This north-south route travels through Europe passing successively through seven countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain.

The route leads from the port of Frederikshavn on the north coast through the cities of Aalborg, Hobro, Viborg, Vejen, Vojens, Rødekro and Padborg to Kruså at the border with Germany .

From Flensburg the EV3 continues to follow the Hærvejen path (in Germany called the Ochsenweg) to the cities of Schleswig, Rendsburg, Hohenwestedt, Itzehoe and Elmshorn to Hamburg.

From there the EV3 passes through Zeven, Bremen, Osnabrück, Münster, Haltern, Dorsten, Wesel, Rheinberg, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, the Rhine river, Euskirchen to Aachen.

It passes through the cities of Maubeuge, Fourmies, Compiègne, Senlis, Paris, Melun, Montargis, Orleans, Blois, Tours, Chatellerault, Poitiers, Angoulême, Bordeaux, Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port though the route has not been finalised between the Loire and the Pyrenees.