City to city
The Gotthard tunnel takes three hours. The Gotthard pass road, the Nufenen and the Simplon take all day and are worth it.
Direct route
164.7 mi
Scenic route
435 mi
Days to enjoy it
3 days
Great roads on route
7
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. Distances are planning estimates. The road list is drawn from the scored Atlas library inside this corridor. How we score roads.
Last reviewed 4 May 2026
The detour
The fast way
Motorway and trunk road for most of it, one fuel stop, nothing you will remember. Useful when the drive is a means to an end.
The good way
About 9 hr 48 min of that is spent on the great roads themselves, which is where the whole difference lies.
On the way
01 · Italy
Eighty four hairpins stacked above the treeline make this Europe's most theatrical mountain pass.
30.4 mi · Rating 9.9 / 10
02 · Switzerland
Three of the best passes in the Alps stitched into one loop back to the same valley.
74.6 mi · Rating 9.6 / 10
03 · Italy
A narrow, unguarded ribbon past Lago Nero that feels wilder than its famous neighbour.
19.3 mi · Rating 9.6 / 10
04 · Switzerland
A cobbled historic switchback climb that predates the modern Gotthard highway entirely.
8.1 mi · Rating 9.5 / 10
05 · Switzerland
A flowing, beautifully engineered road beneath the Steingletscher ice cliffs.
29.2 mi · Rating 9.4 / 10
06 · Switzerland
Bond film hairpins skirt the Rhone Glacier on this high, exposed Alpine crossing.
9.9 mi · Rating 9.4 / 10
07 · Switzerland
Switzerland's second highest paved pass, wide, smooth and gloriously empty.
23.6 mi · Rating 9.3 / 10
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