Road bike tour Stilfserjoch / Passo Stelvio (2.757m)
The Queen of the Pass Roads
48 hairpin bends, 25 km and 1,850 hm
Every summer, the Stelvio Pass with its 48 long hairpin bends belongs to thousands of cyclists for at least one day.
In the middle of the National Park of the same name, the Stelvio Pass connects the province of Bolzano with the province of Lombardy. It is the second-highest driveable mountain pass in the Alps and the highest in Italy: It's not without reason that the road to the Stelvio Pass is also called the "Queen of Pass Roads".
48 hairpin bends, 25 kilometers and 1,850 meters of elevation gain - these are the key figures of this popular tour. The paved road leads up into the glacier region of the Ortler massif, where the Stelvio Pass marks the destination at 2,760 meters.
From the starting point Prad, we first reach Gomagoi. From here, the serpentines are numbered downwards, each bend announcing a new challenge. The actual ascent begins at the outskirts of Trafoi.
The first 24 hairpin bends lead mainly through the forest, at bend 22 the mountain inn Franzenshöhe invites you to take a break. From here we can already see the destination, but the end is not yet in sight. The 6 km steep ascent that follows demands quite a bit of endurance. The efforts are rewarded with the view of the mighty glacier front of the Ortler, which comes closer meter by meter. The last few bike lengths to the finish are driven by the pride of having almost conquered the Queen of Pass Roads. A feeling of elation that continues even when we take the descent via the Umbrail Pass (2,500 m) into the Münster Valley, the highest pass in Switzerland.
This second triumph comes with our tour almost without effort. From Santa Maria in the Münster Valley, we finally cross the border to Taufers in the Münster Valley, continue to Glurns and return to Prad via the Vinschgau Cycle Path.
Due to the high traffic volume, we recommend avoiding the tour on weekends and during peak season and starting early.
You can ride completely without traffic once a year during the Stelvio Bike Day. On this day, the route from Trafoi and the descent via the Umbrail to Santa Maria is closed to motorized traffic: No engine noise, just the quiet whirring of thousands of bikers' wheels, perhaps the whistles of marmots and the sight of grazing cows and birds circling in the sunlight. The next edition of the Stelvio Bike Day has been scheduled for Saturday, August 30, 2025.
