Susten Pass

The Susten Pass is the one most drivers skip, and that's exactly why it's the best of the Swiss Big Three. Forty-five kilometres of flowing, wide, well-engineered tarmac between Innertkirchen and Wassen, summit at 2,224 metres, and a gradient that lets you actually drive rather than simply survive another hairpin.

Susten was rebuilt in the 1940s as a strategic military road. The design shows: generous turning radii, proper cambered bends, and long straights between apexes that reward a confident right foot. Surface quality is excellent — arguably the best of any Swiss alpine pass — and the Sustenbrücke near the summit is a straight, fast piece of road framed by the Steingletscher. For a certain kind of driver, this is the bit you came for.

Because Susten sits in the shadow of its famous neighbours, traffic is lighter than on Furka or Grimsel. Cyclists use it heavily in summer, so pick your overtaking lines patiently on the east ramp. Weekday morning is the golden window: leave Meiringen at 07:30 and you'll have the pass effectively to yourself for ninety minutes.

Seasonal closure runs roughly from late October to late May. Out of season it closes hard — avalanche risk on the upper north side is serious and the pass is never plowed before snow melt.

Drive it as the middle leg of the Big Three loop, between Grimsel and Furka. Most enthusiasts remember the Furka's Bond corners — the ones who know remember Susten.