Drive the Gotthard Pass, not the tunnel

Between Zürich and the Italian-speaking south of Switzerland sits the Gotthard, and there are two ways across it. Most people take the road tunnel. On a holiday weekend it is infamous: the queue at the northern portal can cost you hours. Driving home from two days in Lugano with family, we took the other way, over the top. It turned the dullest stretch of the drive into the best part of the trip.

The pass road climbs to 2,106 metres, and I had never expected much from it. The views were surprisingly beautiful. We stopped in several places, because there is a panoramic viewpoint around every second bend, and did the tourist things without shame: a photo by the sign that marks the height of the pass, and another next to a bank of leftover snow, in July.

At the top there are small lakes among the rocks, the old hospice, and a few places to eat. We bought local sausages at one of them and ate them looking out over the mountains, which is the whole argument for going over rather than under. You get out of the car at the roof of the route instead of watching tunnel lights go past.

The part that impressed me most came on the way down the northern side, where the road drops through the Schöllenen Gorge. The Reuss thunders through the granite below the Devil's Bridge, a waterfall crashes down beside it, and the little red trains of the mountain railway slide past on the far wall. Legend has it the devil built the bridge for the soul of the first to cross, and the locals sent a goat. It was more impressive than anything I expected on what was, officially, just the way home.

Two days flew by. If the pass is open when you cross, go over it.