Every road across the Alps has a character, and the Gotthard's is that of a main street. For centuries it has been the shortest route between northern Europe and Italy, the pass that built Switzerland's early alliances and that every army, merchant and pilgrim wanted. The summit lies at 2,106 metres, in a bare, grey landscape of granite and small lakes, with a hospice, a museum and little else. From here the water goes four ways: the Reuss flows north to the Rhine, the Ticino south to the Po, and the Rhône and the Rhine begin close by.
Three roads cross the mountain. The first is the old Tremola, a stretch of cobbled road on the Ticino side, a ribbon of tight hairpins with granite setts, built in the nineteenth century and now one of the great motorcycling experiences in Europe. The second is the modern pass road, wide and fast, and the third is the Gotthard road tunnel, nearly seventeen kilometres long, which opened in 1980 and carries the heavy traffic under the mountain. Since 2016 the rail base tunnel, at fifty-seven kilometres the longest in the world, has carried the trains. The pass road is the one you want.
The cobbles of the Tremola need respect. They are broad and generally smooth, but they are slippery when wet and the hairpins are tight and steep, with a stone parapet on the outside, and in summer the road is busy with other riders and cyclists. Take it in dry weather and keep a steady pace, and use the pull-ins to let faster traffic by. Going up the south side from Airolo, the views open slowly, and then at the top you are suddenly in the high, windswept bowl. The road is closed by snow from about late October to May or June, and the weather at the summit can change from sun to hail in an hour.
Fuel is available at Airolo, a village of about fifteen hundred people on the south side, and at Andermatt on the north. There is none at the summit. A bowl of soup in the hospice, a short walk around the lakes, and a look at the museum make a good stop. Take warm clothes, because even in August the temperature at 2,100 metres can drop close to freezing at dawn, and the wind is sharp.