Mountains Archive

If you are travelling by car, you should go up the Grimselpass in Switzerland. An exciting way through the mountains, which provides amazing views over the mountains and the valleys.

With our Hotel in Bern, the plan was to drive to Grindelwald to get the typical tourist view on the Eiger mountain, then travelling the Grimselpass to Italy and visit the Lake Maggiore.

The (old) Route

This was considered to be a full day trip with a lot of sights to visit and memories to make.

Due to a construction site at Grindelwald, which took away more than an hour, we sadly had to change our plans.

We had to scratch the visit to Italy and the Lake Maggiore from our list and went with an easier plan.

Map of planned route from Bern over the Furkapass to Luino (Italy) — Planned route from Bern over the Grimselpass to Luino (Italy) (opens in Google Maps)

The new Route

We drove to San Gotthard and went through the San Gotthard Tunnel over Lucerne back to Bern.

On the way to the San Gotthard Tunnel back to Lucerne there was a traffic jam, where we spend another hour, which was also not planned.

For future planning, add at least an additional 90 minutes for traffic, even when your navigation system says differently.

Changed route through San Gotthard Tunnel over Lucern back to Bern (opens in Google Maps)

Travelling the Grimsel Pass

As mentioned before, we spend more time than expected on the way to the Grimselpass itself. Fortunately, we haven’t been in a hurry and did enjoy the “climb to the top” with several stops to enjoy the scenery.

View down from Grimselpass on the Furkastreet — View down from Grimsel Pass on the Furkastreet

Just a few cars have been on the pass, which means less traffic and less noise. One of the views we had, you can see below in our YouTube Video.

Travelling the Furkapass gives you fantastic views over the landscape

The view at the top – at about 2500 meters – is very rewarding with fantastic views over valleys, lakes, and mountains.

On Top there is the Hotel Restaurant “Alpenlodge Grimselpass” and the “Totensee” where people went for a swim. Bikers and Campers like the location as well to take a break and enjoy food and drinks with a fantastic view.

Lake at the top of the mountain, next to the restaurant. — “Totensee” which lies in front of the parking lot of the “Alpenlodge Grimselpass”

View down from the Grimselpass serpentines to the lower part of the Furkastreet — View down from the serpentine to the lower part of the Furkastreet

The descent from the top of the Grimselpass is on the Furkastreet, which leads to the famous Furkapass.

If you have the time, you can also take a turn in the village and go up the Furkapass.

Most People know the Furkapass from the James Bond movie Goldfinger. A street sign on the location of the scene also says “James Bond Strasse”, which I think is pretty cool 😎.

We can really recommend this tour through the Alps, and if you want to travel to Italy, this is a wonderful way to get there.

You find more information at Wikipedia (en)