Island Drives Around the World

An island drive has a special quality, because the road is bounded by water on every side and the journey becomes a loop rather than a line, and the problem is choosing among the world’s islands, each offering a different version of the same pleasure. The best island drives combine coastline, elevation, and culture into a circuit that feels complete in a way a mainland road rarely does.The top of the list is Iceland’s Ring Road, which circles an entire country of glaciers, waterfalls, and volcanic coast, and is the gold standard of the island loop. The Cabot Trail on Cape Breton in Canada follows the cliffs and highlands of the island’s northern coast, and the roads of Madeira, with their tunnels, sea cliffs, and vertiginous viewpoints, offer a dramatic European answer. The Amalfi coast, the Big Island of Hawaii, and the winding roads of the Greek island of Crete each round out the list with their own take on the island drive.The island drives share a practical feature, the loop, which means you can start and end in the same place and see the whole coastline without