What is the best road to drive in the Alps?
 

I'm sure they'll be other topics to this but I can't find them - what do you consider to be the best driving experience in the Alps? We're planning a holiday in August, from England, down through France to Switzerland - then a few days in the Bernese Oberland and working our way across to Salzburg then back north through Germany to head home.

At the moment, I am thinking we'll stay in Lauterbrunnen or Wengen, then head through Meiringen, to Gletsch and over the Furka Pass, then Andermatt, towards Chur, down to San Moritz, up the Engadine towards Landeck, then Garmisch, Berchtesgarten and onto Salzburg. We'll probably have about 4 days from leaving Lauterbrunnen for this - once the route is decided, we'll look into the villages and towns on the way and think about where to stay.

We love driving over mountain passes and I think there will be much to enjoy doing this route, but I just wanted to see what opinions anyone else had. For instance, is it worth dropping down into Italy? Would that add anything to what we'll see on this itinerary? Should we attempt to build in the Grossglockner road in Austria?

We're not really walkers, alas, just love the mountain scenery and will be doing the trip driving rather than by train.

Any help or suggestions very gratefully received....

Many thanks

Alan

What a great idea Alan, and you seem to have a very good start. It is a shame you cannot include the Dolomites,but that may be too far. Have fun !

From the Berner Oberland, you could consider the triangle: Susten, Furka and Grimsel. Those 3 passes make a round trip, and the landscapes are amazing.

I've been living in central Switzerland for the past year and a half...and I too love driving mountain passes.

Some of these tips may be a little out of the way, but worth considering..

Before you head over the passes, one of my favorite routes is driving south from Zug on the Autobahn through the towns of Arth-Goldau & Schwyz before reaching the southern arm of the Lake of Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee) called the Urnersee. Just after the exit for the town of Brunnen, the road converts from 4 lane divided Autobahn to a 2 lane road. You pass through a tunnel, and what you see when it's clear upon emerging from the tunnel is breathtaking. This part of the Lake of Lucerne is bordered on both sides by high rocky moutains with snow visible year round...it is really spectacular on a clear day. There are several places to pull off and take in the view. The little lakeside town of Brunnen (exit just before the tunnel as you head south) is a nice place to stop for a snack or lunch and walk along the lakeside.

Heading south from there, you can continue down to the Gotthard area, where you have multiple options for passes. One of my favorite loops is to do the Furka, Grimsel and Sustenpasses all in one day. It is easy to do this in multiple directions. As you head south towards the Gotthard tunnel, you first pass the exit for the Sustenpass....the Furka is not much further. The major concern here is the Gotthard tunnel, which as the major north-south route towards Lugano & Italy can have MAJOR back-ups, especially on weekends. There is a way to bypass this on a parallel side road if you have a good map.

The Furka is stark and feels very remote, but veru beautiful as you have great views of the big mountains of the Valais region. The road is also rougher & narrower in some places than the other 2 (probably becasue many folks take the adjacent car train rather than driving up and over). The Susten and Grimsel are better maintained and both have more in the way of roadside snackshops at the peak of the pass. The Susten has some great glacier viewing near the peak of the pass. Regardless, all are beautiful. The think the Grimsel might be my favorite of the 3 - more waterfalls, little lakes and hydro dams. All will have lots of cars on them on weekends during that time...especially motorcycles. Some of these guys are absolutely insane with their speed and passing - I cam upon a major biker accident involving 4 motorcycles just after it happened near the peak of the Grimselpass last summer.

One detour that I feel is a "must" if you like mountain scenery is the Aletsch Glacier (largest in the alps - 30km long). If you have the time, you would need to make a slight detour heading west from the foot of the Furka pass into the Valais to Fiesch...from there you can take a series of 2 gondolas up to the Eggishorn where you can see the glacier spread out before you running down the back slopes of the Mönch, Jungfrau and Eiger.

Another "pass" detour in this area would be to drive up over the San Bernandino pass into Italy. Haven't done this, but will likely try this one and the St. Gottardo pass this summer (above the Gotthard tunnel).

To give you a sense of distance and time. One Saturday last July when my wife and kids were away, I drove south from Zürich, leaving at about 5:30AM. I took the route described from Zug above, taking the Furkapass towards Brig. I drove to Betten gondola station and parked, and took 2 gondolas up above Betteralp to the Bettmerhorn. I then hiked along a precipice trail from Bettmerhorn to Eggishorn (a mindblowing trail with incredible views of the glacier...but NOT for people who are not sure of foot and who are scared of heights), I then took another gondola from Eggishorn to Fiescheralp (halfway to Fiesch), walked from there back to Bettmeralp, and then took another gondola back to Betten and my car.

