Italy, Italian Alps
Distance
49 km
Time
1h 30m
Driving score
9.4
Navigation that keeps your route
Google Maps carries only nine stops per link, so one long link quietly straightens the drive out. We split this route into 484 stages, each inside that limit, so the road you picked is the road you get. Open the next stage when you reach its start. For the exact line with no rerouting at all, download the GPX and load it into your sat nav or a route app.
We choose the roads, waypoints are preserved so Google Maps follows the intended route.
Editorial
Nothing prepares you for the first sight of the northern ramp: a ribbon folded forty-eight times against a wall of scree. It is less a road than a statement.
Drive it at dawn, in something narrow, and treat it with respect, the walls are close and the drops are honest.
Proprietary scoring
The journey
Start
Prato allo Stelvio
Fuel here, nothing above
Photo Spot
Tornante 24
The classic stacked-hairpin frame
Mountain Pass
Stelvio Summit
2,758 m, bratwurst and thin air
Finish
Bormio
Thermal baths and a proper dinner
The full guide
Forty eight numbered hairpins on the north ramp and one of the most photographed roads on earth. Here is how to drive the Stelvio without spending the day in a queue.
The Stelvio is a road that rewards discipline. The north ramp from Prato allo Stelvio stacks its hairpins so tightly that from the top it looks like dropped ribbon, and the temptation is to attack it. Do that and you will arrive at the summit with cooked brakes and no memory of the view.
Drive it early, use the engine on the descent, and treat the numbered corners as a rhythm exercise rather than a stopwatch. The road was finished in 1825 and the geometry has barely changed since.
Stage 1
24 km, 48 hairpins, 1,800 m of climb
Steady gradient, good surface and the corners numbered downward from 48. Cyclists are constant from late morning, so first light is the only time you get clean sight lines. Second gear for the hairpins, third between them.
Stage 2
Passo dello Stelvio
Cafes, souvenir huts and the highest paved pass in Italy. Park, take twenty minutes and let the brakes cool properly before you commit to a descent.
Stage 3
22 km, tunnels and gorge
Faster and more open than the north side, with rock tunnels and a long gorge section. This is the more enjoyable side to drive quickly and the less interesting one to photograph.
Stage 4
13 km into Switzerland
Turn off just below the summit for a quieter, narrower run down to Santa Maria Val Müstair. Carry a Swiss vignette if you plan to continue on Swiss motorways afterwards.
Planning notes
Late May to early November depending on snow. The Bormio side usually clears first. Check the provincial road status before travelling in either shoulder month.
Be at the bottom of your chosen ramp by seven. By ten the road carries coaches, motorcycles and cyclists in numbers that make overtaking pointless.
North from Prato for the spectacle, Bormio for the driving. If you have time, climb from Prato and descend to Bormio, then return over the Gavia the following day.
The descent is the risk, not the climb. Use low gears, brake in short firm applications rather than riding the pedal, and stop if you smell brake fade.
Guide last reviewed August 2026 by the Drivers Atlas road team.
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