The 7 best road trips in Switzerland
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Loading... - Stevens Harvey
- 03 May 2023
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Switzerland might look tiny on paper, but with most of its land gobbled up by the Alps, this little European nation packs in a lot of vertical.
Wherever you go, you’re in for one hell of a drive: roads unfurl along the shores of great lakes and glaciers, mountain passes corkscrew up to fairy-tale medieval castles and on the high roads, every glorious bend makes you want to screech to a halt and yodel in delight.
Neatly wrapping it all up is the big one: the 1600km (994-mile) Grand Tour of Switzerland, an epic, efficiently signposted lap of the country that links 12 Unesco World Heritage sites and shows off the Alpine nation from its most flattering angles.
Short on time? Don’t worry – here are the 7 best road trips in Switzerland to give you a head start.
1. Furka Pass
Best road trip for glaciers and mountain peaks
Obergoms–Andermatt; 35km (22 miles)
The wows never leave your lips and the Alps never leave your rear-view mirror on this astonishingly steep, snaking, stop-the-car-and-grab-the-camera drive from the remote valley of the Goms in Valais to mountain-encrusted Andermatt in Uri.
If you feel like Bond behind the wheel, it’s no coincidence: this road starred in the car chase scene in the 1964 movie Goldfinger and brings out the 007 in everyone. Swerving precariously around switchbacks, it tops out at the 2429m (7969ft) Furka Pass, where you can peer across the lunar rockscape of a wind-battered plateau and park to see the deeply crevassed Rhône Glacier and its ice grotto, before the long, sweeping descent to Andermatt.
Planning tip: Drive the Furka Pass west to east for full-on, hairpin-riddled drama and views of austere peaks and glaciers that will draw constant gasps. Open roughly from June to October, the best time to go is the summer as the road closes when the snow arrives. Check conditions before heading. Read More…
