Passo San Gottardo (St. Gotthard Pass) – both sides
By Will • Aug 28th, 2009 • Category: Climbs, Cycling, FavoritesHow good is that? Leave the road bike at home as these hairpins below are 100% cobble-stone heaven.
If you like cobblestones then I have the road for you.
The St Gothard Pass (2108m, 6915 feet) is in central Switzerland and an important link between the German and Italian parts of the country.
There is an autoroute through a tunnel and another paved road over the pass to handle all the considerable motor traffic.
And for cyclists, the old/ancient cobblestone road has been perfectly preserved. This is truly cobblestone heaven.
The last 3 kms of the north side is cobbled, but it’s the south side that is truly amazing. Almost traffic-free, well maintained, hairpin paradise – and cobbled for most of the 14 kilometres and 1000 metres descent to Airolo.
I started in Andermatt – the north side is nice enough but nothing special. It’s worth avoiding on weekends in the summer as traffic can be pretty bad as many use it as an alternate to the weekly traffic jams of the Gotthard tunnel. Three kms from the pass cyclists can leave the main road and take the old cobble road. Nearing the top on the right is a large dam and Lago delle Piazza.
The north side can start much lower in Wassen or even lower in Amsteg – but these lower parts while at times spectacular can involve major traffic and include lots of tunnels – no fun in my view. I descended this stretch during the Alpen Brevet race.
At the pass make sure you stay on the cobbles and take the old road down to Airolo. This south side is truly special. The Swiss understand how to preserve their heritage and the cobbles are painstakingly maintained. The hairpins, views, waterfalls, etc. are just fantastic. Lots of cyclists and virtually no cars. As good as it gets.
At the bottom in Airolo, remember to speak Italian when buying refreshments.
For the best photos of the hairpins, you need to detour a little at the pass on the “new road” for a cliff look-out. Zoom the map below and you’ll see my wanderings.
At the top a short hike leads to a statue of Saint Gotthard:
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Will is Happiest while cycling uphill. More enthusiastic than talented, his 2013 Challenge is to cycle a 150 Cols (mountain passes), slowly -- and to just enjoy.
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Looks like the perfect ride in the Alps for a true flemish guy (not me), combining cobbles and climbing/descending.
Nice work! I started that ride on a weekend a few weeks ago in the hot sun and 1000′s of motorists and motorcyclists (not knowing about the cobbled bit) and abanoned the ride after a short while…. next time i’ll take your advice.
I’m over at Bourg St Maurice after just leaving the swiss/german border a few weeks ago!!!!
Will,
The Tremola, with its cobblestones is amazing, isn’t it?! I did it with the road bike, as part of a two days / seven 2000+ meter pass tour earlier this month. At the top of Gotthard, you could have added two more passes, though: on the eastside of the road, directly starting at the pass, there is indeed a little paved road, that leads to the Sella Lake (and pass) and, if one goes towards the south 100m below the Lake altitude, one can cycle up to Scimfuss Pass. Good reasons to do it again in the future, isn’t it? Cheers,
Nicholas
Hi Nicholas,
Thanks for the great info.
I saw the dam and thought long and hard about visiting, but was a little tired. But agreed, I’ll need to return next summer and include your ideas … many thanks
YO CUANDO ESTUBE ALLI, NO PUDE SUBIR POR EL MAL TIEMPO Y ME ENCAMINE HACIA EJ FURKAPASS, PERO LEYENDO ESTO ME DA UNAS GANAS DE VOLVER PARA SUBIRLO
UN SALUDO
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Hi,
I’m looking for some information about the pass. I’ll be riding through in August: http://www.lifecyclechallenge.com/2010-challenge/
This ride is on MTB with road tyres but I’m a bit weary because of the cobble stones. I also need some sort of indication of how long it is in km from bottom to top.
Thank you for your help
The road is still for road bike. Is perfect. No problem. From Airolo are 12km at 7,5% with pmax at 10%.
Just came back from riding it (just one way though from Andermatt to Airolo). I would recommend to at least do it from Goeschenen as otherwise it’s too short if you just do one side
Did it on a road bike with 23*700 tires, no issue at all. On a thursday there was nobody around, so you could use the full width of the road to dive into the hairpins.
Only thing to watch out, at some point the coubbles stop and there is good asphalt surface, so you think you can nail it, but the coubbles come again, a bit unpleasant at high speed.
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