Great St Bernard Pass

The pass has carried traffic between the Rhone and the Aosta valley since antiquity - Roman remains have been found on the summit - and the hospice was founded in the eleventh century by Bernard of Menthon to shelter travellers on a crossing that regularly killed them. Augustinian canons have kept it running ever since, which makes it one of the longest continuously staffed refuges in Europe. The dogs bred here for searching out travellers in snow became the St Bernard, and although the breed no longer does rescue work, animals are still kept at the pass in summer and at Martigny in winter. A museum covers the pass's history, and a small lake beside the hospice stays frozen much of the year.

Highlights

• A hospice run for a thousand years - staffed by canons since the eleventh century.
• The dogs that took the name - still kept at the pass through the summer.
• Roman traces on the summit - the crossing's ancient use.
• A lake frozen most of the year - beside the buildings at 2,469 metres.

When to go

June to October, when the pass road is open. A day.

Before you go

The road is closed by snow roughly November to May - only the tunnel below runs then, and it bypasses the hospice. Weather at the top is cold and can turn in minutes. The dogs are a summer presence, not guaranteed. The Italian border runs across the pass.

Nearby

Bourg-Saint-Pierre is below; Aosta is down the Italian side.