mountain passes

Transportation, Travel and Trips
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After watching an old episode of Top Gear about best driving roads in Europe, we had a road trip to davos last week, which was really fun. The scenery in the mountains were beautiful, and the weather was lovely. I'd suggest such a trip, if you like mountains and driving. We left from Zurich, to Davos, to Swiss National Park, to the dam in italian border (lago di livigno), to St. Moritz, to Chur, and back to Zurich. It would have been better to have left earlier to avoid too late a turn, but it was also fun when we saw this toboggan ride place, which happens to be the longest in Europe with 3100 m. http://www.pradaschier.ch

I wish I had received my permit back from prolongation, and could get a taste of the Stelvio pass, too, before it's closed.

Hoping the weather will not be bad, I am planning to try the Innertkirchen-Wassen-Andermatt-Grimsel ring, with the Furka pass and Rhone Glacier. Does anyone know of some cheap accomodation in the region, to be able to turn it into a two-day trip and explore some more mountain roads there before the winter hits on the roads ;-)

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Grindelwald claim to have the longest toboggan run (15km) in the world from Faulhorn to Grindelwald. Website

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Hotel Glacier du Rhone in Gletsch.

It is the only hotel there, and when i worked there as a waiter 15 years ago, it was in a quite bad shape. back then I was a student, so any hotel price was bloody expensive, but i dont think its expensive now

http://www.glacier-du-rhone.ch/html/sleep_well.html

You have to be fast though. If i remember correctly, they close the Furka and Grimsel Passes on 15 October.

Doc.

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A little OT, I know, but Doc -- is there ANY place in Switzerland where you haven't worked at some point in your apparently very long life?!

Do they keep firing you or do you just get bored easily?

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Interesting ... I would have expected the closure to be based on conditions rather than on calendar.

led me to the TCS page on the cols, in French or German . The Grand St-Bernard is the only one whose closure is "independent of the weather".

But yes, anyone wanting to cross the cols had better hurry, most have historically closed in early to mid-November.

6
Trying to revive this driving thread =)

The Valais caves ouvertes are next weekend (29-30.08.2020). I just thought that instead of a long highway drive to get from Argaau to Valais, why not try a longer drive with mountain passes?

I was looking for info about the Furka pass and only found this https://alpen-paesse.ch/ and this https://www.tcs.ch/fr/tools/inforout...-en-suisse.php . It seems there are no major restrictions, any insight on the drive beyond don't be an idiot, drive carefully, be kind with cyclists and postauto buses?

One of my work colleagues told me once that driving the passes was super-boring because they were full of tourist coaches. Maybe this year is a once in a lifetime opportunity to drive the mountain passes with less traffic, anyone been there this summer?

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i did a susten-grimsel-furka loop a couple of weeks back. there are some construction blocks here and there, but overall it was fun. there were not many caravans on the road. but there is the occasional driver who prefers to stay below 80 km/h, which becomes annoying it is difficult to overtake in the curvy narrow roads after all. but still it is fun to drive.

TCS has a map as well showing the state of roads and passes, which can help see what passes are close to your route.

i hope the weather and traffic conditions are to your liking, and you get to enjoy the passes. you may want to check these places out as well. have fun.

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I did Furka and Grimsel by bike a couple of weeks ago. You can expect a lot of traffic on weekends, especially between Andermatt and the Furka, but the road is in very good conditions.

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Well, yesterday the Furka pass was closed, Grimsel was open but it was recommended to not use it because rainfall = landslides So, drove to Valais but made the whole highway drive passing by FribourgMontreux-Martigny.

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a bump to this thread. Not sure if there's a driving thread.

Well, I drove randomly in Jura passing by Wittnau, Geltekinden and Rünenberg. Small winding roads, 80-90 km/h max but lots of fun.

Tomorrow I get installed the summer tires and I'll try to go next weekend to the Alpine passes. If not possible yet, there's OberAargau

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any meaningful alpine pass is still closed. A friend with a motorbike likes the emmental though. You get decent views and windy roads. I was in entlebuch recently and the area is pretty. Brünig is open year round though, but there's a lot of traffic as it's an important link.

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Windy or winding?

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The two "big" Entlebuch passes (Glaubenberg and Glaubenbielen) are still closed. They make for a lovely round trip when they are open though, from Sarnen/Giswil over into the Entlebuch valley and back. The road over Glaubenbielen amply deserves its marketing name of "Panoramastrasse".

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At the moment, both.

Tom

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Emmental off the beaten path is glorious! I discovered it on my e-bike and can't wait to continue exploring a region that takes you back in time.

Toggenburg and Appenzell both offer exhilirating windy roads with music-box villages along the way. I would definitely recommend Appenzell off the main roads...find tucked away villages and go and discover.

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Got the summer tires and tomorrow's sunny. Emmental is not far from here. Thanks a lot for the recommendation

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I know it's a suicide plan. Anyway, driving to Ticino for the weekend.

Just checked onn TCS and the San Bernardino pass is already open https://www.tcs.ch/fr/tools/inforout...-en-suisse.php

Graubunden road office also says open but be careful because it can be closed due to weather conditions. http://www.strassen.gr.ch/sites/stra...ml?id=42400548 and there's a link to truckinfo.ch which seems to be a website that provides real time info on San Bernardino pass.

Weather for the weekend seems to snow free up there in the pass.

Anyway, any comment or recommendation for the pass?

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I normally check on https://alpen-paesse.ch/ for the status of the passes.

There is likely snow in the high areas at the moment, so it could be closed again by tomorrow.

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they may open the gotthard pass tomorrow unless it snows too much, so you might be in luck.

20
Somehow the drive to and back from Como yesterday worked. Arrived to Gotthard tunnel north side (Goschenen) at 7h00, no traffic at all.

The way back passing the the San Bernardino tunnel around 21h00. It's a great drive. Low traffic and some fun overtaking a couple trucks and people pulling caravans with their SUVs.

So, it's possible to do something fun while avoiding Gotthard traffic on Ascension weekend. It may not be shorter, but it's fun