The Nufenen is the highest pass entirely within Switzerland, at 2,478 metres, and it earns the superlative with a bleak, windswept summit that feels more like the moon than the Alps. There is no pretty village at the top, no hotel, only a small car park, a few marker stones and a wide view of bare rock and snow patches. The pass links the Goms in the Valais with the Val Bedretto in Ticino, joining Ulrichen and Airolo, and it was built only in the 1960s, which makes it one of the youngest major roads in the Alps.
That youth shows in the engineering. The surface is smooth, the curves are open and well banked, and the road climbs in big, confident loops rather than the knotted hairpins of the older passes. On the Valais side, the road leaves Ulrichen and rises through meadows and scattered larches, with the long green trough of the Goms below. On the Ticino side, a descent of generous bends carries you into the Val Bedretto, steep-sided and quiet, where the Ticino river begins its run to Lake Maggiore.
The wind is the thing to remember. At the top it can blow hard from any direction, and temperatures are low even on a sunny day, so you will want a warm layer and gloves for the stop. The air is thin enough to feel in your lungs on the walk to the viewpoint. Snow lingers late and arrives early, and the pass is usually open only from June to October; in a bad year it can be shut well into the summer.
Plan from Airolo on the south side, or from the Brig area on the north. If you enjoy a wild landscape, though, the top is hard to beat: the Nufenen is the watershed between the Rhône and the Ticino, and a little stream nearby will end up in the Mediterranean. Stop for a minute and listen to how quiet it is.