Travelation Inspiration: Switzerland 3: Stelvio Pass & Bormio

Monday, September 17

This is the day! Pretty much the whole itinerary revolved around today, the day we did the Stelvio Pass. As mentioned previously, this has absolutely got to be one of the best drives in the world, as featured on Top Gear. Be aware, many roads in this route are closed in winter.

Fluella Pass

Now I'm sure there's a few routes that can be done here. You need to know what route you plan to drive before leaving. We found that the GPS kept trying to stick to main roads and avoiding the whole point of today's drive. So we had to tell the GPS to take us to random places along the route in order to stay on track.

The drive from Davos to Bormio

We began our drive heading east out of Davos, towards the Flüella pass (28). This is the most important step to get started in the right direction. The Flüella pass was spectacular, with silver rocky mountains for turn after turn, and a couple of clear and calm lakes to stop at. I wanted to get out of the car every minute to take pictures, until Mike got fed up and refused to stop - he was excited to see the Stelvio Pass. We turned right at Stradun (27) and followed this all the way to the Mount La Schera tunnel, as per the GPS instructions. We felt a little anxious waiting at the tunnel entrance, not quite sure where we were or where the tunnel would lead us. We waited about 10 minutes for the one-way traffic from the other side to come through, then entered the tunnel. The tunnel runs about 4km, and is dead straight the entire way. That alone makes for an intriguing time, with absolutely no variation in what you see for 10-15 minutes, just the car in front and in the rearview mirror, and the lights flying past.

Fluella Pass

When we exited the tunnel, the scenery had changed drastically. The grey pebbled mountains gave way to an expansive still-water lake and abundant spruce trees. And oh yeah, keep an eye out for those marmots! Those cute little guys were spotted a few times just off the roadside.

Marmot on the roadside!

From here, we followed the GPS directions to Bormio. We passed what initially looked like large touristy ski towns, and then progressively smaller local mountain towns. The alpine Italian towns just became more and more surreal until we finally reached Bormio.

Stelvio Pass

We quickly checked into our hotel, then continued to Stelvio, with Mike so anxious to drive the pass that even lunch had to wait!

Stelvio Pass

The Stelvio pass, when driven from Bormio, just becomes more exciting the closer you get. Honestly, I can't adequately describe the feeling of driving up and down those hairpin turns (mainly because it was Mike driving), but the exhilaration was as anticipated. The only way it could have been better was if we were driving an Aston Martin. That would have been cool.

A toll for the pass was introduced in 2013, just for the tourists. Be careful driving the Stelvio pass, there are a few hold ups with cyclists (how or why they cycled up that I'll never understand), motorcyclists, cars and buses. The buses do a three point turn at every hairpin turn, so if you're stuck behind one, it can kill the fun for a bit until you can pass.

We reached Stelvio, which is a tough town to drive in, with the roads only barely fitting a single car going one way. We struggled to park in the half-parking-spot at the only restaurant we could find in town. The pasta there was that perfect texture of fresh homemade pasta. I just wish I could have enjoyed it more, but the bee that stung me killed my spirit for a little while there. I survived, and we headed back to Bormio, very happily, the way we had just come.

Stelvio

Above is a video of the Stelvio Pass. Apologies for the poor quality - the upload size is limited so it appears compressed and pixelated, but on the small viewer you can get the point. Any solutions someone can offer for this would be grand.

Bormio

Bormio is an Alpine spa town, and we stayed at the Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovi - which has the best reputation for a spa hotel that I have ever seen. The hotel had several decadent indoor and outdoor baths, pools, spas, and saunas which we were able to enjoy at our leisure. Usually admission is about $50 per person, but it was included in our hotel stay (we splurged on this). Even if not staying at the hotel, it is worthwhile to visit the spa for a half day or so. With the hotel being high upon a mountain, the outdoor pools have breathtaking views of the town and valley below.

We spent the afternoon exploring the old town of Bormio. This is another city of cobblestone narrow pathways, stone buildings, courtyards and archways. We decided to have dinner in town, and being Italy, most restaurants appeared to be closed. We found a pizzeria that was open, where we had a fairly ordinary pizza.

I regret not having dinner at the hotel restaurant. The prices were moderately expensive, at about mid-20's for a main. The restaurant was in a glamorous dining hall, beautifully decorated and furnished, providing an atmosphere of prestige. We ordered dessert, and were presented with a platter of delicate candies as a palate cleanser before our dessert arrived, even though we hadn't had dinner there.