Rated as the best road in the world by Top Gear a few years ago, it is certainly on radar of most riders and drivers in the area. But after riding it recently, you have to ask “what were those guys smoking?” While the road does have something for everyone, it also has some of the tightest hairpins in the world and to make things a bit more challenging- a couple of them are in tunnels! I can’t imagine what fun it must be to take a Lamborghini up this road, NOT- I certainly hope you are capable of reversing up hills Jeremy!
 
On a Ducati, it is a completely different story. The Splurgen is truly an engineering marvel. It can be ridden either way, but for this listing we are going to ride it from north to south. Starting from the village of Splurgen, you wind up a tight forest lined mountain road until you hit the 1st plateau, where the corners open up and the scenery turns to classic “high alpine valley”. Then you hit the second ramp with a ribbon of hairpins all the way to the summit. (19 hairpins on the north ramp) The summit provides some spectacular views in both directions if it is clear and is well worth a stop, along with everyone else.
 
Descending on the Italian side of this pass is a 3 part story:
 
1. The open section at the top- Beautiful scenery, nice corners, reasonable surface- and a little village or lunch about 1/3 of the way down this section with plenty of Restaurants. This is clearly the nicest part of this route.
2. The circular staircase- We go from the nicest part of this route to the most interesting. His has to be one of the tightest roads in the world. A series of hairpins right down the side of a cliff. Just have a look at the video starting at 5.10. This is jaw dropping stuff here, and just be thankful you left the Lambo at home.
3. the valley ride- Back to more normal fair here- down the canyon on roads of good surface but you pick up more traffic the further south you go.
 
All in all- a truly stunning ride, and should not be missed if you are in the area. BUT- and there is a big but here- this is a DIFFICULT pass and should only be ridden in good conditions unless you are a true masochist.