The drive to reach Tuscany (and Italy) from the north European countries like Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Scandinavia…has a recurrent problem when you reach Switzerland:
The Gotthard Highway Tunnel.
In fact during summer times there is a real bottleneck that causes long queues and boring long waits. In both directions: when you start and you finish your Holidays!
This small guide wish to be a short but effective help to solve this problem.
The Tunnel was build to avoid to drive along the Gotthard Pass and have a quicker drive trough the Tunnel. But in case the waiting time is longer than 40/60 minutes the use of the old Gotthard Passroad will be not only the better solution, but also an opportunity to see a spectacular view.
This is the Map that shows the usual road if you choose to drive into the Tunnel:
This is the Map that shows the road driving on the old road:
As you can see the driving time and the distance have not a big difference.
This driving alternative, during warm seasons (in winter the road is closed!), seems to be an ideal alternative to long queues.
Said this, in case you do not like normal mountain roads, we can suggest a second alternative.
Below you can see the normal, standard way through Switzerland, passing from Sankt Gotthard:
Here there an alternative way passing through San Bernardino Tunnel:
Time difference is less than one hour. The road, in spite there is no a highway for about 50 km of this way, it is a very large, fast and comfortable way.
A tip: when you reach the THUSIS exit (before taking the 4 lanes freeway), take it and drive into the center of this very small town.
Take a rest at the GYGER Patisserie: this is perfect example of Swiss pastry mastery…Bon Appetit!
After Thusis simply follow signs to Chur-Zurich-Basel.
In any case, to know the real Sankt Gotthard Tunnel situation (Life!), take a look to the official Touring Club site:
Have a nice and safe trip!
