Why this ride
Out of Andermatt, one way: 118 km, roughly 2 h 08 in the saddle. The highest point is about 2,650 m. Furka Pass is subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Grand Tour of Switzerland: Andermatt to Tasch for Zermatt
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 118 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 08
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Furka Pass
This part of the ride is 21 km of Furka Pass.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 21 km
Simplon Pass Road
131 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it. This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 97 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Andermatt
Andermatt sits at 1,444 metres in the Urseren valley, a high, wide, treeless hollow in the heart of the Swiss Alps, and it has been a crossroads for centuries. Three great passes meet here: the Gotthard, which runs south to Italy and Ticino at 2,106 metres, the Furka, which climbs west over 2,429 metres toward the Valais, and the Oberalp, which leads east at 2,044 metres into Graubünden. For a motorcyclist it is a kind of Mecca, since the three roads are among the most famous in the Alps, and the town fills with bikes on any fine summer weekend.
Read the complete Andermatt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Andermatt is where the day begins. Next is Furka Pass.
2. Furka Pass
Furka is one of the Alps' great stage roads: 2,429 metres of switchbacks linking Uri and Valais, with the Rhône Glacier at the western foot. From Andermatt the road climbs through the high Urseren valley, past Realp, up a series of hairpins to a pass where the air is thin and cold, and the views unfold across rock, snow and sky. The mountains here are bare and grand, and the sense of altitude is real.
Read the complete Furka Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Furka Pass comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Tasch for Zermatt, mostly downhill.
3. Tasch for Zermatt
Täsch is a place most people pass through on the way to somewhere more famous, and it has made peace with that. Zermatt, a few kilometres up the valley, is closed to private cars, so the road ends here, at a large terminal beside the railway, where visitors leave their vehicles and ride the shuttle train for around twelve minutes to the village under the Matterhorn. For a motorcyclist the arrangement is simple. Park at the terminal, change out of the leathers, and take the train in.
Read the complete Tasch for Zermatt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 118 km.
Leg by leg
Andermatt to Furka Pass
Andermatt → Furka Pass is 21 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Furka Pass to Tasch for Zermatt
Furka Pass → Tasch for Zermatt is 97 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Grand Tour of Switzerland: Bellinzona to Montreux · 398 km
- Valais Glacier Weekend Seed · 161 km
- Nufenen Pass Road · 38 km