The best road cycling routes around Mesocco

Splugënpass

An intact village center and a turbulent history.

The San Bernardino Pass connects the Misox with the Rheinwald and is located at 2,066 meters. At the pass summit, there is a restaurant and a bus stop, making the location easily accessible. The open high mountain landscape with small lakes and wide open spaces is well suited for a break.

Very good alternative to the main road, completely paved.

Hotel Bellevue, San Bernardino since 1858 The Hotel Bellevue was first mentioned in 1858 and was built by the landowner Gaspare Motto, a landowner from Mesocco. Motto built the mineral spring building together with Paolo Battaglia. At the beginning of the 19th century, the resort hosted numerous spa guests, mainly from nearby Ticino, Lombardy, and Piedmont. The Desteffanis family is also mentioned, but the details of their management are unclear (probably around 1870). Luigi Toschini (1832–1915) bought the hotel in 1896 and later handed over the business to his sons Samuele (1857–1943) and Giovanni (1873–1925) and their respective families. At that time, the Bellevue's capacity was limited, consisting of 18 rooms (for tourists) and 4 for staff. A special feature of the hotel's cellar was a room called "giazéira" in the local dialect, which was filled with snow and ice in the spring to keep drinks and food cool. In 1932, the hotel was sold to the Thorner-Blatter family from the Canton of Bern, who are also the current owners of Villa Flora. In 1937, the Thorner-Blatter family decided to sell the building to the Studer family, who later resold it to Mr. Oldenburg. In 1955, the Thorner-Blatter family repurchased the hotel. In 1965, the Schmidlin family bought the hotel and ran it until 1984. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Schmidlin family was known in San Bernardino for breeding several St. Bernard dogs, which lived in the garden next to the hotel, where the terrace is today. The Schmidlin family later bred up to 15 St. Bernards and became the symbol of their business during those years. In 1984, Hans and Meta Wellig, the former owners of the Hotel National Ravizza, purchased the Hotel Bellevue with the intention of continuing the family tradition. Text / Source: Hotel Bellevue, San Bernardino https://bellevue-sanbernardino.ch/

Steep! Make sure you have the right gears and eat enough!!

Since, as is often the case, the pass signs are completely covered with stickers, taking photos in front of them is no longer fun. Alternatively, you can use the boundary stone to take a "proof photo." On the other side of the road, there's another, smaller stone with the elevation: 2113 m.

From Splügen, the final climb to the pass of the same name begins. From here, there are still about 9 km, 600 meters of elevation gain, and some beautiful switchbacks to conquer ⛰️🚲😍.