Altdorf is the capital of the canton of Uri, a small town at the head of Lake Lucerne's southern arm where the Reuss river leaves the mountains and the Gotthard route begins. It is a practical, low-key place, flat and sheltered, with a pretty centre and a roar of traffic nearby from the motorway, and it is the sort of town where riders refill the tank, buy a coffee and look up at the wall of peaks above.
The centre of attention is Wilhelm Tell. The legend says that Tell, a crossbowman from Uri, was forced by the tyrannical Austrian bailiff Gessler to shoot an apple from his son's head, and that he later killed Gessler and helped spark the Swiss rebellion. In the main square stands a statue of Tell and his son, put up in the 1890s, and the story is told with pride. Historians doubt that Tell ever existed, but locals tend to treat that as irrelevant.
The roads from here are some of the best in Switzerland. South, the Gotthard route climbs through the Reuss valley, with its old stone bridges and the Devil's Bridge legend. East, the Klausen pass links to Glarus, and the Susten pass heads west toward Meiringen, with its sweeping bends and glacier views, closed in winter. Altdorf is also the gateway to the Axenstrasse, a lake-side road cut through rock, with tunnels, balconies and glimpses of the water far below. These are famous riding routes, and they get busy on sunny weekends.
Fuel is straightforward here, with several stations, and the town has plenty of cafes and bakeries. Altdorf lies at only 458 metres, so it warms up early, though the mountain passes above are still snowed up in spring. Give yourself time for breakfast before the big climbs. Note that the Gotthard road tunnel can have long queues, so plan around the holiday traffic.