PTRLSM Alpine Tour 2024

Road trips – a topic very close to each petrolhead’s heart. Mountain roadtrips? Even better. Let us take you on a 3000 km journey through some of the best driving roads in the world.

Mountain roadtrips are what inspired me to create PTRLSM – you can see that very clearly in our branding. It’s been a while since I went on one, so this year, together with my crew, we decided to go all in on a 6 day trip of (mostly) driving. Inspired by our friends at Nine11 Crew (read about their last year’s trip here), we took Furka Pass and former Belvedere Hotel as the main goal. Their plan was to later visit the famous Italian Motor Valley, our was to stay in the mountains and drive a few other passes. But let’s start from the beginning.

Day 1

We set out with our 5 cars (happened to be all BMWs) – a gloriously-sounding M5 E60, three M2s (2x G87 and one F87) and my G26 M440i from our home city of Poznań, Poland towards Munich’s Motorworld and the Ameron Hotel as our first step. I could mention that we had an unplanned stopover as one of our crew damaged his tire around Nürnberg, but let me focus on the positive. I haven’t been to Motorworld in Munich before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The parking lot was already interesting, but the building itself and some real gems parked inside made a lasting impression. Looking at the 1 of 1 Z8 Coupe in the BMW Studio from our hotel room was the icing on the cake. A must when you’re visiting Munich.

Day 2

Our goal was to arrive at Belvedere in the afternoon and take some Instagram-worthy shots in front of the hotel building. Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned. In the morning, an official BMW tire service station (in Munich, of all places) failed to source the tire for our friend. Bummer. In the meantime (mostly waiting time), I took a chance to take some pictures in front of BMW Welt.

Luckily, we managed to source the tire elsewhere (outside of Munich), but we were already 3 hours behind schedule. Off to Switzerland we go. Everything was going well, we knew that there might be some rain or even snow in the higher parts of the mountains, but no one expected that the Furka Pass would close 1 hour (!) before we arrive. After dealing with the frustration of driving 1300 km to a place we couldn’t see, we took a car train to get to our hotel on the other side of the mountain. At least it was great in all aspects, so that helped. Landhaus – you’re doing it right.

Day 3

We woke up to snow in the valley, which wasn’t a great sign. Our initial plan was that we would try driving up to Belvedere from the opposite direction than the closed part of the pass. After a great breakfast and removing a layer of snow from our cars, we drove towards the Furka Pass. It was snowing like hell, something you wouldn’t really expect in early September. And there it was – the gate.

Furka Pass just wasn’t meant for us this time. We hopped back on the car train and drove the lower part of the pass to take some of the nicest shots we managed to take on this trip.

Then, we proceeded towards the Gotthard Pass (which luckily just opened in the morning). Our goal today was to arrive in St. Moritz in the afternoon. Along the way we experienced all seasons – from -2 degrees when we were leaving, up to 20 plus degrees in some of the valleys on the way towards Italy. While frustrating at first, this was a good old lesson of just letting go. The mountains had other plans this time. But we will be back.

Day 4

After an overnight stay in what appeared to be the most boring city on planet Earth at that time, we left St. Moritz and headed towards Italy, our destination being Riva del Garda. We fueled up at the famous Shell / Manx Café and started our ascend onto Bernina Pass. It was magical. Mental note: we have to go back there for the Bernina Gran Turismo at some point in the future. The rest of the route was also scenic, with a special highlight being another unexpected pass on the way – the Passo Croce Domini. While not as dramatic as some of the higher alpine passes, it was a proper drive and nearly empty, which is much appreciated as most of the pass is essentially a one car width road. Lake Garda welcomed us with a warm breeze and what finally felt like a moment of much deserved rest.

Day 5

We left Riva del Garda in the morning with a mission to drive towards Austria. We knew the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse would be closed (sadly), but the route itself, after leaving the horror of driving the A22 towards Brennero (hate that road with a passion), was a blast. As soon as we entered the sunny Val Pusteria and drove towards Lienz in Austria, it felt like holiday again. Having stocked up on some regional wines (Muri-Gries and Lageder being my wines of choice), we continued, passing some of the most iconic places in the Dolomites. Up until the last valley on the A10 the weather was perfect, then, it suddenly changed to winter again as we arrived in snowy Filzmoos.

Here is when we had some tough decisions to make, as our plan was to drive through Czechia towards Poland’s Lower Silesia (our favorite driving roads in the country). At the time, both areas were suffering from devastating floods and the situation was still unstable. Hence, we decided to take a long way home (through Munich and Berlin). Boring, but safe. Sometimes that’s just what is necessary.

Looking back, this trip really was a blast, even if we didn’t reach all the points we wanted to and the weather was mostly shit. You can’t argue with the mountains – another worthy lesson. They had other plans for us this time, but we still enjoyed some views and most of all - a great drive, with good friends and our beloved cars. And made it back home safe. In the end, that’s what matters most.

D.

See more from our trip in my highlighted stories here.