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Loving your journal! Great pictures and stories. We're license plate cousins. I had "S 4 R" for my 981 Cayman S during ED. Still have it nailed to my workbench. I didn't realize that the Germans also valued short license numbers, noone ever mentioned it to me during my time with the car there.
Can you share some details about your routes to/around St Moritz? I'm going back in June and am just now working on that part of our trip.
Loving your journal! Great pictures and stories. We're license plate cousins. I had "S 4 R" for my 981 Cayman S during ED. Still have it nailed to my workbench. I didn't realize that the Germans also valued short license numbers, noone ever mentioned it to me during my time with the car there.
Can you share some details about your routes to/around St Moritz? I'm going back in June and am just now working on that part of our trip.
While I am not the OP, here are some recommendations:
If you come from the north (e.g. Zurich), either drive Chur-Lenzerheide-Davos-Fluela-St. Moritz (longest way with the most fun roads), Chur-Lenzerheide-Tiefencastel-Julier Pass or Albula-St.Moritz (still fun, shortest route via Julier), Chur-Sils-Tiefencastel-Julier or Albula-St.Moritz (more highway, fastest route via Julier), or Lanquart-Davos-Fluela pass-St. Moritz.
If you come from Italy you can either do Livigno-Bernina (if from Bormio-Tirano), Umbrail (very narrow)-Ofenpass (Umbrail is right next to Stelvio) if from Bormio or Merano, Maloja or Spluegen-Via Mala-Sils-Tiefencastel-Julier/Fluela/Albula if from Milano/lake Como.
Note that Spluegen, Albula and Umbrail are very narrow in places.
Once you are in St. Moritz, you can easily do daily road trips over multiple passes. For example: Maloja-Spluegen-Via Mala gorge-Julier or Albula or Fluela (or in other direction). Or Bernina-Livigno-Bormio-Stelvio-Umbrail-Ofenpass.
Definitely recommend driving to Maloja along the lakes, Bernina to Poschiavo and/or Livigno, Fluela. In the summer, add some hikes/sightseeing.
Loving your journal! Great pictures and stories. We're license plate cousins. I had "S 4 R" for my 981 Cayman S during ED. Still have it nailed to my workbench. I didn't realize that the Germans also valued short license numbers, noone ever mentioned it to me during my time with the car there.
Can you share some details about your routes to/around St Moritz? I'm going back in June and am just now working on that part of our trip.
Very cool! I have my plate above my desk, still with all the bugs on it I will try to figure out all my routes and send along towards the end of the journal
Originally Posted by Mike981S
While I am not the OP, here are some recommendations:
If you come from the north (e.g. Zurich), either drive Chur-Lenzerheide-Davos-Fluela-St. Moritz (longest way with the most fun roads), Chur-Lenzerheide-Tiefencastel-Julier Pass or Albula-St.Moritz (still fun, shortest route via Julier), Chur-Sils-Tiefencastel-Julier or Albula-St.Moritz (more highway, fastest route via Julier), or Lanquart-Davos-Fluela pass-St. Moritz.
If you come from Italy you can either do Livigno-Bernina (if from Bormio-Tirano), Umbrail (very narrow)-Ofenpass (Umbrail is right next to Stelvio) if from Bormio or Merano, Maloja or Spluegen-Via Mala-Sils-Tiefencastel-Julier/Fluela/Albula if from Milano/lake Como.
Note that Spluegen, Albula and Umbrail are very narrow in places.
Once you are in St. Moritz, you can easily do daily road trips over multiple passes. For example: Maloja-Spluegen-Via Mala gorge-Julier or Albula or Fluela (or in other direction). Or Bernina-Livigno-Bormio-Stelvio-Umbrail-Ofenpass.
Definitely recommend driving to Maloja along the lakes, Bernina to Poschiavo and/or Livigno, Fluela. In the summer, add some hikes/sightseeing.
You are describing some of my upcoming blog entries... Albula was one of the coolest points of my trip, felt like I was in another world, I have some great photos in a future post
Very cool! I have my plate above my desk, still with all the bugs on it I will try to figure out all my routes and send along towards the end of the journal
You are describing some of my upcoming blog entries... Albula was one of the coolest points of my trip, felt like I was in another world, I have some great photos in a future post
Looking forward to it! Did you see the fake rock on the Albula?
We left our Flat in St Moritz sometime mid Morning to head to Lake Como / Milan and see a friend. On the way there we immediately had to go over a Swiss Pass, I don't remember its name but it was beautiful and I love how these shots turned out... FYI there might be some duplicate angles in these posts, but I really love all of the pictures and the different feelings they elicit.
Right after that pass we then find ourselves in this massive massive valley with no one around. We were probably in the road for 30 minutes and maybe saw 1 or 2 cars go by. A real pinch me moment as we're in the most dramatic climate with my new GT4...
This looks like the Maloja pass that goes from the Engadin valley (where St. Moritz is located) down into Bergell valley/Val Bregaglia - Wikipedia and ultimately to Chiavenna and Lake Como.
