The Great Alpine
Passes Loop
A 900-mile figure-of-eight over the highest tarmac in Europe. Hairpins above the clouds, glacier cafés, lake ferries and a different valley for dinner every night.
Central Switzerland's High Roads
From Lucerne's covered bridges the road climbs fast. Susten, Grimsel and Furka stack up in a single day if you start early — three passes, three completely different rock colours, and a glacier tunnel you can walk into at the top.
Drive the passes before 9am. The coaches and motorbikes arrive mid-morning and the hairpins turn into a queue with a view.
Down to the Italian Lakes
The descent through Ticino swaps pine for palm in under an hour. Lake Como rewards a slow day: ferry the car across from Varenna, eat late, and take the Ghisallo climb for the view cyclists talk about.
Local's tip: Lake Como ferries
The car ferry between Varenna and Bellagio saves an hour of narrow lakeside traffic and costs less than the fuel. Turn up 20 minutes early in July and August.
Austria and the Big Finish
Cross into the Tyrol for Hallstatt's lakeside quiet, then finish on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road — a toll road built purely for the view, topping out at 2,504 m with marmots in the car park.
Fuorcla Restaurant
Rösti at 2,000 m with a glacier view.
Hotel Belvédère
The pink hairpin hotel on Furka Pass.
Grossglockner Road
48 km of engineered perfection.
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