Switzerland, Central Switzerland
Sat at the foot of the central alpine passes, which makes it the classic Swiss touring base.
First instinct from Lucerne: head south over the Susten.
Scored roads in range
12
Nearest great road
23 mi
Best rated nearby
9.9 / 10
Shortest full loop
5 hr 25 min
Checked by the Drivers Atlas desk
Scored and written by the Drivers Atlas editorial desk, drawing on driven routes across the UK and Europe, mapping data and member road reports. Every road in the library carries a driving and scenery score set by the same method. How we score roads.
Last reviewed 9 June 2026
Under 60 km from the centre
Close enough for an evening run or a Sunday morning before the traffic wakes up.
Roughly 7 hr 47 min of driving if you string the lot together and come back the way you came.
34 mi away · Bernese Oberland
Three of the best passes in the Alps stitched into one loop back to the same valley.
120 km · 74.6 mi · Atlas rating 9.6 / 10
37 mi away · Ticino, Switzerland
A cobbled historic switchback climb that predates the modern Gotthard highway entirely.
13 km · 8.1 mi · Atlas rating 9.5 / 10
23 mi away · Bern and Uri, Switzerland
A flowing, beautifully engineered road beneath the Steingletscher ice cliffs.
47 km · 29.2 mi · Atlas rating 9.4 / 10
34 mi away · Valais and Uri, Switzerland
Bond film hairpins skirt the Rhone Glacier on this high, exposed Alpine crossing.
16 km · 9.9 mi · Atlas rating 9.4 / 10
60 to 150 km from the centre
Far enough to feel like a proper trip, close enough to be home for dinner.
Roughly 6 hr 1 min of driving if you string the lot together and come back the way you came.
40 mi away · Valais and Ticino
Switzerland's second highest paved pass, wide, smooth and gloriously empty.
38 km · 23.6 mi · Atlas rating 9.3 / 10
83 mi away · Vorarlberg and Tyrol, Austria
Thirty four hairpins climb past the turquoise Silvretta reservoir to a glacier ringed summit.
22 km · 13.7 mi · Atlas rating 9.3 / 10
93 mi away · Graubunden, Switzerland
Glaciers hang over the road as it threads past turquoise Lago Bianco to the Poschiavo valley.
33 km · 20.5 mi · Atlas rating 9.3 / 10
61 mi away · Graubunden, Switzerland
Wild, narrow hairpins on the Italian side rank among the Alps' most intense single lane drives.
19 km · 11.8 mi · Atlas rating 9.1 / 10
80 mi away · Graubunden, Switzerland
Tight zigzags drop dramatically off the Engadine plateau toward the Italian border.
30 km · 18.6 mi · Atlas rating 9.1 / 10
150 to 400 km from the centre
Leave early, take the long way back and make a day of it.
Roughly 11 hr 14 min of driving if you string the lot together and come back the way you came.
107 mi away · Lombardy and South Tyrol, Italy
Eighty four hairpins stacked above the treeline make this Europe's most theatrical mountain pass.
49 km · 30.4 mi · Atlas rating 9.9 / 10
170 mi away · Dolomites
Four Dolomite passes in a single circuit of the Sella massif, the finest loop in Europe.
55 km · 34.2 mi · Atlas rating 9.7 / 10
114 mi away · Lombardy, Italy
A narrow, unguarded ribbon past Lago Nero that feels wilder than its famous neighbour.
31 km · 19.3 mi · Atlas rating 9.6 / 10
122 mi away · Gran Paradiso
The road from the Italian Job, hairpins to a lake plateau at 2600 metres.
20 km · 12.4 mi · Atlas rating 9.6 / 10
128 mi away · Savoie, France
The roof of the Route des Grandes Alpes, a stark granite amphitheatre above 2700 metres.
16 km · 9.9 mi · Atlas rating 9.6 / 10
165 mi away · Savoie and Hautes-Alpes, France
The spine of the Route des Grandes Alpes, a relentless climb to one of driving's holiest summits.
18.1 km · 11.2 mi · Atlas rating 9.6 / 10
Longer
32 km · 55m
Furka takes about fifty five minutes end to end, longer if you stop at the Belvédère, and it is open from roughly June to October depending on snow clearance. It is not dangerous if driven with sense, the road is wide and immaculately surfaced, but the drop below the Belvédère hairpin is real and the weather can close in fast above 2,000 metres.
38 km · 1h 05m
Granite, reservoirs and a surface that flatters every car.
46 km · 1h 15m
Built for the view rather than the shortest line, and the finest surface in Europe.
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