The nice part is that if you are almost alone on this route outside the main travel season, though you can still get stuck behind some local construction traffic.
The Engadin valley! You are totally right, all these names just came rushing back. Doing the drive back from Milan at night was a little troubling, it was so dark going through that pass.
Everyone, I misjudged how many Euro Delivery posts I'd be doing so the rest will be made through the thread.
Below is my journey to Davos
So we left sometime in the AM with no real agenda insight other than go to Stelvio and some other passes. This is part of St Moritz downtown and just loved the architecture.
We left St Moritz and instead of turning right for Milan we turned left past Cellerina... At some point we said, wow look at the mountain over in the distance lets go drive up it, which is where our trip to Stelvio started to diverge and turn epic. This shot is from "that mountain" looking back down onto the town and the highway below... We probably stopped here for an hour or two just hanging out, goofing off and taking pictures.
So instead of turning back to the highway we did the "hey what happens if we go farther"... this led us further into the unknown, we stopped at this location and petted someone's goats for awhile and then pressed on.
This section is probably one of my top 3 favorite moments of the trip, after climbing for awhile we finally reached the "peak" which was more like a valley thousands of feet up. It was really flat with just meandering roads intertwined. It really felt like we traveled to the moon, it was awesome.
Some perspective of how we get "the shots"....
Here you can really see the "valleyness" of the peak. We were here again for another hour or two, and maybe 1 or 2 cars drove by.
For everyone questioning if they GT Car or Cup2's can handle anything other than 70* and sunny. The car never skipped a beat ever...
I really loved this "lake" section of the top valley. It really felt like another planet. It was really hard to capture how cool this scenery was.
Next we started our descent down the mountain on the other side of where we started, with no real indication of where we're going... If you haven't noticed by now, we're pretty fond of the "road less traveled"...
"Car has never seen rain or dust, always stored in climate controlled garage polished by diapers"
We then stopped along this creek for awhile and just hung out. It was a really really cool spot.
I wish I remembered what this town was called, (maybe 15 mins from the creek). The only name I remember is "Dacia Duster" as we were stuck behind one for awhile and I remember OG Top Gear ripping on that car.
Lastly, we realized that we were very much in the middle of nowhere. We saw Davos was the next "closest" thing around so we headed that direction. To be continued in the next post
Everyone, I misjudged how many Euro Delivery posts I'd be doing so the rest will be made through the thread.
Below is my journey to Davos
So we left sometime in the AM with no real agenda insight other than go to Stelvio and some other passes. This is part of St Moritz downtown and just loved the architecture.
We left St Moritz and instead of turning right for Milan we turned left past Cellerina... At some point we said, wow look at the mountain over in the distance lets go drive up it, which is where our trip to Stelvio started to diverge and turn epic. This shot is from "that mountain" looking back down onto the town and the highway below... We probably stopped here for an hour or two just hanging out, goofing off and taking pictures.
So instead of turning back to the highway we did the "hey what happens if we go farther"... this led us further into the unknown, we stopped at this location and petted someone's goats for awhile and then pressed on.
This section is probably one of my top 3 favorite moments of the trip, after climbing for awhile we finally reached the "peak" which was more like a valley thousands of feet up. It was really flat with just meandering roads intertwined. It really felt like we traveled to the moon, it was awesome.
Some perspective of how we get "the shots"....
Here you can really see the "valleyness" of the peak. We were here again for another hour or two, and maybe 1 or 2 cars drove by.
For everyone questioning if they GT Car or Cup2's can handle anything other than 70* and sunny. The car never skipped a beat ever...
I really loved this "lake" section of the top valley. It really felt like another planet. It was really hard to capture how cool this scenery was.
Next we started our descent down the mountain on the other side of where we started, with no real indication of where we're going... If you haven't noticed by now, we're pretty fond of the "road less traveled"...
"Car has never seen rain or dust, always stored in climate controlled garage polished by diapers"
We then stopped along this creek for awhile and just hung out. It was a really really cool spot.
I wish I remembered what this town was called, (maybe 15 mins from the creek). The only name I remember is "Dacia Duster" as we were stuck behind one for awhile and I remember OG Top Gear ripping on that car.
Lastly, we realized that we were very much in the middle of nowhere. We saw Davos was the next "closest" thing around so we headed that direction. To be continued in the next post
Ahh, so familar! Albula is a hidden gem of a pass, but it can be quite narrow. It is actually famous for the train route that goes through there (Rhaetische Bahn) through the Albula tunnel to Preda and then down on a crazy train route to Berguen. It is an UNESCO World Heritage site and worth the train ride. And in the winter it is an awesome sledding run from Preda to Berguen.
And I like your exploration style. More fun than planning every minute of your trip.
The church in your picture is in Alvaneu. A little further down towards Tiefencastel is Brienz, which got famous in June 2023 due to a large landslide that just barely missed the village.
And you can still get to Stelvio from Davos... eventually
All right everyone... probably the most picturesque post.
