San Bernardino · Splügen Long Alpine Day

Big southern light, old pass mood and a serious return.

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Why this ride

Big southern light, old pass mood and a serious return. Out of Chur and back again: 322 km, roughly 6 h 12 in the saddle. It goes by way of Mesocco and Thusis. The climbs: San Bernardino pass road and Splügenpass hairpins. It tops out at 2,114 m. San Bernardino Pass and Splugen Pass are open in summer only - check it is open before you set off. The passes are the reason to go.

Roadbook

1. Chur fuel and status gate fuel · 593 m

   Chur likes to say that it is the oldest town in Switzerland, and the evidence is on its side. People have lived on this spot, where the Plessur river meets the Rhine valley, for around five thousand years, and the Romans put a settlement here, and a bishop's seat followed in late antiquity. Today the city, with about thirty-two thousand people, is the capital of Graubünden, the biggest canton in the country, and the gateway to the great passes and valleys of the east.

   The old town is a delight, with narrow lanes, stepped alleys, fountains and a cathedral that rises above the rooftops on a terrace. The Rhaetian Railway, with its red trains, runs from here to St. Moritz and Davos through some of the most spectacular country in the Alps. The mountains close in on every side, with the Calanda looming to the west, and in autumn you can smell woodsmoke and wet leaves in the streets.

   For a rider, the city is practical. It has fuel stations, bike dealers, supermarkets and every kind of food, and it sits on the main roads: the A13 south to the San Bernardino, the road west toward the Oberalp and Lukmanier passes, and the road east to Davos, Klosters and the Flüela. The Splügen and Albula routes both start nearby. Before a big day in the mountains, this is the place to fill the tank, check your tyres and have a proper breakfast.

   The city is warm in summer and the evenings are lively, with outdoor terraces and cafes. The speciality is Bündner Gerstensuppe, a barley soup with ham and vegetables, and the local air-dried beef, Bündnerfleisch, is thin, dark and delicious. Morning traffic on the main roads can be heavy, so start early, and check the passes for closures or roadworks before you set out. Winter ice and snow can affect even the lower roads, so bring warm gear if you travel out of season.

2. San Bernardino pass road pass · 2066 m

   Before the tunnel, everyone went over the top. The San Bernardino pass, at 2,066 metres, links the upper Rhine valley of Graubünden with Ticino, and has done for centuries, when mule trains carried goods between the north and the south. Since the opening of the road tunnel in 1967, most traffic goes underneath, and the old road is left for those who prefer the view.

   The old road is a beauty. From the north it climbs through the Hinterrhein valley, the source of the Rhine, and then a series of hairpins to the summit, where a small lake, the Lago Moesola, sits beside the road, with a few buildings. On the south side, the road drops through a series of tight, well-marked hairpins to Mesocco, with the castle ruins perched on a rock above the village, and the chestnut woods and stone villages of the Italian-speaking valley below.

   The riding is good but not demanding, with smooth tarmac and gentle gradients. In places the road is narrow, but the traffic is light, since most drivers take the tunnel. The pass is open from about June to October, depending on snow, and is closed in winter. The weather can change in an hour, from sun to cloud, and the temperature at the top can be low even in summer.

   There are no big towns near the top, and fuel is a practical concern. Mesocco and the villages on the south side have small stations, and the nearest town of any size is Biasca, in the Ticino valley, with about six thousand people, while on the north side Splügen and Thusis have more services. Fill up before you begin. A coffee at the pass restaurant, if it is open, is a fine way to enjoy the quiet, and the lake is a good place to walk for ten minutes. Come on a weekday morning for the best light and the emptiest road.

3. Mesocco food reset food · 790 m

   Mesocco is a valley village of about thirteen hundred people on the southern side of the San Bernardino, in the Misox, the Italian-speaking arm of Graubünden that opens toward Bellinzona and Lake Maggiore. At nearly eight hundred metres it is the last place of any size before the road climbs to the pass, and it is the right place for a breakfast or a late lunch, with a handful of simple restaurants and cafés serving polenta, cheese, local salami and chestnut dishes, and a small stretch of fuel and shops.

   The beautiful thing about the village is its castle. Above the road, on a rock, stand the ruins of the Castello di Mesocco, once a stronghold of the Sax family who controlled the pass in the Middle Ages, and the Romanesque church of Santa Maria del Castello nearby, with frescoes inside, lies on a ledge beneath it. The place was important because the San Bernardino pass was an old trade route over the Alps, used since Roman times, and the lords took tolls from every mule train. The pass road itself took its modern form in the nineteenth century, and since 1967 a long road tunnel has carried most of the heavy traffic underneath, which leaves the old road for those with time to enjoy it.

   The ride is the real attraction. From Mesocco the road climbs in a succession of hairpins and gallery stretches through chestnut and beech forest and then spruce, reaching the summit at 2,066 metres beside a small lake, and then descending towards Hinterrhein and the Rhine valley. The corners are well graded, the surface usually good, and the traffic is thinner than on the Gotthard. The pass is closed by snow in winter, so riders should only plan to cross in the warmer months, usually from late spring.

   Weather often differs on the two sides: the south may be warm and sunny while cloud sits over the summit, so carry a warm layer. The old road is best early, before the heat, and the smell of woodsmoke and wet stone in the village is a pleasant thing to ride into.

