The Passo Gardena (Jëuf de Frea in Ladin) proceeds from Selva di Val Gardena to Colfosco, which is part of the municipality of Corvara and with 1,645 m a.s.l. the highest located holiday resort of Alta Badia. A little below the Passo Gardena, findings from the Stone Age were made, a driveway up to the mountain pass was built in 1915, during World War I.

The alpine world on the Passo Gardena is awesome: to the south the massy Sella Group, the Cir Peaks in the Puez Group with the Puez-Odle Nature Park to the north, the Sassolungo Group to the west and to the east the peaks of the Val Badia valley with the legendary Fanes Group. On the ridge, several brooks have their source, one of them is the Rio Frea which flows into the Rio Gardena.

In the middle of the 20th century, the Passo Gardena became relevant for tourism. In 1960 the first road was built, afterwards lift facilities and hiking paths followed. Today the Passo Gardena is one of the four mountain passes of the Sellaronda (a round on skis in winter and a four-passes cycle tour in summer). Moreover hikes into the Dantercepies Valley, to the Alta Via no. 2 or to the Pisciadù Via Ferrata, to mention but a few, start at the mountain pass.