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.
Rabla
Rabla is a small village close to the larger town of Meran. In Rabla most of the biking is off the Aschbach Gondola. From here you can do a few different variations. Of course all climbs end at a hut, which in South Tyrol are referred to as Alm. Our ride took us up a double track to Naturnser Alm where we had the usual indulgences of snacks, beer, coffee and cake.
From Naturnser Alm at the subalpine we then climbed the ridge to the beginnings of alpine. From there we proceeded on doubletrack meandering across subalpine then treeline to VigilJoch/St Vigil. After VigilJoch we finally found singletrack taking trail 29/27 on the Stuanbruch route back to Rabla.
Meran, South Tyrol – Ashbach from Lee Lau on Vimeo.
The trains are nice and spacious and the time tables complete. Be warned though that , the public transit is not quite as informative or efficient as Switzerland. Eg some (but not all) buses require exact change
Our hotel and the Rose bikes we used.
The Aschbach Gondola
The trails in the area you can ride. This area is pretty crowded with hikers so govern your speed accordingly. Much of the riding is doubletrack but singletrack can be hunted down
Trails are well signed
The signs even correlate with the maps!
Naturnser Alm in the subalpine requires a 550m climb on road from where the Ashbach gondola drops you.
Lee having his Kaiserschmarrm, and me having a beer
Then we ride up to the ridge where the views begin
Singletrack is all too short and we traverse on doubletrack to Vigiljoch where we see South Tyrol’s native animal. Sud Tirol Chue meet Sud Tirol Chue!
At the Seespitz we get onto single track
We go down
Back at the Design Hotel Lee has a swim with his ducks!
Boris and Suzanne were great hosts!
The bikes they rent at the Design Hotel
Our room with its view
The biggest agricultural industry in this valley is Apples. Apples apples everywhere!
Dinners were as always amazing!
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