Switzerland’s trains are famed for their spectacular routes and their efficiency. But the true “heroes” of the country’s high valleys, connecting remote communities and taking hikers to the most distant trailheads, are the humble PostBuses – and this summer marks the centenary of their most remarkable route, says Andrew Eames in the Financial Times.
The first motorised PostBus ran from Bern to Detligen in 1906, and by 1920, it had been joined by 100 or so more on other routes. These early vehicles often carried milk pails and sometimes even chickens, but the Vierpässe circuit was established in 1922 as a summer “adventure” for leisure travellers.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Today, the state-owned company has a fleet of 2,500 buses, known for their three-note horn-call (based on the overture to William Tell) and their distinctive bright yellow colouring, derived from the arms of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, who established a postal service in the 15th century. Together with Milka chocolate’s purple and Ovomaltine’s orange, it is one of only three colours protected by trademark in Switzerland.
The Vierpässe bus leaves Meiringen every morning from late June to mid-October, first climbing through the “ravishing” Bernese Oberland to the Grimsel pass. Next is the Nufenen, and a descent into the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. After lunch in the town of Airolo comes the Gotthard. Finally, there’s the Susten pass, the most “unassumingly scenic” of all, its sides “braided with waterfalls”.
Tickets cost from CHF168 (postauto.ch). Or get a Swiss Travel Pass, allowing unlimited journeys on public transport, from CHF267 (mystsnet.com).
-
The environmental cost of GLP-1sThe explainer Producing the drugs is a dirty process
-
Nuuk becomes ground zero for Greenland’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in Nuuk shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
‘This is something that happens all too often’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Arcadia: Tom Stoppard’s ‘masterpiece’ makes a ‘triumphant’ returnThe Week Recommends Carrie Cracknell’s revival at the Old Vic ‘grips like a thriller’
-
My Father’s Shadow: a ‘magically nimble’ love letter to LagosThe Week Recommends Akinola Davies Jr’s touching and ‘tender’ tale of two brothers in 1990s Nigeria
-
Send Help: Sam Raimi’s ‘compelling’ plane-crash survival thrillerThe Week Recommends Rachel McAdams stars as an office worker who gets stranded on a desert island with her boss
-
Book reviews: ‘Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind’ and ‘Football’Feature A right-wing pundit’s transformations and a closer look at one of America’s favorite sports
-
Catherine O'Hara: The madcap actress who sparkled on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’Feature O'Hara cracked up audiences for more than 50 years
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
