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Best Of The Alps Road Trip Powered By Audi Quattro Volume 3

A week of adventures.

The Best of the Alps Road Trip powered by Audi quattro takes young talented photographers and filmmakers to four of the twelve Best of the Alps destinations: Megève, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Crans-Montana und Grindelwald. Their work shows the beauty and versatility of the Alps to other people and together they explore the stories of the region.

And there we were, sitting in our Audi cars, enjoying the first kilometres of tarmac under our tyres. Eight photographers and filmmakers from seven different countries. There are Joanna Lemanska, who was born and raised in Poland and now lives in Paris, and Vu Theara Kham, whose family hails from Cambodia. The two food bloggers Kaitlinn Orr und Anders Husa – the first coming from as far as Los Angeles and the latter from the Nordic capital of Oslo. Then we have Davide Pretto from Italy and Maximilian Otto from Germany. And of course Tom Klocker from the Austrian Alps and British-born Luke Penn who arrived from Zurich.

The Audi fleet

After getting to know the cars on the motorway, we soon conquered the first ascents, countless serpentines and narrow roads taking us up to the Alps. It soon became obvious that the Audi vehicles have a superior and safe driving experience on every terrain and attract everyone's attention. The Audi Q8 (in Galaxy Blue) and its little, yet just as spectacular brother, the Audi Q3 (in Pulse Orange and Chronos Grey). On the wide motorways, the cars show the extent of their driving comfort – and their true power on the mountain roads. While some of us got to enjoy the pleasure of driving, the others spent the time working on their content on the co-drivers seat or took a little time off on the comfy backseats, getting ready for the next adventure. Of course everyone wanted to take the wheel more than once and so we kept changing.

Adventures that would take us to some spectacular places in the Alps: Megève, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Crans-Montana and Grindelwald. Each of these destinations has its own charm and its own special history.

Megève

The little town of Megève in the French Alps with its narrow alleys and historic buildings cast its spell on us immediately. Watching the Christmas tree being unveiled on Place d’Eglise marked the magical start to a tour of winter highlights, one of them being snowy Altiport Megève, located high about the village at 1,400 metres.

Things To Do in Megève:


-    Stroll through the village center
-    Lunch at Le Petit Lay
-    Tea time at Ladurée Megève
-    Dinner at Le Refuge
-    Overnight stay at Les Loges Blanches

 

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

Only a stone’s throw from Megève is Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, a place with that one-of-a-kind Olympic atmosphere. Chamonix with its incredible, almost surreal mountains first hosted Winter Olympic Games in 1924. The summits rise over the Mer de Glace glacier, rugged, almost pointed – that’s why they are also called the Needles of Chamonix. It’s a breathtaking view, and we were lucky to enjoy it from the QC Terme, where we relaxed after a long day in the cold.

THINGS TO DO IN CHAMONIX-MONT-BLANC:
 

-    Visit ski manufacturer Peter Steltzner
-    Lunch at O’74
-    Visit QC Terme
-    Dinner at Restaurant La Télécabine
-    Overnight stay at Alpina Eclectic Hotel

Crans-Montana

The next leg of our tour took us over two passes to Crans-Montana in neighbouring Switzerland. Wonderful wine grows on its southern slopes in summer – and we enjoyed it in winter with a hearty meal of traditional Raclette. A big rink awaits ice skaters a little further up in the town centre, and two ski lifts are located at the golf course. And then there is the magnificent Hotel&Spa LeCrans, where we marvelled at both the incredible views and an outstanding meal.

THINGS TO DO IN CRANS-MONTANA


-    Snowshoeing in Crans Cry d‘Er
-    Lunch at Hotel Le Crans
-    Window shopping in the two centres Crans and Montana
-    Wine tasting at Alexis Duc
-    Overnight stay at Hotel Le Crans

Grindelwald

And although it was hard to convince us to take our Audi cars off the roads for a bit, we did love the ride with the car carrying shuttle train from Goppenstein to Kandersteg. And then, back on the road (direction: Grindelwald), they were there again, suddenly rising in front of us: Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch, those massive, giant mountains (two of them being four-thousanders). We took the Jungfraubahn rack railway up to Jungfraujoch and very close to these Alpine landmarks.

THINGS TO DO IN GRINDELWALD:
 

-    Tobogganing at Kleine Scheidegg
-    Lunch at Bergrestaurant Kleine Scheidegg
-    Visit the Jungfraujoch
-    Dinner at Stallbeizli Heuboden
-    Overnight stay at Hotel Kreuz&Post

At our farewell dinner at Hotel Hotel Kreuz&Post we enjoyed each other’s company for the last time, raved about those incredible mountains and the week we had spent together: the things we saw, the things we did, the friends we made.

Our journey will continue next year, when we will set out to new adventures in the Best of the Alps destinations – powered by Audi.

 

Text: Harald Triebnig // friendship.is
Photos: Ian Ehm & Nina Keinrath // friendship.is
Video: friendship.is

Jan. 10, 2020

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