Italy/Garda and the ~500 miles to get there, paths, GRs etc?

[james-o]

We're planning a trip to Lake Garda in July. I've not ridden in Italy and my Italian's no good so I'm not sure where to start. We'll fly to any one of Innsbruck, Geneva, Grenoble, Lyon, Pisa, Salzburg, Bergamo (to list a few budget airline options) and ride for a week or so to arrive at Garda. Roads are fine but we prefer dirt tracks, canals, gravel roads and similar simple off-road routes. We'll be on bikes with bigger tyres and light luggage so mixing road and off-road appeals.

Has anyone followed any long distance paths, GRs or similar in that general area that I could look up and use to base a route on? We've ridden Camino and GR routes before as well as plenty of Alpine road riding so we're happy to pull a route together once we have a base like that. 500-800 miles as a guide but much depends on the terrain.

Thanks for any info.
James

[kawa9999]

Hi james,
well that is a lot of different options you have there.
If you fly to Innsbruck or Salzburg, then you want to have a look in google "transalp mtb" or "alpencross".
Sorry only in German: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transalp_% ... querung%29
There are many different routes across the alps, it a pretty popular thing to be done both with road bike as well as with MTB. Unfortuantely I do not have much experience on the MTB tracks, but I suppose you really need a MTB with just a few luggage.
I suggest you have a look here, maybe search for transalp: http://www.gps-tour.info/en/tracks/112.html
You can also filter the type of track you are looking for.
Just an example: http://www.gps-tour.info/en/tracks/detail.106140.html or http://www.gps-tour.info/en/tracks/detail.75016.html
If you prefer to use small roads, there are a couple of variants from Innsbruck, the Brenner I would not recommend it, lot of traffic. Alternatively, passo resia is very nice (http://www.gist.it/public/577405035Bici ... 0Resia.JPG)
If you are really into big mountains there is also passo rombo, but it goes up to 2500 m.
For both, better avoid weekends, especially during summer. As said, there also a lot of paths but these are really for MTB as far as I know.
From Bolzano, there is then a very nice cycle path, all the way to lago di garda. But if you go to paso resia I qould suggest you head south over to Merano, if you go to Bolzano there is one more pass inbetween.
From Salzburg, I think you either take the INN radweg, in the valley to Innbruck, or you go up into the mountains.
Alternatively, there is a very nice cycle path from Lienz to Bolzano, did it 3 years ago and it has some offroad sections but still easy.
If you fly to Bergano, then I think the shortest was is the PO plain, there is some kind of cycle path there, but it is all flat and maybe a little bit boring for you. Alternatively you have to head north in the mountains.
From Pisa you are in a totally different area, if you go to garda then you still get some mountains inbetween, the appennino, the last part anyway basically from modena/parma/bologna is flat. Are is also very nice, but kind of different than the alps.
Hope this helps.
manuel

[james-o]

Thanks Manuel. Yes, a lot of options and a vague question really so thanks for some pointers, very useful as a route will emerge from tips like that. All noted and will be looked up.

[andymiller]

Hi James

As Manual suggests, if you are looking at full-on MTB routes then look at the routes taken by the TransAlp (the official sites is available in English). However, the guys who do this tend to either have someone to carry their bags or they travel with a backpack and stay in rifugi etc. You'll find lots of gpx files around on cycle route sites - although the ones used by German bikers are probably the best bet. The route changes from year to year but the different variants should still be valid.

If you are looking for something a less demanding, there are three established options. However they mainly involve paved cycleways and quiet roads rather than tracks and sentieri (although there may be some sections that are unpaved) so I'm not sure they are what you are looking for:

- the Via Claudia Augusta which starts in Augsburg near Munich and comes into Italy over the Reisen Pass;

- the Eurovelo 7 (known in Italy as the Ciclopista del Sole) which comes over the Brenner Pass - I'm pretty sure it comes from Innnsbruck but I'd need to check. (NB the FIAB site can take an age to load but will eventually load - although the route is also shown on OSM maps if you have one (openmtbmap.org or velomap.org are very good IME.

- the Lakes of Lombardia route put together by the Italian Friends of the Bicycle (the main national Italian cyclists organisation) passes close to Bergamo airport. You can read all about the route on my website (and download gpx files).

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/routes/ ... e-overview

There are other options on there as well.

The best paper maps are from Kompass maps 1:50k plus they have on and off-road cycle routes marked on them. Stanfords and themapshop.co.uk have them, although if you want to order several then the best bet is probably amazon.de or amazon.it (they are actually an Italian company).

[mnichols]

Hi I cycled top to bottom of Italy in September from Innsbruck to the toe, we cycled over the Brenner Pass. At the top of the Brenner Pass there was an excellent cycle path that went the whole way to Garda. The Brenner Pass is only a short distance from Innsbruck

[mnichols]

Forgot to mention, they mostly spoke German in the north rather than Italian. We stayed in the Hotel Sonnof in Innsbruck that was excellent. Please feelvfree to message me if you need any further details.

I have also cycled to Italy before now from the UK, but came in via Monte Carlo, and will be doing Venice to Nice via Switzerland in early summer

[foxyrider]

Maybe my geography is a bit out but aren't the Austrian airports - especially Salzburg quite a way east of where you want to be? I would be thinking Zurich and down to Garda via either Lugano or Livigno. There are plenty of trails covering these routes on the http://www.mountainbikeland.ch/en/mount ... rland.html site.

[james-o]

andymiller, useful links thanks. we're quite happy on MTB trails with luggage, travel pretty light with softpacks ectc, but may go for more distance and road/dirt roads this time. TBD.
Mnichols, I'll look that path up, one continual path may be an ideal base for a route.
Foxyrider, Salzburg is a bit of a way out but add a few days and it maybe ok, just open options for now. Will have a look at that link, Livigno would be a good place to pass through on the MTB.
Thanks everyone.