- Trip from Zürich to Betten (a few km west of Fiesch) over the Furkapass = ~3-3.5 hours, assuming little traffic and depending on how often you stop. Traffic note - this was on a Sat morning - I reachd the Gotthard are about 7AM, and alreasdy there was a 6km back-up that snarled me before I exited for the Furka.
- Hike that I did = 5 hours, including gongola trips
- Trip from Betten back to Zürich back over Grimselpass & Sustenpass = 3.5 hours

Hope this helps - let me know if you have more questions.

Chris

Some of my favourite passes are:

Brunnen - Altdorf - Bürglen - Klausenpass - Pragel Pass - Muotathal - Schwyz - Brunnen
(This can only be done during the weekdays)

Andermatt - Oberalp - Lukmanier - Gotthard - Andermatt

Lots of curves:
Flüela-, Ofen-, Umbrail-Pass, Stilfser Joch, Gavia-, Bernina-Pass

Furka-, Nufenen-, St. Gotthard-, Susten- und Grimsel-Pass

Switzerland is a haven for motorcycles and bikes. Nowadays you'll see almost as many bicyclists going over these passes as motorcycles.

Enjoy your stay and if you can get a convertible, you'll enjoy the passes even more.

Here's a list of all Swiss mountain passes with their length and altitude:
http://media.motosport.ch//files/344...izer_p_sse.pdf

Here's a rating of the passes. It's in German so use a language tool to translate. http://media.motosport.ch//files/467...wertung_ch.pdf

Here's a list of open and closed passes. Gesperrt = closed.
http://www.tcs.ch/main/de/home/verke...e_tunnels.html

Many thanks for your responses. I'll need to get my atlas out and see where your suggestions take us. Anyone else have ideas? Thoughts on Grossglockner? If we've seen the area round Lauterbrunnen, the Furka and Grimsel passes, and then the Engadine, is it worth making the effort to get to Grossglockner too?

Thanks

Alan

Hi Alan,
The Grossglockner Road is fantastic, but probably redundent and not worth the trip, especially if it's out of the way for you.
I do have a route that's a bit different, yet over two truly amazing passes. From St. Moritz, take the Passo Stelvio/Stilferjoch Pass from Switzerland into Val Venosta, Italy. From here, head towards Meran/Merano, Italy, drive up to St. Leonhard/S. Leonardo, Italy to the Timmesjoch Pass, from Italy into the Oetz Valley (beautiful) in Austria. From here Bavaria is easy.
You could also take the Jaufen Pass from St. Leonhard/S. Leonardo, Italy towards the Brenner Pass (not really a pass but a highway) and Innsbruck, but it's not nearly as spectacular (or hair raising!).

A great website to check out is...
www.alpineroads.com

While in Val Venosta, Italy (we stayed in Mals/Malles) there a a few places that may interest you (they were interesting for us at least).

Churburg Castle (terrific castle!)
www.churburg.com

Castle Juval
Mountaineer Reinhold Messner's castle home with his collection of Tibetan/Himalayan artifacts.

http://www.suedtirolerland.it/suedti..._idEQQ145.html

Glurns/Glornza
Maybe the smallest (but charming) intact walled medieval town in Europe.

www.gemeinde.glurns.bz.it

You could of course really overdue it by skipping the Timmelsjoch Pass. From Meran/Merano head down and around Bolzano/Bozen, then head into the Dolomites (plenty of passes) winding up in Cortina d'Ampezzo and on to Heiligenblut, Austria and the Grossglockner Road then towards Salzburg. Now that's a lot!

Hope this helps.

Paul

bkmrk

The boys of Top Gear recently did a feature on the best driving road in Europe (admittedly in some of the best driving cars in Europe)

If you go to YouTube or Google and type in "top gear best driving road" you should find the roads they tried

The winner BTW was from Davos to the Stelvio Pass

Thanks everyone again - some great suggestions. I'd forgotten about Top Gear's trip to the Stelvio Pass - that looks incredible. Thanks too, Paul, for the links

Alan

There is a book 'Motorcycle Journies thru the Alps and Corsica'. It should be available thru Amazon USA. It might give you some ideas.

This is similar to a question I was just going to post. Nothing specific to add just yet. I'll be back when I learn more!

Sounds like a wonderful trip.