Title: Europe’s Five Highest Paved Roads — Google Sightseeing
Headings: Europe’s Five Highest Paved Roads
Europe’s Five Highest Paved Roads
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Content: Coming in at number four is the highest paved mountain pass in France, the Col de l’Iseran just south of Val-d’Isère. Only a handful of kilometres from the Italian border, the Col de l’Iseran has hosted a Tour de France stage seven times, most recently in 2007. Although paved, the road is only available for traffic during the summer months due to the extreme alpine conditions. Number three may be also familiar to cycling fans as the highest point reached during the Tour de France, le Cime de la Bonette (2,802 m/9,383 ft), adjacent to the highest pass in the Maritime Alps. The summit of the mountain is a short hike from the roadway and is a spectacular vantage point during years when Le Tour passes by. While the race didn’t use this route this year, the road’s high point is still a popular destination each July, as seen by this photo sphere taken just a few weeks ago by Vincent Madelain. Coming in second at 2,830 m (9,285 ft) above sea level is the top of the Ötztal Glacier Road in the Austrian Tyrol. The road ends at Sölden, one of Austria’s most popular resorts, and provides access for skiers to the surrounding glaciers. 1
The distinction of being the home to the highest paved road in Europe, however, goes not to a location in the Alps, but to Spain’s Pico del Veleta, the second highest mountain of the Sierra Nevada. The private access road to the Sierra Nevada Ski Station ends just 10 m (33 ft) below the summit at an altitude of 3,384 m (11,102 ft), and, yes, it’s paved – not that you’d know it from this snowy photo sphere taken by Francisco José, where we see skiers actually skiing over the top of the road as it passes by the highest chairlift.