hausfrau

Based upon the recent interest in Alpine driving tours, I have finally gotten motivated to post the report from our mountain tour taken last August. DH and I originally planned this trip for September or October, but with some uncertainty surrounding our departure from Germany, we decided not to take any chances. How often does one get the opportunity to drive some of Europe’s most famous mountain passes in a spiffy sportscar, after all?

We got the idea for this trip from a story in the September 2005 issue of Car magazine titled “As Good as it Gets,” in which writer Ben Oliver and photographer Stuart Collins thrash Europe’s best mountain roads in a BMW M6. While we couldn’t fit all of their favorite drives into our 7-day trip, we did map out a rough itinerary through some of the best automotive terrain to be found in Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Conveniently, we would spend six of the seven days in German-speaking territory, as the Südtirol region of northern Italy was historically part of the Austrian Empire, and many of its inhabitants still prefer to speak German over Italian.

I spent the last three weeks of July scrambling to book hotels for the first week of August, which just happens to be the busiest travel month of the year in Europe because most everyone takes the month off. I was generally pretty happy with the hotels I found and, armed with a hefty spiral-bound atlas of the Alps that I picked up at Buchhaus Wittwer in Stuttgart, we felt reasonably confident setting out into the mountains on our first major trip without our faithful navi, Susie.

This is a driving-oriented trip, so I should probably tell you a little about our wheels: a 2007 Mercedes SLK 200 convertible with manual transmission. This was my car for our last year in Germany and, although it was woefully underpowered, it handled well and was quite fun to drive, especially with the top down. In our opinion the best car to drive in the Alps has a short wheelbase, excellent handling, a powerful engine, and a convertible top to enjoy those awesome views. A Mini Cooper S would probably be ideal.

This trip will sound rushed to most of you, but we had to squeeze it into the time we had available. It could easily be extended into a more relaxed two-week (or longer) trip by adding nights in each location or adding stops in between. We did pass through many gorgeous towns and terrain that we would have loved to explore further; I'll point out some of these as I go along.

Here’s the itinerary for our trip. We spent 1 night in Hall, 2 nights in Ortisei, 1 night in Bellagio, and 3 nights in Kandersteg.

Day 1 (evening departure): Stuttgart to Hall in Tirol, Austria via Gaichtpass
Day 2: Hall to Ortisei, Italy via Jaufenpass
Day 3: Tour round the Sella Gruppe (multiple passes)
Day 4: Ortisei to Bellagio via Stelvio, Umbrail, Ofen, and Maloja passes
Day 5: Bellagio to Kandersteg, Switzerland via Lucomagno, Oberalp, Furka, and Grimsel passes
Day 6: Train trip from Lauterbrunnen to the Jungfraujoch
Day 7: Hike to the Früdenhütte (above Kandersteg)
Day 8: Kandersteg to Stuttgart via Susten and Klausen passes

Coming Next: Let the driving begin!

deladeb

Just wondering where you flew into and out of?

hausfrau

Sorry, I should have clarified - we lived in Stuttgart from September 2005 to December 2007, so we took this trip from our home in Stuttgart. The "departure from Germany" that I mentioned was our move home to the USA, which we fortunately were able to postpone until December.

flygirl

Oh, thank you so much! I can't wait to read more.

I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that article, too.

I'm actually buying a BMW through their European delivery program, hence the start/end in Munich.

I mapped out some of my plan last night based on all the wonderful tips in my thread, and I also got another email from the Eremo Gaudio this morning re: reservations. Based on their availability I am going to have to move my dates slightly, but that's ok, I think I might be footloose on many of the hotel/B&B reservations since I suspect late Spring isn't a hard time to just show up and find rooms in many places.

Thanks again!

deladeb

Flygirl, if you weren't purchasing the car where would you fly into and out of?

caroline_edinburgh

hausfrau, you are famous ! Trip report spotlight in the Fodor's newsletter. Unfortunately they have it as your grand *Diving* tour of the Alps - I was fascinated to see that ! But your driving trip report is very interesting too

flygirl

I saw that too - you are famous!

deladeb - I'd likely use Munich anyway, since I can get a nonstop flight on United.

