The Simplon Pass is the grandest of the Swiss crossings to Italy that Napoleon bothered to build. At 2,005 metres, it lies on a broad, grassy saddle between the Valais Alps and the Lepontine range, and the road that crosses it, finished in 1805, was the first carriage road across the Alps. It was built for military reasons, and its engineers were told to make it wide and gentle enough for artillery, so riders benefit from a gradient that never becomes harsh and from generous, well-planned bends.
At the summit stands the Simplon Hospice, a big, plain stone building that was begun by Napoleon's order and completed by the Augustinian canons of the Great St Bernard in the 1830s. The monks still live and work there, with their famous dogs, and the building gives a reassuring sense of shelter in a bare landscape. A short distance away, a huge stone eagle on a pedestal commemorates the Swiss soldiers who guarded the border during the Second World War, and it is a good landmark for photographs, with the peaks of the Bernese and Valais Alps behind.
The ride from the north starts at Brig and climbs through Simplon Dorf. From the summit, the road drops steeply to the south, into the narrow gorge of Gondo, where the road passes through galleries cut into the rock and waterfalls spill onto the roadway. Beyond the border lies Italy, with its different light and quickly warming air, and the road continues to Varzo and Domodossola. The surface is generally good, but the galleries can be damp, with water on the road, and the shadows make the bends harder to read. Traffic is heavy in summer, and trucks use the road, so passing needs patience.
The pass is open for most of the year, although heavy snow can close it for short periods in winter, and chains are required when conditions are bad. The weather at the summit is unpredictable, with cloud, wind and sudden temperature drops common. The best time is from late spring to early autumn, in the morning, when visibility is good and traffic is light. Do not be surprised by a snow shower in June.
Brig, on the northern side, and Domodossola, about seventeen kilometres from the top on the Italian side, are the nearest larger towns, and Varzo is a smaller place between them. Prices in Switzerland are higher than in Italy, so you may want to eat in Italy, and buy fuel there too.