Driving around the Alps in the summer isn't always heaven, and here's why
There’s nothing better than driving some good mountain roads in the summer. Going through that tight hairpin, accelerating out of it, practising some heel and toe when downshifting for the next corner.
Most of us think of the Alps when reading this, that’s one of the only places in Europe where there’s some proper mountain driving roads.
With this blog post I want to give some perspective to that. I’m not that good at it, please correct me if I’m wrong about something. If you know of epic driving roads, please put them in the comments!
The roads can be full of cyclists
Especially in summer on the more popular mountain passes(Stelvio, Gotthard), there can be cyclists everywhere. Mostly with three or more next to eachother, they can really block the way so you can’t really overtake them. Downhill this isn’t a big problem as their speeds are a lot higher, but uphill they can really be a pain in the arse.
I don’t want to spread hate on cyclists, but the road is for everyone.
Most of the traffic is moving a lot slower than you
On the more popular driving roads there can be a lot of local traffic, and they are generally not moving quite as quick as we petrolheads want. We’ve come to the beautiful mountain roads for driving harder than you do in the city streets. Trying out your car(a bit of course, do the real work on the track please!). But for them, it’s just a trip to maybe a local shop or something, so they aren’t driving that hard.
Thanks for reading this (quite short) first blog post of me!
I hope you like it, if not, please leave a comment why not.
Happy driving everybody!
Comments
We don’t have the Alps here, but we have some pretty interesting roads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19YSIKo6u7U
You think the Alps is a b*tch in the summer? come to Mullholand
I’ve seen the one takes of The Smoking Tire, and I know what you mean :)
Well, I feel the same way. Though I usually drive the Pyrenees. What pisses me off most of all are the Caravans and Campervans that just drive in the middle of the road. And all tourists who are scared and don’t top 30 Km/h. It’s dangerous enough so that in a blind curve, you might rear-end them.
I am fortunate enough to be a local who knows the roads that are not often used by most tourists.
I live near one way hill road and I use it every day. Its used for rally and its fun. Other than that there are some nice roads in Montenegro, I have driven through all of Mallorca with a rental and that was a hell of a month for me. Last year a had a road trip from Serbia where I live to Vienna,Austria than over Germany to Paris, France, than trough tunnel under Alps to Florence,Italy, and back over Slovenia and Croatia. It was a 4 day trip and it was awesome :D Other than that Im planing a road trip to Swiss Alps and from there to Nordschleife. For this trip Im gonna drive my e30.
I can’t agree more, and you forget tourist stopping in the middle of the road to take a picture. it’s awful in summer time. But winter is not often better. Best periods october and a bit of september.
The time when the weather is still nice enough to go there but the tourists are gone :)
You are absolutely right, that is why I usually start early in the morning when the sun goes up, the roads are empty and the sight when you are the first on the top is beautiful, its well worth of getting up early in the morning. 😊