Katie_H

oops--- diving! what a typo. Sorry about that hausfrau. Diving in the Alps sounds pretty interesting though...

hausfrau

Hmmm....diving...well, I suppose there were a couple of lakes I could have gone diving in...but they looked a little chilly!

deladeb, I agree that flying into Munich would put you the closest to the start and end point of this tour.

And now, on with the show...

DAY 1: LET THE DRIVING BEGIN! (STUTTGART TO HALL IN TIROL)

We set off after DH got home from work on this Wednesday evening and had a bit of an adventure getting to our stopover for the night – Hall in Tirol, a small sleepy town just east of Innsbruck. We started off well enough, taking the A8 to Ulm and then the A7 south towards Austria. Then my ViaMichelin directions sent us off the A7 onto the B310 for some reason, instead of continuing on the logical route to Füssen, and we blindly followed the printed directions without looking carefully at the map. We ended up taking a rather lengthy detour along the Deutsche Alpenstraße, but it was a lovely drive through pretty alpine valleys under a clear evening sky. We crossed into Austria near Oberjoch, where we stopped for gas along with a ton of Germans who were filling up their spare gas cans – apparently gas is a lot cheaper in Austria – then cut southeast on route 199 through the Tannheim Valley, past the Haldensee and some very impressive craggy mountains. We drove through the Gaichtpass, which was our first major pass of the trip, then hooked up with route 198 at Weißenbach, following the Lech River towards Reutte.

At Reutte I called the hotel to tell them we’d be arriving after 10 pm, since it was already quarter to 9 and getting dark fast. DH said my German sounded really good on the phone; I was so pleased. We hooked up with route 179 and continued through Heitewang and Bichlbach to Lermoos (don’t you just love these names?), than passed through the 3.2 km-long Lermoos Tunnel. (Just before Lermoos we had a glimpse of the Zugspitze, which at 9,718 feet is the highest point in Germany, right on the Austrian border.) Sadly we had no time to stop for pictures of any of the dramatic mountains, and it was really too dim for decent photography anyway.

We traversed the Fernpass (pass #2), spotting several castles along the way, to Nassereith and then finally hooked up with the A12 near Innsbruck, arriving in Hall at precisely 10 pm. Fortunately Gasthof Badl (www.badl.at) couldn’t be easier to find – it is situated just across the river from Hall, with ample parking out front. We were greeted warmly at the reception desk despite our late arrival (the lady had to scoot a fluffy cat off the counter to check us in). Our basic but cozy third-floor room with a balcony looking out towards the Inn River was a good deal at 78 Euro.

Next: Into the Dolomites

hausfrau

DAY 2: INTO THE DOLOMITI (HALL TO ORTISEI)
We had an adequate breakfast at Gasthof Badl of sliced cheese and ham, hard rolls, watery orange juice, and strong coffee. On our way out we had to maneuver around a large, elderly Bernese mountain dog who had commandeered a position at the top of the stairs. We checked out at 10 am and left our car at the hotel while we explored Hall. We crossed over the river Inn on a covered wooden footbridge and found the town to be quite charming – very homey and non-touristy, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else, centered around an irregularly-shaped market square with winding cobblestone streets lined with leaning houses. It was such a low-key place that I couldn’t even find a tourist shop to buy my requisite souvenir magnet! We went inside the Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus, the town’s largest church, which has a unique off-center nave – it almost looks like they ran into some rocks when they were building the church and had to work around them. The interior is a mixture of gothic and baroque styles, with a heavily frescoed ceiling and a large collection of what looked to be bishops’ crowns and skulls.

We returned to the car about an hour later by way of the main bridge, which gave us nice views of the town’s church spires and the landmark Münzeturm, or “coin tower” of the 14th-century Burg Hasegg, which housed Hall’s silver mint from 1477 to 1806. By 11:00 we were on the road, heading west through Innsbruck, which is set against a dramatic backdrop of steep mountains. We headed south on route 182, which parallels the A13, through the Brennerpass (pass #3 of the trip – not too thrilling as far as driving goes, but more scenic than slogging up the Autobahn with all of its truck traffic).

