Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair and Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
419 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 41
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
From Tubre it runs 419 km to Tubre; allow about 7 h 41 of riding. It goes by way of Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L, Parco Comunale di Sellero, Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te and back through Parco Comunale di Sellero. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Switzerland into Italy - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Scenic road chapters
Ofen Pass and Val Mustair
For about 72 km this is Ofen Pass and Val Mustair, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
Length
72 km
Named road
Ofen Pass and Val Mustair
Pass
Passo d Eira
Passo di Vivione
30 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it. This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else.
Chapter facts
Length
31 km
Pass
Passo di Vivione
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair
In the high, narrow Val Mustair, at the point where Switzerland meets South Tyrol and the Stelvio national park, there is a Benedictine convent that was founded, according to tradition, by Charlemagne himself around the year 800. Whether or not the emperor's role is exactly as the legend has it, the convent of St John is certainly Carolingian, and it keeps the largest cycle of Carolingian wall paintings anywhere. The figures, painted in the early ninth century, cover the walls of the church in red, yellow and green, in a lively, slightly naive style, with scenes from the life of David and the story of Christ, and later Romanesque frescoes were painted over them in places. UNESCO listed it in 1983.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair is where the day begins. Next is Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L.
2. Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L
The Rhaetian Railway's Albula and Bernina lines were built in the early twentieth century to connect the Engadine with the rest of Switzerland and with Italy, and they are masterpieces of mountain railway engineering, with spiral tunnels, viaducts and gradients that seem impossible for a train. They were listed by UNESCO in 2008 together with the landscapes they cross, and St. If you ride in this area, you will see the red trains everywhere, and you will often be riding beside them.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Parco Comunale di Sellero.
3. Parco Comunale di Sellero
Valcamonica is the valley of the rock carvings, and Sellero is one of the places where you can walk among them. For about eight thousand years, from the Stone Age to Roman times, the people who lived here, especially the Camuni of the Iron Age, hammered and scratched pictures onto the smooth glacier-polished rock: hunters, deer, warriors, farmers, ploughs, huts and strange symbols. The valley holds hundreds of thousands of them, and in 1979 it became Italy's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. The municipal park at Sellero preserves a group of engraved rocks in woodland above the Oglio river, so you walk on a path and find the carvings on bare sheets of stone among the trees.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 179 km into the recorded legs you reach Parco Comunale di Sellero. Next is Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te.
4. Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te
Valcamonica, the long valley of the Oglio river north of Lake Iseo, holds one of the largest collections of prehistoric rock carvings in the world, with hundreds of thousands of figures pecked into smooth glacier-polished rocks over thousands of years. It was the first site in Italy to be listed by UNESCO, in 1979. The Luine park, on a wooded hill above Darfo Boario Terme at the southern end of the valley, is one of the places where you can see these engravings up close, with paths leading between rock surfaces covered in figures of animals, people, weapons and mysterious symbols.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L comes up about 346 km into the recorded legs. Next is Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair closes the day.
Leg by leg
Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair to Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L
Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair → Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L to Parco Comunale di Sellero
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L → Parco Comunale di Sellero is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Parco Comunale di Sellero to Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te
Parco Comunale di Sellero → Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te to back through Parco Comunale di Sellero
Parco Comunale di Luine di Darfo-Boario Te → back through Parco Comunale di Sellero is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Parco Comunale di Sellero to back through Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L
back through Parco Comunale di Sellero → back through Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L to Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair
back through Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina L → Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.