Circuit runs 1,100 km over six days from Reykjavík through Hólmavík to Ísafjörður, the tiered Dynjandi waterfall, the bird cliffs at Látrabjarg, and the red sands of Rauðisandur. Roads here mean gravel, single-lane bridges, and long gaps between fuel stops, which keeps the crowds away. Check umferdin.is and SafeTravel before each leg, and take the slow gravel spurs to Látrabjarg at their own pace. June to September is the drivable window.

9. Viking Trail, Canada

On Newfoundland's northern reach, the Viking Trail links Gros Morne National Park to a thousand-year-old Norse settlement over 489 km and four to five days. The fjord to see is Western Brook Pond, a landlocked arm of inland cliffs reached on foot and toured by boat, so book the sailing ahead and keep a land-based fallback for wind. North from Gros Morne the road passes Port au Choix and St Anthony, where icebergs drift offshore in early summer, before ending at L'Anse aux Meadows. The drive is paved and easy, with June to September the reliable season.

10. Trollstigen, Norway

The shortest drive here is also one of the steepest. Trollstigen, the Troll's Path, climbs eleven hairpins at a 10 percent gradient and 850 m above the Istra valley, with the 180 m Stigfossen waterfall falling alongside the road, then descends toward Geiranger. It is about 105 km with a ferry and fits into a single day, which makes it the pick when the full West Coast tour is more than you have time for. The road opens May to October; check 175.no and ferry timings the same morning, because the pass clears late and closes early around snow.

If you only do one

Drive the Norwegian West Coast. Six days from Bergen give you the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord, the Stegastein viewpoint high above the Aurlandsfjord, the Flåm valley, and the Atlantic Ocean Road, which is more distinct fjord scenery than any other single route on this list. Go between June and August for the open passes and the long northern daylight, book the ferries and any fjord cruise ahead in summer, and leave room to wait out weather on the mountain legs. If your time is tight, Trollstigen alone delivers the hairpins and the drop to Geiranger in a day.

Frequently asked questions

Which country has the best fjord road trips?

Norway. Its western coast holds the deepest concentration of drivable fjords anywhere, from Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord to the Flåm valley, and the National Tourist Routes are built to link them. New Zealand's Fiordland and Chile's Patagonia are the strongest rivals, but no single drive matches the Norwegian West Coast for fjord after fjord.

When is the best time to drive Norway's fjords?

June to August. The mountain passes and the Trollstigen road are open, ferries run on full schedules, and daylight stretches late into the evening. Shoulder months of May and October work for lower routes, but the high passes clear late and close early around snow, so check vegvesen.no before each leg.

Do you need a four-wheel drive for a fjord road trip?

Usually not. The Norwegian West Coast, Milford Sound, Sea to Sky, and Seward Highway are all paved and fine in a normal car. The exceptions are Chile's Carretera Austral, which is mostly gravel and wants an SUV, and Iceland's Westfjords, where gravel and single-lane bridges call for care rather than a bigger vehicle.

Can you see fjords on a road trip in the Southern Hemisphere?

Yes. New Zealand's Milford Sound Drive runs into Fiordland from November to April, and Chile's Carretera Austral threads the Patagonian fjords from November to March. Both fall in the southern summer, the opposite half of the year to the Norwegian and Icelandic seasons.

Plan your fjord road trip

Every drive here is mapped stop by stop in our route guides, starting with the Norwegian West Coast. Open the interactive map to line each route up with its season and to space out the ferries and fuel stops, and browse more ocean roads in our Scenic Coastal Drives collection.