Gotthard Pass
Gotthard Pass: The Old Road Over the Alps
18 October 2026 · Dinh Huy
The Gotthard Pass is one of the oldest routes across the Swiss Alps: a 2,106-metre saddle between German-speaking Uri and Italian-speaking Ticino. Today most traffic takes the tunnel underneath. We took the pass instead, on a grey, rainy day.
The Tremola. The old cobbled switchbacks on the Ticino side are the most famous stretch of the road, curve after curve stacked down the mountainside. It is slow driving, and that is the point.
Cloud and rain. Low cloud sat in the valleys and the peaks kept appearing and disappearing between tunnels. Bad weather turned out to be the best weather for photos: wet cobbles, red tail lights and snow still lying at the edges of the road.
Good to know. The pass road is only open in the warmer months, depending on snow. Leave time for stops, because the best views are on the way down, not at the top.
How it was shot. Shot on Fujifilm and graded cool and cinematic, the way the pass felt that day: steep, grey and completely worth the detour. The in-camera settings are on the Fujifilm Recipes page.
