St. Gotthard Pass – Nostalgia on the Tremola

Overview

Hint

Airolo

Ticino

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Contact

Bellinzona e Valli Turismo
Via Stazione 22
6780 Airolo
Phone +41 (0)91 869 15 33
bellinzonaevalli.ch

Intro

Even the Romans avoided the immense mass of the Gotthard. The Pass only gained significance around the year 1200, when the Schöllenen Ravine between Göschenen and Andermatt was developed. Today the Gotthard Pass is the main North-South connection, traversed by leisure hikers and pass enthusiasts.

The famous Gotthard Train Tunnel, and thus the Gotthard Railway was opened in 1882. The highway tunnel was built about 100 years later. But you will be missing something well worth experiencing if you always take the tunnel. One should take the path through the Schöllenen Ravine and through the barren Urseren Valley up to the Pass Heights at least once: whether on foot, in a nostalgic PostBus or in a horse carriage like in the days of the famous Gotthard Post in the 19th century.

The ride across the cobblestone paved Tremola on the southern side of the Gotthard Pass is breathtaking. The Tremola takes you in hairpin turns and serpentine curves from the peak of the pass to Airolo and is considered to be Switzerland's longest historical monument.