Page 534 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

Rte 19 until you reach Disentis/
Mustér (50km, 55 minutes).
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE:
ZUMDORF
3 Disentis Abbey
Disentis/Mustér’s If the grand scale of this trip seems overwhelming,
Benedictine monastery, the antidote surely lies in a quick detour to
Switzerland’s smallest village, Zumdorf (Uri canton),
Kloster Disentis (www.
kloster-disentis.ch; Via Claustra little more than a cluster of small buildings on the
Furkastrasse and a population that can be counted
1, Disentis/Mustér; museum on one hand. Despite its diminutive size, it has a
adult/child Sfr7/3; hmuseum place to eat, Restaurant Zum Dörfli (%041 887
2-5pm Tue, Thu & Sat Jun-
Oct), which rises like a 01 32; www.zumdoerfli.ch; Furkastrasse; mains Sfr26-40),
specialising in Swiss dishes (especially rösti) and
vision above the town, venison (when in season). Find it 6km southwest of
has a lavishly stuccoed Andermatt’s centre.
baroque church attached.
A monastery has stood
here since the 8th century, A walk around and
but the present immense along Gotthardstrasse re-
complex dates from the TRIP HIGHLIGHT veals textbook dark-wood
18th century. Left of the 4 Andermatt central Swiss architecture,
church entrance is a door often weighed down with
SWITZERLAND 37 THE SwISS ALPS
to the Klostermuseum, Blessed with austere either geraniums or snow.
mountain appeal,
crammed with memora- Andermatt (Uri canton) Skiers in the know flock
bilia. Head left upstairs to 2963m Gemsstock (www.
to the Marienkirche, a contrasts low-key village skiarena.ch; cable car one-way/
charm (despite a recent
chapel with Romanesque return Sfr36/50) mountain,
origins filled with ex-voto five-star development)
with big wilderness. Once reached by the Gemsstock-
images from people in an important staging- bahn cable car (undergoing
need of (or giving thanks a major overhaul at the
for) a miraculous inter- post on the north–south time of research), for the
St Gotthard route, it’s
vention from the Virgin snow-sure winter slopes.
Mary. If you’re peckish, now bypassed by the
tunnel, but remains a
a handy (and very good- major crossroads near 4 p539
value) on-site cafe/ The Drive » From Andermatt
takeaway has soups, sal- four major Alpine passes to Engelberg, take Rte 2 to
(Susten, Oberalp, St Got-
ads and specialities. Göschenen, then get on the A2/
thard and Furka), making
The Drive » Disentis is it a terrific base for hiking E35 and follow the signs for
an exhilarating (40 minutes, and cycling. The tourist Lucerne. The road will skirt the
32km) drive along Rte 19 and office distributes free bottom of Lake Uri for some
the twisting Oberalp Pass booklets outlining these lovely water views. Continue on
(2044m), which connects this road until you take exit 33
Graubünden and Uri cantons. opportunities. (Stans-Süd), then follow Rte 374
In winter, the Oberalp Pass is One popular hike leads all the way to Engelberg (one
closed to cars, but a car train from the Oberalp Pass to hour, 77km in total).
connects Sedrun on Rte 19 sparkly Lai da Tuma, the
and Andermatt (three services source of the Rhine; the
daily in winter, two in spring). 11km round trip takes 5 Engelberg
Reservations are essential. Call three to four hours, with Wonderful Engelberg (lit-
%027 927 77 40 or visit www. 500m elevation gain. erally ‘Angel Mountain’),
matterhorngotthardbahn.ch.
backed by the glacial
532