So after leaving the village in the last post, we looked on the GPS and said "Davos" I think there is some type of world leader meeting that happens there. Lets go head that direction and see what this place is all chalked up to be... So we route towards Davos and probably 30 mins outside the city we're stopped by military police with ourselves and our cars searched, it turns out the World Economic Forum was happening at that same time we were going. Eventually they let us through and we're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic with World Wide Government limousines. At this point its late lunch time and we stop for a burger and finally experienced the Swiss Tax everyone mentions. I think our burger was $30 US and pretty subpar but it is what it is.
I don't really have many pictures from Davos but this gem right here...
Love love love the B7 RS4, wish we got the Avants here... was very cool to see one just as someones car.
So... here is where the adventure begins. We wanted to leave Davos to head to Stelvio via a certain pass. However POTUS was in the area and they closed the pass due to a meeting he was having at the very top with another world leader. Not a problem right? We'll take another route. Well fortunately/unfortunately, Switzerland is riddled with Mountains so this added probably a 4 hour detour for us. We could't turn around either as we'd extend that delay by an even greater time. Our only options was to go a 3rd direction and then take a "car train" through one of the mountains. This was one of the most bizarre experiences. We pull onto a train made for cars with about a couple of inches on either side of us and pull up within inches of the car in front of us. And then get driven through a mountain in the pitchblack. It was a pretty crazy thing to do, nothing went wrong but it set the rest of the day off unexpectedly and we were now very behind schedule.
Double Rainbow all the way across the sky!
At some point we came over a pass (I don't remember which) and found this breathtaking place for a couple of pictures.
At this point, you can really see how dirty the car is... And this is after we washed it the day before in Milan.
I am probably going to mix up the name of this next pass, but it was a surreal moment.
Its a little hard to tell from just pictures but we basically cleared a bunch of rain and fog and emerged to something out of a painting. Golden Hour with mist in the air and dew covering all of the landscape with not another soul to be seen.
We kept pressing on and finally made our way to the famous Stelvio Pass... Tbh, I probably wouldn't come back here with a sports car. Its so incredible tight and steep that every hairpin, our splitter was scraping the ground. HOWEVER... its so insanely beautiful that I probably will be back
The town is very unassuming, you wouldn't know what you're about to come up to if you weren't looking for it.
"Can I drive my Cup2s in 50* weather or will I perish?"
Behold!
Probably my favorite picture of my car ever... bonus that this was totally candid with me in it looking back
Here you can see how quickly the daylight left us from the first picture of the pass to here.
After our picture parade we found a nice little hotel at the bottom and had some food, at this point it was after 10PM and we were very lucky to be served as everything closes earlier in Europ eoutside of the major metros.
Great pictures that are enhanced by the moody weather! And it looks like you had the Stelvio all to yourself!
I agree that it is not well suited for the GT4(RS) unless you take good care in the turns. A Boxster S/GTS on normal or PASM is probably the most hardcore and biggest car to enjoy it, a Mazda Miata would be even better. Or an old 911. New 911s are too big in my opinion for both Stelvio and Umbrail to fully enjoy.
It sucks that you missed the Fluela pass due to the POTUS meeting. It is one of the most fun passes in that area. I drove it several times during my EDs and once got the brake pads of a rental Opel Astra wagon to burn (fortunately the fluid was still ok and the brakes still functioned). But then taking the car train from the Davos area to the Engadin is an experience as well.
The pass you don't remember the name of is probably the Ofenpass (basically oven pass) that goes from Zernez into Val Mustair from where you then drove up Umbrail.
Great pictures that are enhanced by the moody weather! And it looks like you had the Stelvio all to yourself!
I agree that it is not well suited for the GT4(RS) unless you take good care in the turns. A Boxster S/GTS on normal or PASM is probably the most hardcore and biggest car to enjoy it, a Mazda Miata would be even better. Or an old 911. New 911s are too big in my opinion for both Stelvio and Umbrail to fully enjoy.
It sucks that you missed the Fluela pass due to the POTUS meeting. It is one of the most fun passes in that area. I drove it several times during my EDs and once got the brake pads of a rental Opel Astra wagon to burn (fortunately the fluid was still ok and the brakes still functioned). But then taking the car train from the Davos area to the Engadin is an experience as well.
The pass you don't remember the name of is probably the Ofenpass (basically oven pass) that goes from Zernez into Val Mustair from where you then drove up Umbrail.
I think we were probably camped around Stevlio for an hour or two and saw maybe 1 car at the very most. The weather was moving in and out pretty quickly, moody is the perfect way to describe it. I honestly couldn't imagine having fun in anything larger than an NA Miata and even then probably better options to have!
Fluela is definitely on the list for when we get back!
02-16-2024, 06:26 AM
I will try to figure out all my routes and send along towards the end of the journal 
(fortunately the fluid was still ok and the brakes still functioned). But then taking the car train from the Davos area to the Engadin is an experience as well.
