The perfect road
Some Alpine passes are about history, some are about survival.
The Susten Pass is about perfection.
At 2,224 metres, the Susten doesn’t overwhelm you with altitude—it draws you in with design, flow, and visual harmony.
This is the pass where everything feels just right:
- gradient
- road surface
- rhythm
- scenery
If the Grimsel is engineered power and the Furka is raw exposure, the Susten is elegance.
Why the Susten stands out
The Susten connects Innertkirchen (Bernese Oberland) with Wassen (Uri), forming the northern arc of the central Swiss pass network. It was built relatively late (1938–1946), and that shows: this is one of the best-designed high Alpine roads in Switzerland.
Where older passes twist and compromise, the Susten feels:
- deliberate
- balanced
- almost architectural
And yet it never loses its Alpine wildness.
Innertkirchen
This is the side most cyclists favor—and for good reason. The climb builds in stages.
Leaving Innertkirchen, the road rolls through:
- forest
- open meadows
- scattered villages
It feels light, almost easy.
At Gadmen, the tone changes. The valley tightens, the mountains rise, and the climb becomes more consistent.
Now you’re surrounded by:
- towering rock walls
- waterfalls
- alpine scale closing in
This is where the Susten reveals itself.
Higher up, the landscape opens fully:
- wide alpine slopes
- peaks all around
- the Stein Glacier appearing near the top
This is the signature Susten moment.
You’re not fighting the mountain, you’re moving through a perfectly shaped environment.
Wassen
The Wassen side is just as valid—but very different in feel.
It begins with a long drag up the Meien Valley:
- straighter
- visually open
- psychologically tougher
The gradient remains steady, but you can often see far ahead—which can make the climb feel longer.
Higher up:
- the turns increase
- the scenery intensifies
- the road finally earns its reputation
This is the end I cycled in my Tour de Suisse 2019 – I had lousy weather all day and the summit was freezing cold and foggy.
The descent to Innertkirchen
This is where the Susten becomes legendary.
The descent west:
- smooth
- flowing
- perfectly cambered
This is one of the best road cycling descents in the Alps.
Loop options
The Big Three loop
Start/finish: Meiringen
Type: Full loop
Character: The complete Alpine trilogy
Route
Meiringen → Grimsel → Gletsch → Furka → Andermatt → Susten → Meiringen
Why it works
Each pass has a distinct identity:
- Grimsel = reservoirs and granite
- Furka = glacier exposure
- Susten = smooth perfection
And the Susten closes the loop beautifully, returning you to Meiringen with:
- flowing gradients
- fast descending
- a sense of completion
That said, there’s no particular reason why you cannot ride this loop in the opposite direction – the experience remains the same and the Grimsel descent to Meiringen is very fast too 😎
The Grand Traverse Loop
The long way round.
Start: Meiringen
Type: Full Alpine circuit
Character: Complete system loop
Route
Meiringen → Grimsel → Gletsch → Ulrichen → Nufenen → Airolo → Gotthard → Andermatt → Susten → Meiringen
Why this loop works
This is not just a “bigger loop.”
It’s a complete circuit of the central Swiss Alps, and what you’re doing here is essentially riding:
- the western system (Grimsel)
- the southern high route (Nufenen)
- the historic crossing (Gotthard, Old Tremola)
- the northern connector (Susten)
And closing it seamlessly.
As with the other loop, you can do this in the opposite direction, but I wouldn’t recommend it, as it makes the Gotthard an ordinary crossing.
Alpenbrevet
The Susten is part of only one Alpenbrevet course:
- Platina course: Andermatt – Susten – Grimsel – Nufenen – Lukmanier – Oberalp
Bike Rebel verdict
The Susten is not the most famous pass.
It doesn’t have:
- cobbles (Gotthard)
- glacier drama (Furka)
- raw industrial presence (Grimsel)
What it has is something rarer: balance.
It’s the pass you ride when you want everything to click:
- legs
- road
- landscape
No surprises, no brutality. Just the feeling of riding a road that was built exactly the way it should be.
