Part 3 of our Journey through the Alps leads us over the old St. Gotthard pass up to the infamous Stelvio Pass. Both passes were a first for me – and I wasn’t disappointed. Up at Stelvio, I meet two fellow instagramers – Todorov in a BMW X5, and Julian in a BMW M2 Competition with an Akrapovic ESD, which could be heard from down the valley up to the mountain.

Since the Grand Tour, St. Gotthard should be known by almost everybody. In contrast to all the other passes with their perfect, swiss tarmac, the old cobblestones of St. Gotthard pass have a decelerating effect.

After St. Gotthard pass, my initial plan was to head over Lukmanier pass and then over San Bernardinho (Over San Bernardinho with a M140i), Splugen Pass (Splugen Pass – From the Rhein to Italy) back into Engadin and then return to Lantsch/Lenz via Julier pass. Unfortunately, the Tour des Suisse was also heading over St. Gotthard and Lukmanier this day – so I decided to keep it slow and head directly to Lenzerheide after St. Gotthard and take a break.

The next day, I headed over Albula pass towards Engadin and from there to the infamous Stelvio pass, where I arrived around noon. Right on time for a heavy snow shower.

Driving with summer tyres on the highest pass road of the alps is no fun – but I was able to arrive in Meran without any accidents eventually.

The real highlight was meeting up at Stelvio for sunrise with Todorov and Julian the next morning.

The snow was gone, the tarmac was dry – and we were almost alone.

The Stelvio is a summer skiing area – it only opens in summer, since the pass road is closed in winter.

Stelvio was the final destination of my small journey through the alps. After meeting up with Julian and Todorov, I headed home north through Austria.

Julian and Todorov – thank you for our short, but fun time together. I hope we can repeat that sometime soon.

Facts

• Start: Airolo (see part 2)
• Destination: Stelvio pass
• Special: Snow showers in mid June at the Stelvio! And sunrise!

Where to next?

• Stelvio pass offers several directions to go – either back to St. Moritz and Engadin, or further east towards Meran and Timmelsjoch. Or even north towards Austria and Reschenpass.