We crossed into the Südtirol region of Italy at the town of Brenner. The landscape was still very Tirolean in character but now all of the signs (including the town names) were in Italian, German, and sometimes a third local dialect, called Ladin, which evolved from Latin after the area became part of the Roman Empire in 15 BC. At Sterzing / Vipiteno we headed southeast on route 44 through the Jaufenpass (pass #4), our first really famous route on the trip, which traverses some 40 kilometers through thick forest and golden grassy slopes to a height of 2,094 meters. The driving was excellent (although the road was quite narrow!), the weather was beautiful (we had the top down), and we enjoyed gorgeous views of Tirolean chalets and dramatic barren peaks on all sides. We stopped part-way up to admire the views and I made friends with a Swiss cow who moseyed up the hill to check us out (I call all of the mousey-brown cows with big fuzzy ears “Swiss” cows, even if we aren’t in Switzerland). We stopped again at the top of the pass and climbed a short ways up a rocky hillside to a stone cairn for an awesome 360-degree view. We had a snack of country bread topped with cheese and tomato at the Edelweisshütte, obviously a popular stopping point for the throngs of motorcyclists out for a summer ride.

We were getting baked by the summer sun so we put the top up on the way down the other side of the pass. There was a lot of traffic coming down and we had to navigate some pretty crazy hairpins marked by signs that read “kehr tornante” which I think means “take care – sharp turn.” At the lovely resort town of St. Leonard we headed south through the Passeiertal to Merano. Just before Merano the landscape began a spectacular transformation – imagine Tirolean chalets and conifer forests colliding with Renaissance villas, espaliered apple orchards, and neatly tended vineyards. We were stuck on the streets of Merano for a while due to a car accident, so we had some time to admire this very pretty Mediterranean-influenced city. The Palace Hotel, surrounded by lush gardens, looked particularly inviting.

We continued south on the Autostrade (A38) to Bolzano, a mid-sized city whose biggest claim to fame is Ötzi, the 5,000-year-old mummified “Iceman.” We didn’t stop to visit him, as we needed to press onwards to our destination for the next two nights: Sankt Ulrich / Ortisei in the Dolomites. We went a bit too far north on the A22 because we couldn’t find an exit for the A12, and had to turn around at Klausen / Chiusa, but we got to see an amazing sprawling castle perched on top of a hill in the middle of the valley. We ended up on route 242d instead of 242, so we got a little confused en route to Ortisei, but we eventually found our way into the famed Val Gardena, where we got our first hazy glimpses of the craggy peaks of the Dolomites off in the distance.

Ortisei (that’s the Italian version) is a good-sized resort town nestled in a broad green valley surrounded by dramatic peaks. We headed up a side valley to the village of Kastelruth / Castelrotto, which I wanted to see because lots of people seem to prefer it to Ortisei. It looked pleasant enough, but much smaller than Ortisei, and the surrounding landscape is not nearly as spectacular. We took a narrow, winding road just outside of Ortisei to the tiny hamlet of Pufels and the idyllic Hotel Uhrerhof (www.uhrerhof.com). This place was pure magic – it was so quiet in the narrow valley that you could hear the wind whispering in the trees and the faint tinkling of sheep bells floating up from the green meadows below the hotel. We were greeted by the lady of the house, Frau Zemmer, who speaks fluent Italian, German and English. Our room (#101) was huge and by far the nicest room we’ve had on the continent. It was all done in traditional Tirolean light wood, complete with a tiny wood-burning stove, a gorgeous modern bathroom stuffed with luxurious amenities, chocolates on the pillows, and a large flower-fringed balcony with an incredible view across the valley and down into Ortisei. I was already in love with this region and we’d only just arrived!

I sat out on our balcony for a while, soaking it all in, and listened to the church bells in Pufels chime 6:00. We had reserved half-board at the Uhrerhof to avoid driving down into town for dinner. We enjoyed a five-course meal in the quaint, cozy dining room. We partook of the ample salad buffet, followed by smoked goose with cabbage salad, puff pastry “pizza” smothered in cheese, mushrooms, and tomato sauce, tender veal with green beans and steamed potatoes, and a simple fruit cocktail for dessert. The food was traditional home cooking, nothing too fancy, but quite tasty.

