The San Bernardino Pass is a high, bare saddle at 2,066 metres on the Swiss side of the Alps, and it is one of the oldest crossings between the Rhine valley and Italy. Travellers, muleteers and armies have used it since Roman times, and the pass is named, according to local tradition, after the Franciscan preacher Bernardino of Siena, who is said to have crossed it in the fifteenth century. It sits in the canton of Graubünden, between the German-speaking village of Hinterrhein, where the Rhine begins, and the Italian-speaking valley of Mesolcina, which drops south toward Bellinzona.
The pass has been bypassed since 1967 by the motorway tunnel that passes beneath it, so the old road has turned into a quiet, pleasant motorcycle route, with little traffic and some of the finest scenery in the Alps. On the north side the road climbs from Hinterrhein in a series of broad bends, crosses open meadow and arrives at the summit, where a small lake, the Lago Moesola, sits beside the road. On the south side, a flight of hairpins drops through larch and spruce toward the village of San Bernardino, and then down the long valley to Mesocco, where a ruined castle stands on a rock above the road.
The riding is excellent. The surface is generally smooth, the bends are well engineered, and the views from the hairpins are wide and clear. The north side is bare and stony, with cold air and sparse pastures, while the south side quickly turns green, with chestnut and walnut trees in the lower valley. The climate difference is strong, and the temperature rises many degrees in a short descent. The pass is closed in winter, normally from about November until May, depending on snow, so check before you go.
The weather can be harsh. Cloud sits on the pass often, and the wind is cold, even in summer. Bring a warm layer, and be careful with fog, which can reduce visibility to a few metres. Marmots whistle from the rocks, and if you are lucky you may see a bearded vulture in the sky, a bird that has been reintroduced to the Alps.
The nearest services are at San Bernardino village and Mesocco on the south, and at Splügen on the north, and Biasca, further down the valley toward the Ticino plain, is the larger town. Fill the tank before you climb.