PLACES: Flüela, Albula & Lenzerhorn alpine passes in the EK9

Recently, my wife and I got invited to visit friends in the beautiful village of Pontresina in the southern part of Switzerland, not far from the famous St. Moritz. We have travelled there before, using the most common route, the Julierpass. But this time, we had a long weekend ahead, so we decided to pull out the EK9 from hibernation and instead take the long way. When planning the route on Google Maps, I accidentally set it to “no toll roads” which brought up a quite uncommon, but beautiful B-roads tour.
Schaffhausen – Frauenfeld – Wil – Wattwil – Toggenburg – Lichtenstein – Maienfeld – Landquart – Davos – Flüelapass – Pontresina
On the way back, we dicde to take the following route:
Pontresina – LaPunt – Albulapass – Lenzerhorn-pass (To Lenzerheide) – Davos, and then back home via the Autobahn via St. Gallen (because the forecast showed heavy rain in the afteroon).
Overall, 483 kilometers in 9h19 of spirited driving.

So we packed our bags, fuelled up and started the road trip:

After a bit of nice flatland-driving, we arrived in the first mountains of Toggenburg:

After Driving behind mt. Säntis, and passing the Hemberg hillclimb-route, we made it to the Rheintal valley:

But the vineyards and village of Maienfeld is what really was unexpectedly beautiful:

After that, altitude is going up when you start the uphill ride from Davos

And then climb up the Julierpass:

Despite the warm weather, it was snowy the day before.

After reaching the peak flawlessly (it’s still too cold for bicycles and motorbikes this time of the year, and not too many caravans), we ended up in a traffic jam due to some construction and many tourists on the road. While forced to drive a bit slower, we still enjoyed the lovely scenery.

On the other side we were greeted with the most beautiful summer weather and smiling locals 🙂

We enjoyed a few great days with our friends in Pontresina

And were also able to witness wild capricorns close-up. Which is something really special for every Swiss:

Three days later, our trip back home started in Pontresina. Due to its close distance to St. Moritz (where the rich go for skiing). The density of the likes of Porsches, Ferraris, Maseratis and the likes is very high. So my EK9 surely got a few people confused…

We first took the short leg to the little village of La Punt:

And then went to the Albula-pass, which is a kind of a little brother of the Julierpass. But I have to say it’s much lovelier to drive. And you have less heavy traffic here:

Beware of Marmots on the road:

This is really one of my favourite mountain roads so far, and here we had almost the whole road for us, which made it possible for us to really enjoy all the curves and views:

These kind of roads are just perfect for a swift little, screaming B16B:

Once you reach the top, you see hidden entrances to military tunnels:

And the winding road down begins:
 

We decided to take another small mountain pass to the Lenzerhorn, which is not really a detour, but a great hillclimb type of road too. You have great visibility and the most beautiful views, and end up in Lenzerheide, a famous skiing spot.

After that, we took the road to Davos and the Autobahn back home. As it was the season start, we ended up in a police control twice, but they were all nice and had nothing to complain about the little noisy Honda. Actually they were more interested in the special car than it’s modifications, 🙂 After all it’s definitely a road trip I can recommend. But, like with all mountain passes. Make sure you don’t go in peak summer when it’s all full of caravans, tractors, Bicycles and motorbikes, or in winter, when many of them are closed due to the snow.
We had a blast and really enjoyed the ride. And i would definitely do it again.