A storm moved in this evening and we had heavy rain overnight – we just hope it clears up by tomorrow!

Photos from today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hausfra...7602758287632/

Coming Next: Mountain Majesty (A Tour Round the Sella Gruppe)

Steve_James

Lovely photos, Hausfrau!

In all my Dolomites trips I still haven't managed the Jaufenpass. Next time, perhaps ...

Looking forward to reading about your day around the Sella - my favourite Dolomites drive . Hope you had good visibility for that one ...

Hotel Uhrerhof looks lovely - I'm almost tempted.

Diving in the Dolomites?
Hmmm - how about paragliding instead
Still hoping to pluck up the courage ... one day.

Steve

caroline_edinburgh

Sounds beautiful, hausfrau - looking forward to the rest.

hausfrau

DAY 3: MOUNTAIN MAJESTY (TOUR OF THE SELLA GRUPPE)

We woke up to a steady drizzle and a valley obscured by clouds, which put a bit of a damper (pun intended) on our plans to take a scenic drive around the Sella Gruppe. We had a relaxing breakfast in the Uhrerhof’s dining room, feasting on the typical buffet of cold cuts and cheese, croissants and rolls with homemade jams, hard-boiled eggs, and canned fruits.

We decided to wait out the rain by driving down into Ortisei and doing a little shopping. We parked in a garage in the middle of town and came out in the midst of a lively street market. We made our way to the main shopping district and visited the town’s main church, the interior of which is a wonder of apricot and mint-green tones accented with gold gilt. Ortisei is famous for its woodcarving, and the town is crammed with shops selling carved items of every religious and secular theme imaginable – from crucifixes and crèches to wildlife and toys. We stopped at a nice little gift shop and bought two cow bells on leather straps. I am in the market for authentic Alpine cow bells and haven’t found the “real thing” yet, but these were far better than the tacky fakes you find in most tourist shops. It was getting on towards lunch time so we stopped at a café for pizza while we waited for the sun to come out. The clouds were definitely breaking up and we finally got our first glimpse of the snow-capped peaks of the Sella Gruppe rising dramatically in the distance.

We headed back to the parking garage but ended up waiting over twenty minutes to get out because some guy had gotten his ticket stuck in the machine at the exit gate. A man eventually showed up with some tools, looking very annoyed. He started prying open the machine and then suddenly threw his pliers on the ground and yelled “Impossible!” (you have to imagine it with the Italian accent, of course) three or four times, accompanied by violent hand gestures. He finally got the gate to go up but he was still standing there, fuming at the now-mangled machine, as we drove out.

We left Ortisei around 2 pm and set our sights on the Sella Gruppe. More and more of the mountains slowly emerged out of the clouds as we pressed onwards and upwards through lush green valleys. We had chosen a counterclockwise route to take around the mountain group, heading first over the Passo di Sella (pass #5), which afforded us spectacular vistas around every curve. DH was driving and he reported that the SLK was a little gutless but handled the curves pretty well; we certainly wouldn’t want to drive those crazy narrow roads in a larger car.

