CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
137 km one way from Chur - plan on about 2 h 23 of riding. Lukmanier pass road is the high point. It tops out at 1,915 m. Lukmanier Pass is subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. The passes are the reason to go.
The ground tilts up and stays tilted for 143 km. 1322 m of it, taken steadily rather than in one wall — a steady rhythm suits this better than bursts. The height arrives whether you hurry or not.
The last of the trees go and the road runs out onto open ground. The summit sits at 1915 m, and what surrounds it is rock, weather and distance. Cold comes early up here and stays late. Ride it with something in reserve: the summit is not the end of the work, only the middle of it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
At 593 metres, in a wide bend of the Rhine valley, Chur makes a strong claim to be the oldest town in Switzerland, with traces of settlement going back thousands of years and a Roman presence from the first century BC. It has been the seat of a bishop since late antiquity, and the bishop's court, with its cathedral, sits on a terrace above the old town. Down below, the narrow streets and squares of the Altstadt, with painted houses, fountains and arcades, are a pleasant place to wander after a morning in the saddle.
Read the complete Chur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chur is where the day begins. Next is Lukmanier pass road, climbing 1322 m.
The Lukmanier Pass is the gentlest of the great crossings between the Rhine valley and Ticino, and at 1,915 metres it is also one of the lowest, which explains why it has been used for so long. Its lack of steepness made it a trade and pilgrim route well before the Gotthard became passable, and the monastery of Disentis on the north side owed much of its influence to the traffic.
Read the complete Lukmanier pass road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out at 1915 m here. The road climbs 1322 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 9 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Nothing on this route is higher. High enough to hold ice in the shaded corners early and late in the year. Next is Andermatt, mostly downhill.
Andermatt sits in a high, flat valley called the Urseren, at 1,444 metres, where four of the great Swiss passes meet. The Gotthard heads south to Ticino, the Oberalp runs east toward Graubünden, the Furka climbs west to the Valais, and the road north follows the Reuss down through a gorge to Lake Lucerne. People have crossed here for at least eight hundred years, ever since the Devil's Bridge was thrown across the gorge to make the Gotthard route practical, and the village has served travellers and soldiers ever since.
Read the complete Andermatt base reset write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 137 km. You lose 471 m on the way down to it, steadily. Reckon on about 6 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind.
Chur fuel gate → Lukmanier pass road climbs about 1322 m in 81 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Lukmanier pass road → Andermatt base reset drops about 471 m over 56 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.