A 1.643 kilometer ring through the landscapes of Switzerland, touching, in eight stages, the most beautiful attractions of the country and all 13 world heritage sites and UNESCO biospheres, crossing five Alpine passes and skirting 22 lakes. This is the Grand Tour of Switzerland, the most beautiful road trip in the Alps, which includes the best of Switzerland and which can also be done with an electric vehicle - the E-Grand Tour - or on board the splendid and panoramic Swiss trains, the so-called Grand Train Tour of Switzerland.
A journey so beautiful and exciting that it also made two cinema and sports stars fall in love, such as the American actress Anne Hathaway and Roger Federer, the tennis champion, Swiss by birth and previously testimonial for Switzerland Tourism together with Robert De Niro .
What to see along the Grand Tour of Switzerland
Breathtaking Alpine passes, idyllic lakes, majestic castles: these are just some of the places you can encounter while taking the Grand Tour. Among the places that will remain in your heart the most are the natural landscapes, such as the Rhine Falls or the Gotthard pass or even Mount Pilatus or the Aletsch and Jungfrau glaciers as well as the Matterhorn. There are lovely towns like Bern and Freiburg, Appenzell, Ascona and Basel. Postcard villages such as Saint-Ursanne in the Jura & Three Lakes or Guarda, in the Lower Engadine, the medieval towns of GruyĂšres and Stein am Rhein. And then the castles, such as Schloss Hallwyl in Seengen, the fortress of Bellinzona, the ChĂąteau de Chillon in Montreux, and the abbeys such as that of St. Gallen, whose spectacular library inspired Umberto Eco's novel, âThe Name of the Roseâ , and convents such as the Benedictine one of San Giovanni in MĂŒstair.
Info
The best time to travel is from spring to early autumn. To cover the entire ring it takes about a week, considering driving for at least five hours a day. The highest point you reach is the Furka Pass which connects Andermatt, in the Canton of Uri, with Gletsch, in Valais, at 2.429 meters above sea level, while the lowest is along Lake Maggiore, at 193 meters above sea level.