It took us an hour (with a couple of photo stops) to get from Ortisei to the top of Passo di Pordoi (pass #6) where we geared up in hiking boots and our warmest clothes and bought tickets for the cable car ride (24 Euro round-trip for 2) up to Sass Pordoi at a lofty 2,900 meters. The top was shrouded in clouds and we just hoped that we would be able to see something up there. We got some amazing views of the surrounding mountain landscape before our cable car was engulfed in a cloud as thick as pea soup. We walked out of the terminal into a lunar landscape – nothing but jagged shards of rock as far as the eye could see. The remains of a recent snow clung to the ground and a biting wind chilled us to the bone. We took lots of photos and then decided to follow the only obvious hiking trail, which took us past a small rifugio (a warming hut like the hüttes of Switzerland and Germany where you can buy light refreshments). The trail climbed slowly upwards as we traversed the side of a barren valley punctuated by dramatic dropoffs and watched a long line of hikers disappearing into the clouds on a ridge high above us. We think they must have been hiking up Piz Boè, the highest peak of the Sella Gruppe at 3,151 meters. We can only assume that they were going to spend the night up there, since they could not possibly get back down the mountain before dark. As for us, we had no such ambitions and decided to veer off the main trail to hike up to a stone cairn, from which we looked out into the dramatic abyss on either side of the Pordoi Pass. The misty, swiftly-moving clouds broke up just enough for us to catch enticing glimpses of endless mountain ridges disappearing into the distance; we could only imagine how spectacular the view would be on a clear day! After taking our fill of photos, we retraced our route and returned to the cable car terminal at 4:15, which gave us another half-hour to roam around before the second-to-last departure of the day. We found a natural arch in the rock and looked down through the hole at the crazy twists and turns of the road far below.

Thank goodness for long summer days, as once we had returned to the bottom we had plenty of daylight left to continue our circumnavigation of the Sella Gruppe. Now it was my turn to drive, down the other side of the Passo di Pordoi and onwards over the Passo di Campolongo (#7) and Passo di Gardena (#8). We were amazed by the number of ski lifts and trams that dotted the slopes above us – this area must be absolutely amazing in the winter, but I’m not sure how you would decide where to ski, as there seem to be unlimited options available. It is impossible to describe the majesty of the Dolomites, so you’ll just have to look at the pictures. The driving was very challenging – lots of first-gear hairpin turns – but thrilling. We ran into some traffic towards the end as we headed back towards Ortisei, so we didn’t get back to the hotel until 6:45 – just in time for dinner, which is served promptly at 7:00.

Dinner was a repeat of the salad buffet followed by tomato & mozzarella salad, a simple chicken broth soup, a fabulous meat & cheese lasagne, classic Wienerschnitzel with creamy potatoes, and apple streudel with whipped cream. I think the Südtirol might just be my favorite region of Europe, as it seems to combine the best of Germany and Italy – dramatic landscapes, friendly people (who all speak German so I can actually communicate), and delicious food!

The only problem we had with the Hotel Uhrerhof is that we were seated in a dining room with two families whose kids were constantly out of their seats, so the atmosphere was somewhat less than romantic. I wonder why they didn’t seat us in other dining room, which was much quieter. We probably should have asked to move. After our streudel we quickly retired to our room and planned out tomorrow’s route to Lake Como.

Today's pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hausfra...7602761199541/

Coming Next: An amazing drive to Lake Como!

enzian

Ah hausfrau, I'm loving your report, and the photos.

But I can't wait until you get to the Fründenhütte hike---probably my favorite in the Swiss alps.

flygirl

I am really enjoying this, thank you!

hausfrau

Oh good, I have some readers!

Steve, my husband still remembers the Jaufenpass as one of his favorites - perhaps because of the lack of traffic!

I did think of skydiving when I saw that misprint. There certainly are tons of paragliders and hangliders in the Dolomites and Berner Oberland. I think I would try one of those before I did skydiving... ;-)

enzian, the Fründenhütte hike was definitely quite an experience - you'll hear why soon!

caroline, flygirl - glad you're on board and enjoying the report!

Steve_James

Well - your description of the Sella tour bought back lots of memories, Hausfrau . I'm hoping to do it again next month ... if the snow's gone.

I'm sorry you didn't get a sunny day for it
You'll have to go back

I've enjoyed looking at your photos too. Your unnamed mountain town is Arabba, I believe - at the foot of the Pordoi Pass.

Looking forward to the next installment ...

Steve

hausfrau

Steve, I figure we were pretty lucky with the weather - the day could have been completely ruined and I still managed to get some great photos! We will definitely be going back. Thanks for the ID of Arabba. I try to pay attention to these things but sometimes a few slip through the cracks.

This next post is really long - but we covered a LOT of ground!

