Over the Top of the Alps

The route from Strasbourg to Venice leads though Switzerland. Getting into Switzerland is no problem (other than the 40 Swiss Francs that you have to pay for a highway pass.) Getting out is a bit more tricky. Mountains get in the way.

On the way down to Venice, we opted for the easy route and took the 10 mile Saint Gothard tunnel. This takes you from the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland to the Italian-speaking ones. The only problem with the tunnel is that it is a bottle neck. It is only two lanes and they've installed controls to limit the traffic flow. (The controls after there was a crash and fire in 2001)

On the way back, we elected skip the tunnel traffic and, instead, to take the Saint Gothard Pass over the top. This was a very good call as the scenery was spectacular. Looking across the mountains, you could see different types of weather....from sunny to cloudy to rainy.Even thought it was the middle of May, there was still snow in many places near the road.

For what it's worth, the week after we returned they had rockslides that closed down the tunnel under Saint Gothard. The week after that, they actually had snow again in the Saint Gothard pass that closed it down temorarily too.