Bormio · Stelvio and Gavia Serious Pass Day
Hairpin mythology with no room for fantasy planning.
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Why this ride
Hairpin mythology with no room for fantasy planning. 374 km round from Bormio - plan on about 7 h 12 of riding. It goes by way of Santa Maria and Tirano. The climbs: Stelvio Pass and Gavia Pass. It tops out at about 2,750 m. Stelvio Pass and Gavia Pass are open in summer only - check it is open before you set off. It crosses from Italy into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It is a high-mountain day.
Roadbook
- Bormio overnight base
sleep
It is a small town with an old centre of stone houses, narrow streets and a clock tower, and it has been a spa town since Roman times, drawing on hot springs that still feed the baths.
Everything starts here. The Stelvio Pass, at 2,758 metres, climbs from Bormio in a series of hairpins to one of the highest paved roads in Europe, and the Gavia Pass leaves from Santa Caterina Valfurva, about fifteen kilometres away, and reaches 2,621 metres on a narrow road with few barriers on the west side. Livigno, over the Foscagno and Eira passes, is another day's ride. The roads are usually open from late May or June to October or November, depending on snow, and early starts help to avoid the crowds and the afternoon storms. Surfaces are generally good, though the Gavia can be rough and narrow, so meeting a coach is an adventure.
Bormio has a long mountaineering and skiing tradition. It has hosted World Cup races for years, and the Olympic downhill races of 2026 were held on its slopes. The town is also known for its food, especially pizzoccheri, buckwheat noodles with cabbage, potatoes and cheese, and bresaola, air-dried beef from the valley. The local cheese, Bitto, is made in the high pastures.
Fuel is available in Bormio, with stations on the main road, and it is wise to fill up before heading into the mountains, as the passes have none. Tirano, thirty-two kilometres to the south-west, is the nearest large town, and the Bernina railway runs from there across the border to Switzerland.
Slip into the thermal baths in the evening if your legs allow it, or at least walk the old streets. The valley is quiet after the day-trippers leave.
- Santa Maria fuel
fuel
Santa Maria is the main village of the Val Mustair, a quiet Swiss valley that runs east from the Ofen Pass toward the Italian border, and the place where the road to the Umbrail Pass begins. It lies at roughly 1,400 metres, among meadows and pine forest, with a few traditional Romansh houses with deep window reveals and painted sgraffito decoration on their walls. The people here speak Romansh, a Latin-derived language that survives in only a few valleys of Switzerland.
The label suggests fuel, and that is the right way to think about this stop. It is the last settlement before the Umbrail Pass, a narrow, spectacular road that climbs steeply toward the Stelvio, and a sensible place to check the fuel level before the climb, since prices on the Swiss side are in francs and typically higher than in Italy. Fuel may also be available in Mustair, a few kilometres further east, and in the Italian villages down the valley, such as Tubre.
Just down the road in Mustair, the Benedictine convent of St John is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with Carolingian frescoes that date back to around the year 800, among the best surviving examples of early medieval wall painting in Europe. It is well worth an hour, if you can spare it.
The Umbrail road itself rises in a series of hairpins to about 2,500 metres, where it meets the Stelvio road near the Italian border. The road is paved but narrow, and it is closed during winter, usually opening in late spring after the snow has been cleared. The weather up there is often cold, windy and changeable, even in summer, so bring warm layers and gloves.
The valley is rich in wildlife, with chamois and ibex on the high slopes, and eagles circling overhead. The air is clean and cool, and the nights are cold. A coffee in the village before the climb is a good way of gathering yourself for what lies ahead.
- Stelvio Pass
pass · 2757 m
Few roads in Europe have a reputation as large as the Stelvio, and for once it is deserved. At 2,757 metres, it is one of the highest paved passes in the Alps, and the road up from the Trafoi side is a staircase of forty-eight numbered hairpins stacked against the mountainside, while the Bormio side has about forty of its own, longer and more open. Engineers of the Austrian empire built it in the 1820s to link Lombardy with the Tyrol, under the direction of Carlo Donegani, and it was meant for horse-drawn carts, which explains why the bends are so tight.
The riding is a pleasure and a test. The surface is generally good, but the road is narrow, with buses and campers taking up the full width on the hairpins, so you ride carefully and look well ahead. The best moments come on the stretches between hairpins, where the road opens out, and the view down the valley, with the pale ribbon of tarmac folded back and forth, is an image you will remember. The summit is a busy place in summer, with souvenir stalls, sausage vans and a crowd of motorbikes. To the south-west stands the Ortler, at 3,905 metres the highest mountain in the eastern Alps, and glaciers glitter above the road.
The pass was a front line in the First World War. Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops fought at extraordinary heights, in trenches and tunnels cut in the ice, and relics still turn up as the glaciers shrink. The Giro d'Italia has crossed the Stelvio many times, and the highest point of the race is named after Fausto Coppi. At the top, a short road leads off to the Umbrail Pass and Switzerland, a quieter, partly unpaved alternative.
Plan carefully. The pass is usually open from around late May or June until October or early November, depending on snow, and it can close at short notice. Weather changes quickly, with cold, rain and even snow possible in July, so carry warm layers. Start early, before the traffic builds, and you may have the hairpins nearly to yourself, with the light low and golden on the rocks.
