The Loibl Pass road is the shortest connection between the Carinthian town of Ferlach and Tržič in Upper Carniola and part of the European route E652 from Klagenfurt to Naklo.

The mountain road (Loiblpass Straße, B 91), one of the steepest in the Eastern Alps, winds up from the broad Drava valley in numerous hairpin curves to the top of the pass, parallel to the Loiblbach brook and the picturesque Tscheppa (Čepa) gorge with several waterfalls.

In medieval times, the strategic importance of Loibl Pass increased again, when in the 11th century Emperor Henry III separated the southeastern March of Carniola from the Carinthia.

The Patriarchs of Aquileia, governing the margraviate from 1077, entrusted the maintenance of the pass road to the Cistercian monks of newly established Viktring Abbey, who had a hospitium and a chapel dedicated to Saint Leonard erected.

From about 1560 the Carinthian estates had the former bridle path extended and a 150 m (500 ft) long tunnel built underneath the Karawanks ridge, an early example of modern engineering that later had to be removed due to lack of safety.

Another attempt was planned in the 17th century; however, when in 1728 Emperor Charles VI toured the lands of the Habsburg monarchy, he still had to travel over the Loibl summit, stopping by the Deutscher Peter tavern north of the pass.

Work was performed by the Viennese Universale Hoch- und Tiefbau construction company, employing 660 civilian workers, several posted by the Service du travail obligatoire of Vichy France, and 1,652 forced labourers supplied by contract with the SS.

At the end of the war, on 7 May 1945, the surviving 950 prisoners from the two camps were largely abandoned by the guards and began marching down to Feistritz im Rosental, where they met Yugoslav Partisans on the following day.

Today plaques at the Austrian tunnel portal and a memorial on the Slovenian side, erected at the site of the southern Loibl camp, commemorate the injustices.