DAY 4: ONE DAY, TWO COUNTRIES & FOUR GREAT MOUNTAIN PASSES (DOLOMITES TO LAKE COMO)

We had another tasty breakfast at the Hotel Uhrerhof and I had a nice chat with Frau Zemmer in German before we left. It was difficult to say goodbye to this idyllic spot after such a brief stay. Of all of our European travels over the past two years, this hotel, and the Dolomites in general, are very close to the top of the list of destinations I would like to return to for a longer visit.

From Ortisei we struck out on route 242 west to the autostrada, hooking up with the A22 near Bolzano. We messed up (okay, perhaps I briefly neglected my navigation duties because I was slightly distracted by the amazing castle perched on a hill above the highway) and went too far south on the A22. We ended up going about 20 kilometers out of our way AND wound up in a traffic jam AND had to pay two tolls before we could get off and turn around. Finally we got on track again and headed north back to Merano, the way we had come on Thursday. We took route 38 west through Naturno and Silandro, passing through a lovely valley lined with more espaliered apple trees bursting with fruit. At Spodigna, we continued on the 38 south towards the Stelvio Pass (#9), one of the most famous roads in the Alps. You can see a pretty amazing image of the pass from across the valley here: http://www.weltderberge.de/alpen/pics/bbe15649.jpg. At 2758 meters, the Paso dello Stelvio is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps and the second highest paved pass in the Alps overall, second only to the Col de l’Iseran in France at 2770 meters.

Located about 75 kilometers west of Bolzano, very close to the Swiss border, one of the peaks above the Stelvio Pass is named Dreisprachenspitze, or "Three Languages Peak," because this is where the historically Italian, German and Romansch-speaking regions all come together. The original road was built by the Austrian Empire in the 1820s to connect the former Austrian province of Lombardia with the rest of Austria. The route has changed very little since then, comprising a grand total of 60 hairpin turns, 48 of which are on the northern side of the pass. The pass was strategically important during World War I, as it formed the border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. A portion of Swiss territory jutted between Austria and Italy and the three nations had to reach an agreement not to fire over the Swiss area. Today, the pass is busy not with gunfire but tourists – it is generally open from June to September and has become a favorite route for motorists and motorcyclists, as well as hard-core bicyclists.

As we approached the pass, the rolling forested hills gave little indication of the dramatic scenery that was about to unfold above us. Just below the bottom of the pass, we stopped at the side of the road for a pit stop. We took this opportunity to put the top down on the SLK, which ended up being a wise choice, as it is much easier to see out of a car with no roof.

I suppose if we had had a little more time to plan this trip, we might have considered the possibility that driving one of the most famous roads in Europe on a Saturday afternoon in August was perhaps NOT the most brilliant idea. As we started up the first few switchbacks, we realized that this was going to be more about avoiding the swarms of bicyclists, weaving motorcyclists, and monstrous slow-moving RVs and tour buses than it was about enjoying the drive. Unfortunately, the fame of the Stelvio Pass has reached far beyond motoring enthusiasts and it has now become an attraction even for those who have no idea how to drive. On the bright side, our slow pace allowed us (well, me, at least) to enjoy the dramatic view of snow-capped peaks around us.

We were about a quarter of the way up the pass, following an Audi A6, when a large bus suddenly bore down on us around a particularly tight hairpin turn. The Audi stopped dead in its tracks to let the bus swing around the bend, but that was still not enough room for the bus, and the Audi started backing up – without bothering to notice that we were a few feet behind him! DH had to honk at the guy and I am pretty sure he only missed hitting us by a few inches. Another time, a big touring motorcycle could not make it around a turn and the rider put his foot down, stopping suddenly right in front of us. Avoiding the bicyclists was the worst – they seem to think they own the road. I found myself craning my neck to look around each switchback to let DH know if the way ahead was clear, so he wouldn’t have to worry about taking out a bicyclist if he swung out a little bit into the opposite lane. We took a break about halfway up, near the ruins of a burnt-out hotel. We looked further up the pass and marveled at the engineering of the road, which is cantilevered out over the mountainside in some places. Near the top we stopped again to soak in the view, looking directly down on the road snaking up the mountainside.