- Gavia Pass
pass · 2621 m
The Gavia is one of those passes that people talk about in lowered voices. At 2,621 metres it is among the highest paved roads in the Italian Alps, linking Bormio in the Valtellina with Ponte di Legno in the Val Camonica, and it crosses the rugged, rocky heart of the Stelvio National Park. The summit is bare and wild, with snow patches into July, two small lakes, the dark Lago Nero and the pale Lago Bianco, and a stone refuge, Rifugio Berni, with a restaurant and a view across the glaciers of the Ortler-Cevedale group.
The road is narrow, steep and rough. The western side, climbing from Santa Caterina Valfurva, has gradients up to eighteen percent, lots of blind hairpins and almost no barriers over the drop, and the surface patches and potholes are the norm. On the eastern side, from Ponte di Legno, the climb is a little more forgiving, but still narrow, with passing places that the bus drivers and campers use with practiced calm. Meeting a coach on a hairpin can require reversing. Weather changes quickly at this altitude, and the pass is closed by snow from late autumn until early summer, usually reopening in June.
The Gavia has a famous history in cycling: in the 1988 Giro d'Italia, a blizzard struck as the riders crossed the pass, and Andy Hampsten of the United States attacked in the snow, took the leader's pink jersey that day and went on to win the race (the stage itself went to Erik Breukink). It also has a darker history: the area was a front line in the First World War, when Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops fought at extraordinary altitudes, and the remains of trenches and barracks can still be found on the surrounding peaks.
The nearest petrol is at Bormio or in the valley towns, and Ponte di Legno, with about thirteen hundred residents, may have it, but fill up before the climb and do not trust the gauge. Food is simple and hearty, with polenta, venison stew and pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta from the Valtellina, served at the refuge.
Go early to avoid traffic and afternoon thunderstorms. Bring a warm layer even in August, because the temperature at the top can be close to freezing, and wear gloves. Take your time, ride within your limits, and the Gavia will reward you with one of the best days in the Alps.
- Tirano food
food
Tirano sits at the foot of the Bernina route, near the Swiss border, and it is the one place in Italy where a train runs along the street. The red carriages of the Rhaetian Railway start here and climb over the Bernina Pass into Switzerland on a line that is listed by UNESCO, and the Bernina Express leaves from a station just a few steps from the town centre. Watching the little train rattle between parked cars on the main road is one of those charming oddities that make you smile.
The town has about eight thousand people, which means fuel, supermarkets and plenty of places to eat. Its main sight is the Basilica of the Madonna di Tirano, a handsome Renaissance church built after a vision of the Virgin Mary was reported here in 1504, with a grand facade and a plain square in front. Each September a big pilgrimage fills the streets. It is also a good place to try the local cooking: the Valtellina is known for buckwheat dishes, mountain cheeses and bresaola, and the red wines of the terraced slopes above the Adda river.
For the rider, Tirano is the crossroads of three great mountain roads. To the north, the road climbs to the Bernina Pass, at 2,328 metres, with long curves and views of glaciers, and into Switzerland. To the west, the valley leads toward Sondrio, and to the east the Aprica pass rises toward Edolo. Bormio, with the Stelvio and Gavia passes, is a short ride further up the main valley, so this is a natural food stop on a serious pass day.
The valley is narrow and the traffic can be heavy, particularly lorries on the main road, but side roads climb quickly into forest and meadow. Weather in the Alps changes quickly, so check conditions for the high passes and keep waterproofs handy. The southern slope here is warm and sunny, often a good deal warmer than the high passes above.
Order a plate of local pasta, find a table in the sun, and let the engine cool. Whatever the timetable, give yourself an hour here, because the rest of the day is demanding.
- Back to Bormio
finish
Bormio lies in a high valley of Lombardy, a town of narrow lanes, stone arches and church bells at around 1,200 metres, with mountains rising steeply on every side. It has been a spa since Roman times, and the warm springs that bubble up from deep in the rock still feed thermal baths where you can soak after a long day. In winter it is a ski resort with a long tradition, and the famously steep Stelvio downhill run, used for World Cup races, starts above the town.
The history of the place runs deep. Bormio sat on a trade route linking northern Italy with the Alpine passes and Switzerland, and Venetian and Milanese merchants passed through. The Valtellina, the valley below, is known for its wines, made from the nebbiolo grape grown on steep terraces, and for bresaola, the air-dried beef. Local dishes in Bormio include pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta cooked with cabbage, potatoes and melted cheese, and the town's winter carnival and old stone fountains give it character.
The Stelvio Pass is the reason many riders come. At about 2,758 metres it is the second highest paved pass in the Alps, and the road from Bormio climbs through galleries and tunnels, then flings itself up in dozens of hairpins to a crest of snow, cafes and souvenir stalls. The Bormio side is generally smoother and wider than the famous series of hairpins on the Prato allo Stelvio side. Traffic is heavy in summer, especially at weekends, so go early. The pass is typically closed from late autumn to late spring, and the weather can turn cold and foggy even in July.
Bormio has fuel stations, supermarkets and lodging at all levels, and San Nicolò, a short ride down the road, also has services. Fill the tank before the climb, since the top has none. Dress in layers, because the temperature drops sharply with altitude, and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate at the summit.