10
Nov
6 Minute Read
6 Minute Read
I’ve always had an fascination for Switzerland, particularly for the mountains or, more simply, “the Alps”. At least that’s what I assumed when growing up. I didn’t realize that the Alps existed anywhere other than the “Swiss Alps”! So when considering a bike tour into Switzerland and after having finally had some exposure to this part of the world, I had to figure out where a good “base camp” was for a road cycling adventure.
Enter the town of Andermatt. It’s primarily a ski town, since it sits at 1444 meters (4737 feet) above sea level and is well connected to several ski slops within the (quite literal) heart of the Alps of Switzerland.
Luckily for us road cyclists, the snow eventually melts, revealing beautifully kept and engineered Swiss roads just begging to be ridden. This was it! My “base camp”. This makes Andermatt a must stop when considering a cycling holiday in this part of the world!
Just remember when traveling, particularly with a big bike box, it’s always a good idea to stay close to public transit. Despite having about a half mile, cobblestone-lined walk to our AirBnB, the town is small enough and accessible enough to not make the transfer too difficult.
What makes this town so good for cycling is its proximity to nearly all of the most-known cycling climbs of Switzerland, particularly the ones most often featured in the Tour de Suisse. If you stay in town, you can pretty much just roll out of your hotel and start climbing in nearly any direction! It’s truly amazing when I pause to reflect back on the trip.
However, it may be a bit daunting at first planning out a bunch of routes when you may not know the region. I spent a lot of time planning my trip to Switzerland in 2024, and had to “connect the dots” myself on the various climbs and routes of the region.
So in the interest of saving you, my fantastic reader, some time, I’ll share my personal experience on each of the climbs, with routes you can connect to each, along with simply sharing what I did this past summer in 2024.
Keep in mind that each of these can be reached directly from Andermatt without requiring any direct transit connections, unless choosing to shorten a route for whatever reason!
While in Andermatt, we did three days of riding, splitting the first day up into two separate rides because the Nufenenpass was closed that particular day. Luckily the trains were so good that we were still able to do plenty of riding that day!
Note that the “Big Three” passes in Switzerland are the Furkapass, Grimselpass, and Sustenpass, all three of which can be done in a single, large ride if you’re up for it (~80 miles, 12k feet of climbing).
Enough of that, let’s talk about the climbs themselves!
If there is one singular pass that is the most famous from this region, it’s this one. Known for being featured in the James Bond movie Goldfinger, it’s a beautiful, meandering climb at an average 7% when approaching from Andermatt. It’s also the highest-elevation climb of the region at 2429 meters (7967 feet), outside of the Nufenenpass.
Out of all the climbs of the region, I think the Sustenpass had some of the most expansive views and certainly the most amazing descent down the other side. It apparently was an old mule route that became modernized over time to help assist with transport of supplies during WWII, topping out at 2264 meters (7427 feet) above sea level.
If there were a single phrase to describe the north side of the Grimselpass, it would be amazing infrastructure. The road is fantastic and there are a ton of hydroelectric dams and water everywhere. In fact, one of them was actually still being built, which is something I’ve never seen before!
Everyone knows the infamous cobbles of the Paris-Roubaix, but have you heard of the cobbles on the Gotthardpass? Imagine smaller, more uniform stones, hammered in by hand, and maintained by Swiss engineers in the same fashion today as they always have been. I even witnessed a small crew doing exactly this, one stone at a time.
The Oberalppass is home to some amazing ski resorts, and is apparently near where the source of the mighty Rhine river is. When ascending the road from town, it ventures through a relatively calm road through the base of an incredibly beautiful valley.
This climb is a gradual one that follows the Vorderrhein river (one of two initial tributaries of the Rhine river) through a lesser-populated and known valley. The road takes you up and over the same set of mountains that make up the Gotthardpass. In fact, this pass was the original pass from the north to south before the Gotthardpass was deemed more desirable for travel.
If you head west, you can hit the Furkapass, featured in the James Bond movie Goldfinger.
Go North and you can enjoy an amazing descent into Göschenen and Wassen before starting the Sustenpass climb, looping back over the Grimselpass and the Furkapass.
Go East and you can climb the Oberalppass, following a tram to an alpine lake and the world’s highest lighthouse, looping back through the Ticino region via the Lukmanierpass.
Head south (after going west to Hospental) and you can reach the famous cobbled Roman road connection to Italy, the Gotthardpass.
What really makes this area so interesting and unique is that despite being in the rugged alpine terrain, you’re never far from public transit and you have multiple road passes that can connect all of these into huge, epic loops!
Because these passes are often encumbered by snow, making them impassable, make sure to time these with the summer high season. This means that late June into early July are safe times to plan a trip to visit and climb these passes, as they all should be open. They’ll start to close down again in September or October.
Keep in mind that if you plan to visit the Nufenenpass, it’s one of the later passes of the entire Alps range to open (alongside the Stelvio, which I visited in 2022). We actually weren’t able to ride this pass when we visited in July of 2024, although we missed it only by one day.
Because public transit is just so good in Switzerland, you will have options if one pass isn’t open the particular day that you’re out there. Usually there is a train or a bus that can take you back if something goes awry. But definitely do your planning, regardless!
