St Gotthard Pass
- Worth a visit? Without a doubt!
Summary
A stunning journey whether you are in the snow or sun. Well worth taking the extra 45 minutes or so, compared to the road tunnel journey.
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User Review
( votes)Generally speaking, when travelling through Switzerland en route to Italy, we use the A2 motorway and hence travel through the St Gotthard road tunnel which is a whopping 17 kilometres long. On approach to the St Gotthard road tunnel, there are signs for the St Gotthard Pass with indications as to whether the pass is open or closed. As a rough guide, allow 15 minutes to transit the St Gotthard road tunnel and one hour to use the St Gotthard Pass, so an increase to the journey time of 45 minutes or so.
The map above shows the route of the St Gotthard Pass.
We travelled the route from North to South and the ascent was a lot less complex than the descent. My “golden rule” for these sort of roads is to “come down in the same gear as you go up”.
The route to Italy via the St Gotthard Pass is in my opinion well worth the extra 45 minutes or so. The temperature at the top was just 6 degrees C, whilst at the bottom it was 19 degrees C. The pass reaches a height of 2108 metres above sea level. However, you have already made a good climb to get to the base – I would estimate about 1000 metres or so.
We both found another bonus too – listening to the cows strolling about, their bells clanging and playing tunes.
St Gotthard Pass – south to north
Later in the year, we were back again, this time travelling on the St Gotthard pass from the south towards the north. The weather conditions were absolutely perfect for this type of driving and sight-seeing. At the top, we noted several motorhomes that appeared to be bunked down. Whilst wild camping in Switzerland is not allowed, I suspect that in these remote areas, no one gives too much attention to passing ‘vans.
St Gotthard Pass
….as always, we found a spot to park up, have a brew and take in the scenery.
Following the journey over the St Gotthard pass, you may also like to read our thoughts and have a look at the pics of the Simplon Pass – click here,
In winter of 2016, we also tackled the Julier Pass in Switzerland and spent the night at Bivio, some 2000 metres above sea level – watch the dash cam footage here!
St Gotthard Pass in June!
Update – we have used the pass many times, the latest occasion being 2016, when there was still much snow about!
St Gotthard Pass in a motorhome June 2016
St Gotthard Pass in a motorhome
St Gotthard Pass, June 2016
Great post and great pics. That pass is stunning, looks like hard driving though.
Great pics, we keep thinking about it but not too sure.
A great crossing, but don’t miss out on wildcamping overnight at the summit. Masses of room and you won’t be alone.
Yours pic and blog have persuaded us to give it a go as we didn’t really fancy the tunnel and a night’s wild camping appeals to the gypsy in us. Wish us luck we will let u know how we got on Margot and Adrian Mohide from Somerset
Hi – thanks for getting in touch. Perhaps you would be kind enough to let me know where you have whilst camped and I’ll add a pic, with a credit to yourselves.
Hi Margot
Did you wild camp up on the Gotthard? How did it go? Headed that way in late July.
Chris