It’s a well-known fact that Switzerland has some of the best driving roads in the world. In fact, the only reason we chose to visit the sleepy town of Chur (pronounced “Cur”) is because of it’s prime location. Nestled in the mountains, with the Oberalp Pass on it’s Western end and the Stelvio at it’s East, it made a perfect pit stop for the evening.
We left Lucerne in the afternoon, giving ourselves about two hours to drive the epic road to Chur. We grossly under-estimated this! It would have been fine if we hadn’t missed our exit – the GPS couldn’t keep up with our speed, so by the time we realised we had missed it, we had to turn around and ended up getting stuck in a massive traffic jam whilst doubling back. When we did eventually reach the top of the pass, the sun was already dim in the sky, and at that altitude it was freezing outside.
With not a single other vehicle in sight, the Oberalp was our first chance to push Europcar’s Ford Focus to the limit – and surprisingly, she delivered! Conquering the pass as if it were just a mere squiggle of road, she hung to every corner like glue, clinging to the side of the mountain and speeding through the road-protection tunnels like a bullet train. She owned that road; a solitary black beast tearing up the tarmac behind her.
We finally arrive at our hotel in Chur, Zunfthaus zur Rebleuten, after dark. Whilst simple, it is a welcome haven from our long drive. The building itself was constructed in 1485; a cute establishment adorned with folk paintings on the front facade. Tucked away down an alley and through the cobbled square, it’s easy enough to find with the GPS, although parking is offsite, and the train station would be a difficult walk for anyone travelling with as much luggage as we were!
A smiling, cheerful concierge greets us in perfect English and shows us to our room. It is small, but clean and tasteful. I unpack and settle in while my husband parks the car – about ten minutes away in the town’s main carpark. They keep the restaurant open for us – an adorable, rustic dining room, where we are waited on by the same attendant. He suggests a local beer, which is a perfect accompaniment to the surprisingly phenomenal meal we are presented with.
Breakfast is just as extraordinary. We sit down at a wooden bench and are promptly served a gigantic mug of tea and freshly brewed coffee straight from the plunger. The buffet is packed with delicious cereals and yoghurts, fresh fruit juice, and best of all – stewed peaches, my favourite. (Given that it’s the first time I’ve seen them in the past fortnight I was very impressed.) Depeche Mode’s “Strangelove” plays in the background as we enjoy our breakfast, adding to the surrealness of the morning.
The dining room at Zunfthaus zur Rebleuten
Checking out, we have a little time to explore the town before heading towards the Stelvio.
Monday mornings are the best time to get out and enjoy Chur by yourself. The shops don’t open until midday and the locals don’t appear until just before then. (Also, most shops are closed on the weekends, so I would suggest you incorporate at least one weekday into your Swiss trip.)
Empty streets of Chur
The oldest town in Switzerland, Chur has a very medieval-village feel to it. Walking through the cobbled streets the one thing we notice most of all are the buildings, with their traditional paintings;
When the locals do eventually emerge, we again are surprised – they’re all pierced. (Could it be, have we found our home in the alps?) I jump on the bandwagon and get another in my ear, catching up with my husband, who got his second in Paris!
Yes, I’m a total wimp when it comes to pain, even though I already had five piercings before my Swiss one!
Apart from piercings and some of the best hospitality we’ve experienced in Europe, Chur also has a cable car. We grab a lift up the Brambrüesch mountain and find ourselves at an old pub, with spectacular views over Alpine Switzerland.
A jolly bartender attends us; we order a large and a small local brew. He soon returns, plonking down the small in front of my husband, and the large in front of me with a wink – of all the people in the world we’ve met so far, I think like the Swiss the best!
In winter, these mountains are blanketed in snow, as our host describes; “All of this, full with snow”, his arm sweeping the landscape.
On top of Brambrüesch mountain we meet a group of older travelers from back home. It turns out they live in the same street as us, and teach at the same school as my in-laws do! They took this photo of us – it will always serve to remind me what a small world it is.
Too quick the sun sets again, and we resort to staying the night en-route to the Stelvio. The hotel Bella Vista was a remarkable find. Stranded in the pitch black of the Italian alps, turned down by two hotels already, we were at our wits end when we happened across this beacon of light. I managed to negotiate a price of €70 per person in my broken German, including a magnificent four-course dinner and a gourmet breakfast. What a bargin!
Although… I have to admit we felt like we were stepping into a horror movie as they showed us to our room. Between the thick black night outside our room window, and the inability to communicate in a seemingly-deserted part of this foreign land, we took the extra measures to double check all the locks and texted our parents of the change in plans and details of the hotel… just in case something should happen to us in our sleep! We are of course, a couple of scaredy cats.
We woke up in the morning to the most amazing view.
It turns out that Olympic and World Cup champion skiier, Gustav Thöni, now runs the hotel, his parents being the original proprieters. The hotel is decorated by his medals, newspaper snippets, and skiing paraphernalia.
Fears abated, we enjoyed a leisurely, full Continental and American buffet breakfast;
And explored the hotel;
Before heading to the Stelvio;
Driving the legendary Stelvio was a lifelong dream come true for my husband. It is truly an engineering masterpiece, hairpin after hairpin zig-zagging up the mountain like a cruel joke for some, but for him, pure exhilaration! Laughing his way up the mountain, and after overtaking several insane cyclists, we find ourselves at an oddly out-of-place market, packed with car enthusiasts, and the Italian International Ski Team, training in off-season.
We jump on the ski lift with the Italians for a better view from the very top of the world. There doesn’t seem to be much snow around, until we jump on the second lift up to one of the higher peaks. Suddenly, the black ash-like ground turns to powdery white before our eyes;
So there we are, in the middle of a European summer, throwing snowballs at each other like a couple of giant kids! Not for one second did I think I would be frolicking in the snow on this holiday. Thankfully I am always cold, even in summer, so I had packed gloves and scarf – “just in case”.
Our next stop is the sunny southern coast of Italy, the beaches of Cinque Terre (where else in the world can you go from a snow-capped mountain to the sweltering beach in one day?), but we still need to conquer the other side of the Stelvio – in our opinion, the better half.
The road weaves around the mountain more fluidly than the hairpins of the other side. It is a much more enjoyable drive, with breath-taking scenery, and results in squeals of joy from both him and myself alike.
But somewhere past Bormio, we take a right instead of a left, and end up on what we now believe is the SS300, a rugged pass that takes you through the national park.
We call this road, “the goat track” (even though the GPS keeps bleating “Via Nazionale” at us).
This was the route we took, if you have the guts to try it yourself:
In the end, we didn’t regret staying the extra night on the mountain – driving this in the dark would have been near impossible!
My advice for a run down the Oberalp and Stelvio?
- Double the estimated time for travel – google maps is pretty accurate, but always add buffer for contingency (i.e. getting lost, or stuck in traffic jams!).
- Most mountain passes are closed during winter, but the dates vary each year dependent on actual snowfall, so I would advise you check the forecast online before planning your route.
- Make sure you have GPS, a detailed map of the area, a phrase book in both German and Italian, and a working phone. If you get lost, these are vital to you finding civilisation again!
Have you driven any of these amazing roads in Switzerland? What’s your favourite?
Enjoyed this post? Read the next post from this series: “Our six-week honeymoon through Europe” now!
