It’s rare to find the world’s oldest roads: places where you can literally step into the footprints of people who lived thousands of years ago.
While most oldest roads have been buried by modern cities or eroded with time, some still endure: winding across landscapes and carrying the stories of past civilizations.
Below are five of the oldest and most remarkable roads that remain in use today.
The Ridgeway (~3000 BC)
Dating back nearly 5,000 years, The Ridgeway in Oxfordshire, England, is considered the oldest continuously used road in Britain, and possibly the world. This prehistoric route meanders across chalk downs, weaving through rolling hills and past neolithic monuments. The path is said to have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien when he created the landscapes of The Lord of the Rings.
Stretching for 87 miles, The Ridgeway reveals countless traces of human history, from the mysterious stone circle at Avebury to the Bronze Age Uffington White Horse carved into a chalk hillside. Over time, it served many purposes: a defensive line in the Iron Age, a Saxon military route, and even a medieval livestock trail. Today, it is a National Trail open to walkers and hikers, preserving its role as a living link to the past.
The King’s Highway (8th Century BC)
The King’s Highway is so ancient that it is even mentioned in the Bible. In the Book of Numbers, Moses appeals to the king of Edom for safe passage along this route through what is now Jordan. Known in Arabic as Darb ar-Raseef (“the paved road”), it once formed a major trade link between Egypt and the Fertile Crescent.
By the first century A.D., the Roman emperor Trajan paved the road and renamed it Via Nova Traiana, making it suitable for carts and caravans. For centuries, it carried pilgrims—both Christian and Muslim—on their journeys to holy sites and Mecca. Today, it survives as Jordan’s Highway 35, running from Amman to Aqaba, still echoing with the footsteps of traders, travelers, and worshippers from millennia past.
The Grand Trunk Road (4th Century BC)
Few roads are as legendary as the Grand Trunk Road, which stretches more than 2,200 miles from Afghanistan to Bangladesh, cutting across Pakistan and India. Originating as the Uttarapath (“northern route”) in the 4th century B.C., it formed part of the Silk Road, carrying goods and ideas across South Asia.
In the 16th century, Emperor Sher Shah Suri transformed the route, widening it, planting shade trees, and building roadside rest houses (sarais) to make journeys safer and more comfortable. Beyond facilitating trade in spices and textiles, the road also helped spread religions like Buddhism and Islam across the subcontinent. Later, the British Empire renamed it the Grand Trunk Road, using it as a central artery of colonial administration. Today, it remains one of South Asia’s busiest highways, a living testament to thousands of years of movement and exchange.
The Appian Way (312 BC)
The Romans called the Appian Way (Via Appia Antica) the regina viarum—the “queen of all roads.” Built in 312 B.C. by Appius Claudius Caecus, it began as a military supply road stretching from Rome toward southern Italy. Over time, it extended nearly 400 miles to Brindisi, where it connected the empire to trade with Greece, Egypt, and Asia Minor.
Ingeniously engineered with volcanic stone cobbles and gravel, the Appian Way was designed for durability and efficiency. It featured mile markers, fountains, and rest stops and unlike many later roads, it charged no tolls. Today, visitors to Rome can walk the first 10 miles of the Appian Way in the Parco Appia Antica, marveling at the craftsmanship of Roman engineers whose work has outlasted empires.
The Inca Road System (15th Century)
In South America, the Inca Empire’s strength lay in its remarkable road network—the Qhapaq Ñan—which stretched an astonishing 25,000 miles at its peak. From the capital of Cuzco, these roads spanned mountains, forests, deserts, and coasts, uniting millions of people under a single political and cultural system.
Inca engineers built suspension bridges, carved stairways into cliffs, and devised drainage systems to keep the roads passable through harsh weather. These routes carried not only traders and armies but also runners who relayed messages across vast distances. Today, parts of this network remain in use, with the famed Inca Trail to Machu Picchu offering modern hikers a chance to follow in the footsteps of an empire that once dominated the Andes.
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