The Bernina Pass is the stark one. At 2,330 metres, it has no forest, no village to speak of, and almost no vegetation to soften the view: just two small lakes, a scatter of buildings at the Ospizio, a railway line, and mountains that look like they were left half-finished. It is also a true divide. Water from one side of the summit lake eventually reaches the Inn and the Danube, and then the Black Sea, while water from the other side flows south to the Po and the Adriatic. Lago Bianco, the milky-green reservoir on the summit, drains toward Italy, and Lago Nero, a little further north, toward the Inn.
The road climbs from the Engadin side near Pontresina in easy, open curves, then drops south toward Poschiavo in a long run of switchbacks and tight bends, with the climate changing noticeably as it descends from alpine tundra to chestnut and vines near Tirano. The surface is good and the corners are well signed, but the pass is exposed to cold, wind and fog, even in summer, so a layer under your jacket is wise. Snow can arrive early and linger, and while the road is kept open for much of the year, check conditions in winter and spring.
Next to the road runs the Bernina railway, whose red trains carry the Bernina Express from Chur to Tirano. It is the highest adhesion railway in the Alps, meaning it climbs without cogs, and it was listed by UNESCO with its companion Albula line in 2008. You may find yourself riding beside a train for miles, a good game to play. Above the pass, Piz Palü and the Bernina massif carry glaciers that have shrunk visibly in recent decades. The Diavolezza cable car, just north of the pass, climbs to a ridge with a close view of the ice.
Poschiavo, about ten kilometres south, has a pump, and Pontresina to the north has more, while Tirano across the Italian border is the nearest town of any size. The Ospizio has a place for a coffee, a hot soup or a slice of nut cake, which is the proper reward for the climb. Ride early in the day to avoid the traffic, and expect to find the light flat and clear and the air thin and cold.