4. Splügenpass hairpins pass · 2114 m

   The Italian side of the Splügen is the one that makes people swear with happiness. From Campodolcino the road climbs the Valle Spluga in a rapid string of tight hairpins, stacked one above another up the valley wall, past waterfalls and a gorge that the old road builders had to blast through. At the top, at about 2,114 metres, you arrive at the border, a modest customs building and the long, cold Lago di Montespluga, held back by a dam and glinting in a bare landscape of grass and stone.

   The road you are riding was built in the 1820s by the engineer Carlo Donegani for the Austrian government, which then ruled Lombardy and wanted a better link to the north, and the route is far older than that. Merchants, armies and mule trains have crossed this gap for two thousand years, and the Roman and medieval trade routes ran very much along the same line. The Swiss side drops into the Rheinwald and the old village of Splügen, with stone houses and a small square that has hardly changed in centuries.

   On a bike the Italian hairpins are tight and require patience, with some narrow tunnels and gallery sections that are damp and echoing. The surface is generally good but can be patched, and in early summer there may be gravel from rockfall. Traffic is moderate, and the road is closed in winter, usually from about November to May. At the top, expect a stiff wind, snow patches into June, and temperatures that can be low even on a bright day.

   Fuel is a real issue. There is none at the top, and Montespluga has only a few buildings. Chiavenna, on the Italian side, is the nearest large town, about twenty kilometres down the valley, with all the services, and Splügen on the Swiss side has some. Fill up beforehand, and enjoy a coffee at the little cafe by the lake if it is open. The best light is in the morning, when the valley is still in shade and the lake is calm.

5. Thusis return gate fuel · 720 m

   Thusis is a gateway town, and it knows its job well. It sits where the Hinterrhein, the young Rhine, comes out of the gorge of the Viamala and into the wide, orchard-lined valley of the Domleschg, and from here roads and railway lines fan out into the Graubünden mountains: south over the Splügen and San Bernardino passes, east through the Schin gorge toward the Albula and Davos. At about seven hundred metres in altitude, it is a fairly low base for such high terrain, and that makes it a useful place to be at the start of a mountain day.

   The Viamala itself, the bad road, is just south of the town. For centuries it was one of the great hazards of alpine travel, a gorge so narrow and deep that the old mule track clung to the cliff over the river. The Romans and medieval merchants used it to reach the southern passes, and the toll traffic made nearby villages rich. The modern road runs through tunnels and over high bridges, but you can still stop and walk down into the gorge itself, where the river has carved a ribbon of polished rock far below. The Domleschg valley to the north is full of castles, more per square kilometre than almost anywhere in Switzerland.

   The ride south from Thusis is among the best in the country. The old road through the Viamala and Rofla gorges and up to the Splügen is a feat of nineteenth-century engineering, while the motorway tunnel carries the heavy traffic toward San Bernardino. If you take the pass road over the San Bernardino, the road climbs in long, easy curves and ends with a generous run of hairpins on the southern side toward Mesocco and Ticino. Be ready for cool air at the top even in summer, and snow can close some of these roads from late autumn to spring, so check ahead.

   Thusis is a small, practical town with a fuel station, supermarkets, bakeries and several cafes beside the Rhaetian Railway station, which is a good place to watch the red trains setting off for the Albula. The nearest bigger town is Domat/Ems, about fifteen kilometres to the north, and Chur is just beyond. If you plan a long mountain day, fill up and eat something here first.

6. Back to Chur fuel finish · 593 m

   At 593 metres, in a wide bend of the Rhine valley, Chur makes a strong claim to be the oldest town in Switzerland, with traces of settlement going back thousands of years and a Roman presence from the first century BC. It has been the seat of a bishop since late antiquity, and the bishop's court, with its cathedral, sits on a terrace above the old town. Down below, the narrow streets and squares of the Altstadt, with painted houses, fountains and arcades, are a pleasant place to wander after a morning in the saddle.

   For riders, Chur is the hub of Graubünden, the largest and most mountainous canton in Switzerland, and the starting point for some of the best roads in the Alps. South of the town, the road climbs over the Lenzerheide to the Albula and Julier passes and the Engadine; west, it runs past Flims and the Rhine gorge to the Oberalp pass; east, the dead-end road to Arosa climbs a famous sequence of hundreds of bends up a narrow valley. North, the Rhine valley runs down past the vineyards of the Bündner Herrschaft toward Liechtenstein and Lake Constance. Chur is on the Grand Tour of Switzerland, and you will see plenty of other riders.

   The town has all the services you could want: fuel stations on the main roads, motorcycle dealers and workshops, shops and restaurants. Fill up here before heading into the mountains, where stations are fewer and prices higher. The motorway, the A13, requires a Swiss vignette, but the main roads through the valleys do not. Speed limits are strictly enforced in Switzerland, with radar cameras and heavy fines, so ride within the limits.

   The Rhaetian Railway, Graubünden's narrow-gauge mountain railway, has its headquarters in Chur, and its trains climb into the mountains from here, including the line to Arosa and the routes over the Albula and Bernina to St. Moritz and Tirano. Watching a red train winding up a valley is part of the scenery of Graubünden.

   Graubünden's cuisine is hearty and distinctive. Try capuns, chard leaves wrapped around a dough of flour, egg and dried meat, cooked in milk and cheese, or pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta with potatoes, cabbage and cheese. For dessert, the Bündner Nusstorte, a pastry filled with caramelised walnuts, keeps well and makes a good snack on the road. The Bündner Herrschaft produces excellent Pinot Noir, best enjoyed in the evening, once the bike is parked for the night.

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