2'429 m
Uri / Valais
The Furka is one of the highest of the Swiss pass roads, climbing to 2,429 metres between Gletsch in the Valais and Realp in Uri, linking the headwaters of the Rhône with the Urseren valley below Andermatt.
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The Furka is one of the highest of the Swiss pass roads, climbing to 2,429 metres between Gletsch in the Valais and Realp in Uri, linking the headwaters of the Rhône with the Urseren valley below Andermatt. Built for strategic military reasons, it was the longest pass road in Switzerland when it opened in 1867. Its great companion is the Rhône Glacier, which spills down beside the western ramp above Gletsch, the source of the Rhône itself, though it has retreated dramatically in recent decades, a stark reminder of how fast the Alpine world is changing.
Today it is a seasonal road of sweeping hairpins, open only from June to October, with the historic Hotel Belvédère perched in a bend and a heritage steam railway puffing through the valley below. But the Furka's enduring fame is cinematic: its hairpins became world-famous through the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, including the celebrated Aston Martin DB5 chase. A curve on the eastern side is still marked "James Bond Strasse", complete with a lookout point, the spot where Bond watches as a would-be assassin takes aim from above.
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