The least travelled of the three passes into the Engadin, the Albula makes is worth the 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 4-metres 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 which runs around and next to the pass road.
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. The Albula along with the Julier and Flüela all run into the Engadin valley but the Albula is the least trafficked making it a more peaceful journey.
Statistics
| Summit coordinates | 46°35’07.9”N, 9°51’09.2”E |
|---|---|
| Summit Altitude | 2315 metres |
| Distance | 23 kilometres |
| Start | Bergün 1367 metres |
| End | La Punt 1687 metres |
| Opens | June to mid-October |
