Why this ride
Four iconic passes, rock walls and pure alpine theatre. 61 km round from Selva - plan on about 1 h 16 of riding. The climbs: Sella Pass, Pordoi Pass and Campolongo Pass. It tops out at about 2,250 m. It is a high-mountain day.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Dolomites · Sella Ronda Pass Circuit
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 61 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 16
- Journey
- Loop
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Great Dolomites Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 26 km this is Great Dolomites Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 26 km
- Named road
- Great Dolomites Road
- Pass
- Passo Campolongo
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Gardena Pass
Gardena Pass, or Passo Gardena in Italian and Grödner Joch in German, climbs to 2,121 meters in the heart of the Dolomites, linking the Val Gardena with the Val Badia. The road crosses a high saddle between the huge grey cliffs of the Sella massif and the Puez-Odle range, and the view from the top is one of those scenes that make people stop and fall silent. The Dolomites were inscribed by UNESCO in 2009, valued for their pale limestone towers and for the way the rock changes color from white to pink to deep red at sunrise and sunset, a glow the local people call enrosadira.
Read the complete Gardena Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gardena Pass is where the day begins. Next is Sella Pass.
2. Sella Pass
The Sella Pass is the one the Dolomites are famous for, even if the locals would argue that every pass here is. At 2,244 metres, it connects the Val Gardena with the Val di Fassa, running between the sheer grey towers of the Sassolungo, or Langkofel, on one side and the great fortress mass of the Sella group on the other. The rock is dolomite, a pale limestone that glows pink and orange at sunset, an effect the Ladin people call enrosadira, and the setting is the sort of place where cyclists weep and motorcyclists forget to ride.
Read the complete Sella Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Pordoi Pass.
3. Pordoi Pass
Pordoi is the high point of the Sella Ronda, a pass of 2,239 metres between the Fassa valley and Arabba, and for many people the one with the best view in the Dolomites. The road climbs from Canazei in about thirty hairpins to the saddle, where a big car park, a few restaurants and the cable car to Sass Pordoi cluster beneath the pale cliffs of the Sella massif. On a clear day, the rock turns pink and gold at dusk, the effect known locally as the enrosadira.
Read the complete Pordoi Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Campolongo Pass.
4. Campolongo Pass
Campolongo is the quiet pass in a family of loud ones. At 1,875 metres it links Corvara in Alta Badia with Arabba and the upper valley of Livinallongo, and on the Sella Ronda it is the stretch that most riders ride without thinking, between the more famous climbs of Pordoi and Gardena. That undersells it. The road winds up through pasture and scattered spruce from Corvara with a long, relaxed run of hairpins, and from the top the whole of the Sella massif stands over you, a pale, castellated block of limestone that looks as if it was built rather than eroded.
Read the complete Campolongo Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The high point of this section. Next is Arabba overnight base.
5. Arabba overnight base
Arabba is a small village in the Livinallongo valley, at about sixteen hundred metres, and for a motorcyclist it is one of the best places in the Dolomites to sleep. It lies at the foot of the Pordoi, Campolongo and Falzarego passes, close enough to the Marmolada, the highest peak in the range at about 3,340 metres, to see the glacier on a clear day. Cable cars climb from the village in winter and summer, the slopes behind are green with meadows and grazing cows, and when the day-trippers leave the passes in the evening, the place settles into quiet.
Read the complete Arabba overnight base write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Arabba overnight base sits at 94 km, late in the day. Next is back to Gardena Pass.
6. back to Gardena Pass
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gardena Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 61 km.
Leg by leg
Pordoi Pass to Campolongo Pass
This Pordoi Pass → Campolongo Pass stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.