I am planning an early summer driving holiday with my wife and want to drive through the Swiss Alps, taking in the most breathtaking views possible.
The problem is I haven't got a clue which routes to take.
Any ideas as to the most scenic passes?
Thanks
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You'll want to take an Abba cd with you. For some bizarre reason nothing else sounds better when driving through the alps!
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Get a good map and check the opening of the passes. Some of the higher, quieter and more scenink ones don't open until June! A map has the opening months in Roman numerals ie VI to IX = open June until September incl.
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I did this in a Bentley Arnage T a couple of years ago (not mine I hasten to add) it was amazing. The passes going in and out of St Moritz are stunning, although very risky even in summer.
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Don't enjoy the scenery whilst driving.
I lived in Switzerland for 4 years about 20 years ago. The scenery that you see from your car cannot compete with what you can see away from the roads!
One of the best ways to enjoy the alpine scenery is by train. There are some particularly brilliant routes through the higher alpine regions. The routes begin in Graubuenden and snake across towards Bern or Zermatt.
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My wife and I drove from Bucks to her home town in Moravia, Czech Republic last year, our fourth such trip. This time we went via Switzerland and had a ball. With stacks of torque at our disposal the mountain roads and lumbering vehicles were easily dispatched, though the problem was scenery overload and wanting to stop every few minutes!
Plenty of stunning roads (and fantastic feats of engineering including a tunnel that spiralled akin to a multi storey car park ramp, but deep inside a mountain) to match the stunning scenery. Too many to list. We based ourselves centrally just outside Interlaken, and whilst the town itself was far too touristy for our liking (yes, I know we were tourists!) the radial trips we made from here made it all worthwhile.
Highly recommended is the four cable car ride up to the observation deck and rotating restaurant (not crazily priced and the food was quite good though the service was slow with insufficient staff) atop the Schilthorn. This was made famous in the 007 film, OHMSS. Truly breathtaking, especially on a cloudless day like we had. if you take your boots, a route exists to walk up. Plenty did, starting off at 05:30am or so and arriving at the top for a late lunch.
Have fun!
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Plenty of stunning roads (and fantastic feats of engineering including a tunnel that spiralled akin to a multi storey car park ramp, but deep inside a mountain) to match the stunning scenery.
SjB, where was this particular tunnel please?
One day, i will drive around Europe properly.
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> SjB, where was this particular tunnel please?
It was on the first section of our onward journey to the Czech Republic when we left Interlaken, so would most likely have been between Interlaken and Altdorf.
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Have a look at www.alpineroads.com/
Sorry - don't know how to make that 'clickable'...?
Neil
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Don't know about which is the most scenic route, but this one looks fun: tinyurl.com/86s5s
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A couple of years my wife and I flew to Geneva, hired an Easycar (now shut at the airport location I believe) and drove from Geneva to Lugano where I was on business for a few days prior to a further week in Geneva. We stayed overnight near Interlaken and then drove on and through the Sustenpass, take a left just after Meiringen. As a previous post says Interlaken is touristy, but the mountain villages just outside are pleasant and the mountain trains are worth a diversion. The Sustenpass drive was spectacular and as you rounded each corner the view was better than the previous one. It was a lovely time of year in early September and the weather was wonderful. The diesel A class Mercedes I hired cost me £80 for ten days, it came with half a tank of fuel and I spent less than £20 topping it up and drove well over a thousand miles. Lugano too was well worth the visit. All in all a very memorable trip and one we intend to repeat at some stage. Much nicer than our previous visit when my Rover 800 broke down on a swiss motorway, but that's another story.
MGs
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If you really want to drive through the Swiss Alps, try one of the tunnels!
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