The hardest Dolomites passes, and calmer ways around them

A pass is hard when several things stack up: steep ramps, tight hairpins, little width, big drops without barriers and heavy traffic. One of them is fine. Three at once on a busy August afternoon is where people get scared. These are the 20 roads we rate as confident drivers only, hardest first.

The calmer alternative for each

Almost every hard pass has a wider road that reaches the same valley, usually 10 to 30 minutes longer.

If you do drive one

• Go early. Before 9:00 you share the road with a few cyclists instead of buses and motorbike groups.
• Use a low gear downhill and let the engine brake. Hot brakes on a long descent are the real danger, not the hairpins.
• Look far ahead and stop in a wide spot before a blind bend if something big is coming. On narrow roads the downhill driver gives way.
• Overtake cyclists only with space. In Italy you must leave 1.5 m where possible; on a narrow climb that means waiting.
• Skip them in rain, fog or the first snow. The ratings assume a dry road.

Not sure about a whole trip? The route planner shows which roads a route uses and offers a calmer option when there is one. For the passes most people actually enjoy, see Easy, beautiful Dolomites drives for nervous drivers.