This was the long day. We woke up to a steady rainfall and here’s what the drive ahead of us looked like:
Before leaving, I had to snap some quick photos for a couple of really unique cars I saw in the hotel parking lot.
The first stop was Linderhof Palace, again along the Alpenstrasse. The rain didn’t let up one bit by the time we got there so we busted out our plastic ponchos for the 15-20 minute walk to the main palace. After a couple of photos the rain was really starting to come down hard so we headed back to the car and got back on the road.
At this point, the desire to finish the Alpenstrasse was quickly fading in favor of making it to Klausen Pass in Switzerland before nightfall. So I just the navigation for the start point of Klausen Pass by the most direct route which ended up as Germany -> Austria -> Germany -> Austria -> Switzerland, so many border crossings!
One common thing I read about going to Switzerland on ED was that the Swiss take their speed limits very seriously. Sure enough it seemed like everyone was driving exactly the speed limit (which is only 80 kph on back roads!) which became quite a bore after the awesomeness of driving in Germany and Austria.
Eventually, we arrived at the start of Klausen Pass. On the plus side, it was still light outside! Bad news: Still pouring rain. Oh well, here we go!
To give you an idea of how high this pass was, it was ~68 degrees F at the bottom and 43 at the top!!! The rain clouds made it so that I couldn’t really get any good GoPro footage of the epic scenery so here’s a picture from Google the Klausen Pass on a clear day:
If you like 1st gear hairpins and jaw-dropping elevation change, this alpine pass is for you. Without a doubt this was the most epic driving road I’ve ever been on, and 100% worth the detour. I originally picked it because reviews said there is almost never any traffic on it, and sure enough I could count on one hand the number of cars we passed over the entire pass.
We spent the night in a town called Hergiswil on the shores of Lake Lucerne. If you’ve never been to Switzerland before, be advised that everything (especially food) is really expensive. When you add that to the ~40 euro 1-year vignette (there is no shorter option) and strictly-enforced low speed limits, I would honestly recommend skipping Switzerland on your ED. And yes, I know I was just raving about the Klasen Pass. That just shows how much the vignette cost, food cost, and speed limit issue was a negative for me.