[james-o]

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/

Andy, this is a great website .. thanks. Listing rides by theme is a good idea.

[andymiller]

Mnichols, I'll look that path up, one continual path may be an ideal base for a route.

Yep that's the Ciclopista del Sole (aka Ciclabile del Brennero, Ciclabile della Valle Isarco, EisackRadweg). Starts two hundred metres or so after Brennero on your right.

Brennero-Brixen (Bressanone) - Bozen (Bolzano) - Trento - Rovereto. Then take the ciclabile that leads to Torbole and Riva del Garda.

It's marked on OSM maps and you could probably follow it without a map. But we are talking about very smooth tarmac pretty much the whole way (except a short stretch north of Brixen after the Franzenfest fortress). Extremely convenient - but I thought you were looking for something more hard-core?

Maybe my geography is a bit out but aren't the Austrian airports - especially Salzburg quite a way east of where you want to be? I would be thinking Zurich and down to Garda via either Lugano or Livigno. There are plenty of trails covering these routes on the http://www.mountainbikeland.ch/en/mount ... rland.html site.

Salzburg is, but Innsbruck and Munich are pretty much directly north. But your suggestion of crossing over from Switzerland via say Livigno or Lugano (or the Splugen pass and down to Chiavenna) is a good one and definitely worth considering. The Gottardo Bike route for example looks like it might well be a runner.

Andy, this is a great website .. thanks. Listing rides by theme is a good idea.

Thanks. Hopefully, I'll get round to doing a proper write-up the Ciclopista del Sole before the summer.

[ConRAD]

... roads are fine but we prefer dirt tracks, canals, gravel roads and similar simple off-road routes. We'll be on bikes with bigger tyres and light luggage so mixing road and off-road appeals...

At this point it would be worth trying to forget paper maps and just load onto your gps both Velomap and TrekMap Italy.
Both Velomap and TrekMap exhibit indeed "fully routable" (that does not necessarily mean "cyclable") tarmac and off-road patterns complete of relevant elevation data. In this case good planning capabilities and a reasonable improvvisation approach are a must.
But, of course, if you don't like gps or simply you don't feel sufficiently confident with it, forget about it and rather follow the suggestions of the other posts.

Here below some examples. All the lines (included the dashed ones) are "routable", in other words on top of them you can use the Garmin routing tool and therefore draw a route calculating distance, exhibit elevation profile, gradient, cumulative climbing, etc.

[james-o]

I thought you were looking for something more hard-core?

Yes, well adventurous anyway. ime adventurous means maps, getting a bit lost and carrying MTBs up to cols etc and we're happy doing that as long as there's a general route to aim for once off-track. This time I think we'll do less carrying of loaded bikes up walker's paths and more seeing a new area and getting the feel for it before a possible 'transalp' in the future, so easier riding over more distance. Road cols are always good.
So far we're looking at the Dolomites E-W route on your site as a mid-section to the ride, kind of 'Option A'. It'd be good to get off the roads in places and follow dirt roads or forest jeep tracks etc. Sorry to sound vague, it's simply looking at ideas for now and once there's a spark for a section, area etc we'll fill the rest in.

http://www.mountainbikeland.ch/en/routes/route-065.html - I like this .. Option 'B'

conRAD, thanks, good point but I'm not a GPS owner/user (not really into electronics on the bike, luddite maybe) so as long as we have some maps showing tracks and paths we'll be ok to figure it out along the way. Does the job in the French Alps anyway. So far )

[andymiller]

I thought you were looking for something more hard-core?

Yes, well adventurous anyway. ime adventurous means maps, getting a bit lost and carrying MTBs up to cols etc and we're happy doing that as long as there's a general route to aim for once off-track. This time I think we'll do less carrying of loaded bikes up walker's paths and more seeing a new area and getting the feel for it before a possible 'transalp' in the future, so easier riding over more distance. Road cols are always good.
So far we're looking at the Dolomites E-W route on your site as a mid-section to the ride, kind of 'Option A'. It'd be good to get off the roads in places and follow dirt roads or forest jeep tracks etc. Sorry to sound vague, it's simply looking at ideas for now and once there's a spark for a section, area etc we'll fill the rest in

What about the 'expert' version of the DolomitiBrentaBike ? It's a circular route, so doesn't get you much closer to the Lago di Garda, but it does give you a bit of adventure. Sections of it are used by the TransAlp.

EDIT (flash of inspiration) Or what about the Trans Tirol route?

I know exactly what sort of thing you were looking for, it was more a question of your priorities - eg a direct route to the Lago di Garda even if it's tarmac vs a less direct route.

I wouldn't dismiss gps and digital mapping - the Open Street Map maps for Italy are usually very good - and useful at least initial for trip planning without laying out a fortune on paper maps (despite being a gps owner I also have a lot of Kompass maps). Also while there certainly are lots of waymarked routes thanks to the Italian Alpine Club, a gps can make it a lot easier to follow a route.

[james-o]

http://www.mountainbikeland.ch/en/map.cfm?type=route&mapId=65
Andy, do you recognise the other tracks shown here if you zoom out a little? Wondering if they are similar trails and worth a closer look via google earth.

[james-o]

Flights look to have narrowed this down to in via Zurich and out via Verona. There's a number of transalps between Switzerland to Italy listed that seem to use a lot of gravel roads, so less MTB and more general touring bikes and we can link those sections with roads. Will post up anything found that may be of use to others.
Thanks for all the input and ideas.