Introduction
Because it’s Europe, and travelling here is as much about the culture, first a history and geographical lesson for typical North American short attention spans. South Tyrol or Südtirol/Suedtirol is a province of Italy enjoying considerable autonomy. It’s 7400 sq km so about the size of Delaware (ie, it’s not big). 510,000 people live here.
Before World War 1, Südtirol was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Following that war (to the victor goes the spoils), Südtirol was annexed by Italy. Despite numerous attempts by the Italians to encourage immigration to their northernmost province, the majority of the population is Austrian-German and mainly German speaking (although many people here also speak Italian and, particularly in the tourism industry, English). For various economic, cultural and political reasons (read about it more here if you are interested) the Italians have largely used a hands-off approach in dealing with Südtirol.
If I may be so bold, it means that Südtirol is basically Italy run by Germans, everything works efficiently and on time. Yet the Sudtirolians seemed to also have adopted some of the best parts of Italy; they are fun-loving and warm. And their food….mama mia.
Bike Hotels of South Tyrol in the Dolomites
We rode in South Tyrol in 2012 (Pinkbike 4 -part story here) and had a great time. We wanted to come back to see other areas and spend more time. The South Tyroleans have the biking experience figured out. Basically a collection of hotels have set up infrastructure (guides, bike storage, trail information etc) and collaborated to establish a consistent customer experience. They’ve done so via their Bike Hotels concept.
This time we stayed in Rabla at the Design Hotel Tyrol near Merano, we checked out the Testivale (a bike festival) at Brixen, staying at the Bike Hotel Jonathan and explored another area closer to Austria, Val Aurina, staying at the Bike Hotel Linderhof. The bike hotels are run by families who also bike, there are many trails in these areas and having a guide is the most effecient way to link up the goods.
Brixen and Bruneck
The last time we were in Brixen we were privileged to be guided by the owner of the Goldene Krone Hotel, Alex Resch. This time he was busy with the Brixen Testival which provided us the opportunity to be guided by Steffi Marth. These guys in Sud Tirol really take care of you! Participating in the festival would be a great way to demo bikes, go on shuttled guided rides meet fellow riders and see what this area has to offer. This is above and beyond what you would normally get at one of the Bike Hotels in Sud Tirol.
This time we didn’t have all day so we did a quick run of the new 6.6km flow trail off the Plose Gondola, then went back up and rode down one of the other traditional bike trails creatively named 3, 5 and 7.
Brixen Testivale 2014 – South Tyrol from Lee Lau on Vimeo.
The Goldene Krone
Shuttles to the Plose Gondola provided at the Testival
At the top – our Ghost Bike Cagua, perfect for the Plose trails
The Plose Flow trail, 6.6km of burms and easy jumps
The Brixen card is a great way to see what Brixen has to offer and it gets you deals!
View of the Dolomites from the top of the Plose Gondola
Start of Trail 3
Finishing off on the lower trails through the farmers fields
and back into the town of Brixen
The next day travelled to Bruneck to ride with Michaela, Markus and ??? on one of their local trails, they also took us up the Kronplatz to see what other trails Markus has been working on.
Bruneck and the Kronplatz from Lee Lau on Vimeo.
Start of the local ride
Direct route up
Great view at the top
Nice trail!
Then we ride back through town, have some lunch and head up the Kronplatz
We stayed at the Hotel Jonathan between Brixen and Bruneck the previous night. Another Bike Hotel a bit further from town. Toni is another Hotelier and avid bike rider and guide.
More good food!