SUPER ALPINE
Albula Pass
Albula pass
Graubünden

Albula Pass

Little known and narrow, the Albula makes the visit worth a trip for the Unesco World Heritage landscape


History

The Romans may have used this route to trade corn for beeswax but other more travelled routes took precedence even back then. In 1695 they used gunpowder to create a tunnel and in 1866 the road was widened to 4m to let horse-drawn carriages and the post coach get through. Other than tarmac, the road has seen little further development, mostly thanks to the 1903 opening of a scenic railway line - The Rhätische Bahn.

Notes

The Albula is one of the less developed of the Swiss passes, in part it is singletrack and in Bergün it still runs on cobblestones. In winter Bergün becomes home to one of Europe's most scenic sledge runs when the pass road closes to traffic and gets taken over by schussing wooden toboggans. Bobsleds now use the railway to get access to the pass road/toboggan run.

Map
Statistics
Summit coordinates 46°35’07.9”N, 9°51’09.2”E
Summit Altitude 2315 metres
Distance 23 kilometres
Start Begun 1367 metres
End La Punt 1687 metres
Opens June to mid-October

Swiss Passes