The Bernina Pass (2,330 m) is the highest pass in the eastern Alps and one of the most dramatic in Switzerland: on the southern descent, the view opens suddenly over the Italian Alps and on clear days extends to the Po Plain and beyond. The road is open from late spring to autumn; the railway runs year-round.
At the top of the pass, the Ospizio Bernina — a former hospice, now a small hotel and restaurant — stands at the highest railway station in the Alps without rack-and-pinion (2,253 m). The Lago Bianco (White Lake) at the pass is divided by the road and railway, draining into both the Rhine and the Adda — the hydrological divide between the Black Sea and the Adriatic. In summer the pass is busy with motorcyclists; in winter the Bernina Express runs through it on snowploughed tracks.