Before this trip, most of our trips in Switzerland were about hiking and mountains.
We would drive to a place, park the car, and then continue by cable car or on foot. This time, we wanted to try something different.
While looking around on Google Maps, we noticed several mountain roads south of Lucerne. Routes 2, 19, 6 and 11 formed a big loop through the mountains, starting and ending around Wassen.
We became curious and decided to try the drive.
It was actually our second attempt.
The first time, the weather was not very good. It was cloudy and very windy. About halfway through, we also started to worry that we might not have enough fuel to make it back.
So we turned around.
This time, we wanted to try again.
We stayed in Mulhouse, France, on Friday night so that we could start early on Saturday. It saved us more than two hours of driving in the morning.
And, of course, there was another reason to stay in Mulhouse: Popeyes.
On Saturday morning, we drove towards Lucerne and continued south on the A2.
After the long Seelisberg Tunnel, which is about 9 km long, traffic started to slow down. Instead of following Google Maps on the motorway, we decided to leave the A2 at Wassen.
It turned out to be the right decision.
We first followed Route 2 for a while and then joined Route 19. The scenery changed quickly.
The road went through a green valley, with small towns and mountains around us. We had watched Goldfinger again before the trip, so some of the views felt strangely familiar.
Furka Pass was one of the places featured in the film, and now we were driving through the same area ourselves.
As the road climbed higher, it became a real mountain road, with many sharp bends.
We eventually reached the famous Goldfinger Curve.
We stopped there for a while, took some photos, and just enjoyed the view.
There was also a sports car nearby. Its owner was taking photos of the car with the mountain road in the background.
We tried to do the same.
But our car was clearly not as photogenic.
Further up, the view opened towards glaciers and snowy mountains. Driving with the mountains right in front of us felt great.
We used an action camera to record the drive, and whenever we saw a good place to stop, we pulled over and took some photos.
It was cold, but the sky was completely clear. The sun felt warm, so we didn’t mind the low temperature.
Later, we continued onto Route 6.
The scenery was still beautiful, but the feeling was quite different. The wind was much stronger here. After the relatively calm drive on Route 19, we suddenly had to deal with a lot more wind.
Finally, we reached Route 11 and continued through Susten Pass.
The landscape here reminded us a little of the Dolomites. There were sports cars, motorcycles, and many cyclists on the road. It seemed that many people had come here simply to enjoy the drive.
After around five or six hours, we completed the loop and arrived back in the Wassen area.
Then we drove back to Mulhouse, had Popeyes for dinner, and continued home.
We arrived around 11 p.m.
Looking back, this trip felt quite different from our usual trips in Switzerland.
We were not driving somewhere just to start a hike.
This time, the road itself was the trip.