In a nutshell, the Stelvio Pass is far too narrow to be enjoyed in anything but the smallest of sportscars, and on this day at least, was too crowded to be much enjoyed at all. Even the SLK felt huge as DH lugged it around those tight hairpins. I would strongly advise against driving the pass on a summer weekend, and if you are going to make the trek to Stelvio, be sure to tour some of the other great passes in the region, which are lesser known but make for far better driving experiences.

We ran a gauntlet of parked motorcycles at the top of the pass, an area thronged with hordes of bicyclists and tourists, all swarming around a cluster of hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. The crowds disappeared as we descended the other side into a desolate expanse of jagged mountains. After a few kilometers we reached the turnoff for the Umbrailpass (pass #10, a.k.a. Giogo di Santa Maria), which was marked by a gate and sign (written only in Italian) that says the road is open from 6 in the morning until 10:00 at night. The Umbrail is one of the only unpaved mountain passes left in the Alps and, at 2500 meters, is the highest pass traversable by car in Switzerland. We crossed the Swiss border (marked only by a deserted customs station) just a few hundred meters down the road, then continued our descent through a barren valley on a challenging road with no guardrails. Apparently far fewer vehicles come over this pass and we enjoyed it a lot more than the Stelvio. The road turned to gravel partway down, but it was only unpaved for a few kilometers, perhaps one-third of the total 13.4-kilometer stretch. We were followed by a Land Rover Defender most of the way down – he had no trouble keeping up with us in the gravel – but otherwise we saw more motorcycles than cars on the Umbrail.

We reached the postcard-perfect town of Santa Maria at the bottom of the Umbrail, where we turned left onto the Ofenpassstraße (only in German can one justify the use of the triple-s!). This took us on a gorgeous route through the Val Müstair, a landscape of dry conifer forests and broad golden meadows that reminded us of western Montana. We stopped at a little restaurant at the top of the Ofenpass (#11, 2149 meters) to buy sodas and candy bars, then hiked a short ways up a rocky trail to sit on a bench, eat our snacks, and enjoy the view. I took the wheel at this point and drove down the other side of the Ofenpass. The road was perfect – long sweeping bends and minimal traffic. The route took us through a portion of the Swiss National Park and the road was lined with trailheads. (In July 2006, a brown bear was spotted in the park – the first wild bear sighting in Switzerland in over one hundred years.)

At Zernez we turned southwest and took route 27 along the River Inn to the lakeside resort of St. Moritz, where we stopped for gas. We had now entered the region of Switzerland known as the Engadin, which means “garden of the Inn” in the local Romansch language. We traversed the Oberengadin from Zernez to Maloja, an area marked by a chain of beautiful blue lakes dotted with sailboats and ringed by cheerful hotels. From here we descended the precipitous Malojapass (pass #12, 1815 meters), our final pass of the day, which would take us back into Italy. This was another very crowded road; we followed a string of cars and motorcycles down an impossibly steep series of switchbacks through thick conifer forest. About 22 kilometers later and 1100 meters lower, we crossed into Italy at Castasegna. We noticed a pronounced shift in the local architecture that coincided dramatically with the elevation change: from quaint Tirolean chalets with overhanging eaves and window boxes bursting with to rambling stucco-walled, tile-roofed villas in every imaginable shade of yellow and orange.

From Chiavenna, just inside the Italian border, it was only a short drive south to the shores of Lake Como, where the road suddenly became a busy four-lane highway. The lake was hidden from view most of the way along the eastern shore, as it passes through a series of long and slightly claustrophobic tunnels. Because Lake Como is a very long, narrow lake, we realized that we would have to go ridiculously far out of our way to reach Bellagio by land and it made far more sense to take the ferry from Varenna. We found the turnoff for Varenna and wound our way slowly down to the lakeshore, following the signs to the ferry. I managed to maneuver the car into what I assumed was the line for the ferry while DH went off to scout out tickets. He returned triumphant with a ticket (11,60 Euro for the car and passengers) for the next departure, leaving in about twenty minutes. We walked around near the ferry dock while we waited. Varenna looked beautiful – lovely pastel-hued villas tumbling down the hill to the water’s edge.

A ferry arrived a few minutes later and unloaded; we were about to drive onto it but the man taking the tickets kindly told us it was the wrong one (I think it was the ferry to Menaggio) and ours would be arriving a few minutes later. Finally we got on the right boat and boarded for the fifteen-minute ride across the lake. It was an incredible evening – only a few wisps of clouds in an otherwise brilliant blue sky, and we marveled at the views. I didn’t have a good image in my mind of Lake Como (other than ritzy villas and resorts, of which it boasts a fair few) before we arrived and I was somewhat surprised by the dramatic mountain slopes of the Parco delle Grigne rising sharply from the east side of the lake. But there was also more development than I expected – the lake is ringed by small towns and the hillsides are dotted with houses. Bellagio, however, was a pleasant surprise – much smaller than I had imagined and, dare I say, a bit sleepy even on this gorgeous warm evening at the height of the tourist season.

Bellagio sits on a point of land that juts into the lake from the south and thus commands some of the most spectacular views in the area. We spotted our hotel, the Metropole, even before we reached the ferry dock, and I knew we were in for a treat. The Metropole is located right on the waterfront and the balconies literally hang over the water (as opposed to some of the other lakefront hotels that have a street in front of them). We drove off the ferry and tried to find parking in a nearby lot but it was totally full and, since it was dinnertime, we didn’t expect any spaces to open up soon. We drove a short ways down the road and found another lot with three cars in line waiting to get in. The guy at the gate waved me away but I stayed put and gave him the sweetest look that I could muster. A car left the lot a minute later and the man gestured that I could stay. He came up to my window and said something indecipherable in Italian, but switched to English in response to my blank expression. I told him I wanted to park overnight and he showed me to a spot. It cost 10 Euro, which we figured was fair. We unloaded our bags and hoofed it back to the hotel, which wasn’t too difficult because the SLK’s miniscule trunk (which is even smaller with the top down) has forced us to travel very light. We walked down a gorgeous flower-bedecked esplanade that was simply magical in the evening light.

Our reception at the Metropole was polite if not overly friendly; we climbed the stairs to our tiny double room on the first floor. The bed took up most of the space but the room was tidy and the gray tile bathroom was clean and serviceable. Our view was exactly as advertised – floor-to-ceiling French doors opening onto a tiny balcony with just enough room for two chairs (although ours had only one) and an absolutely stunning 180-degree view of the lake. Honestly, this was the bargain of our trip at 144 Euro. We arrived just in time to watch the sun disappear over the mountains to the west, casting long golden rays across the lake. A little later we strolled along the waterfront looking at menus and decided that the Hotel Florence looked the most promising – it had the most interesting menu and the prettiest terrace overlooking the water, framed by a lovely trellis dripping with wisteria. We had to wait for a while for a table but the waiter we spoke to suggested that we have drinks at their bar across the street. We ordered G&Ts and sat outside, watching the lights come on across the lake.

We were seated at a table right on the water and enjoyed an absolutely lovely meal. DH had risotto with smoked salmon and caviar followed by roast duck with mushrooms in a balsamic sauce. I started with fresh pasta with pesto, pine nuts, and zucchini flowers followed by carpaccio with smoked ricotta and shaved truffle. I don’t think I’ve ever had a plate of carpaccio I didn’t like, but this was a very nice twist on the classic. For dessert we both had peach and white chocolate mousse with a creamy sauce flavored with cognac and almonds. We teetered back to the hotel (thank goodness it was only a few hundred yards away) and fell into bed.

Today's pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hausfra...7602870675228/

Coming Next: Another amazing drive (Lake Como to Berner Oberland)

Ingo

You only drove for a couple hours through the Engadin? Oh you poor folks, you missed the best ...

Thanks for the detailed report. I agree on the Jaufenpass, it's very scenic. I don't care that much for the Dolomites, though. Lack of glaciers, I guess.

hausfrau

Ingo, I guess it's different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes. We just passed through the Engadin because it was never a target destination for us. It was pretty, but for us it was no match to the dramatic scenery of the Dolomites or Berner Oberland.