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 efficient 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 ride with and be shown the trails 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 guided rides, meet fellow riders and see what this area has to offer.
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 berms 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
Bruneck
The next day we travelled to Bruneck to ride with Michaela, Markus and Matthias on one of their local trails. The trails from today and from Brixen yesterday was high quality singletrack of a duffy calibre that we’re not used to seeing in Europe where frankly, often we are linking up odd patches of singletrack linked with roads and doubletrack.
Markus is also the local trailbuilder most responsible for the development of lift-served biking in the area which started when he was contracted to build the Herrnsteig downhill on the Kronplatz. Since then he’s had the good fortune to build the Furcia freeride trail and is hoping to build yet another trail. The Bruneck locals were therefore keen to take us up the Kronplatz to check out the new stuff
Bruneck and the Kronplatz from Lee Lau on Vimeo.
Start of the local ride as we rode right from town
Direct route up
Great view at the top
Nice trail!
Not your typical chue scheisseweg
Then we ride back through town, have some lunch and head up the Kronplatz
Kronplatz views are spectacular. Once again we luck out with the weather. We’re told that this might be the nicest weather this whole summer
Markus’s new Furcia trail is simply remarkable. Once again it’s one of the few lift-served trails that we might go back to re-ride in Europe
Dolomite views are sublime on the Furcia trail
Trail routing is very intelligent. The Furcia is not too steep (a common mistake for many trails). The berms are deep and swallow speed. The downhills culminate in grade reversals – good for shedding water and good for shedding speed to minimize braking and maximize momentum
Hotel Jonathan
We stayed at the Hotel Jonathan which is another one of the consistently good bike hotels of South Tyrol. Go here if you want something quieter than in the middle of Brixen. You can get to this hotel either by an easy bus from Brixen or by the hotel taxi The bucolic setting for the Hotel Jonathan is right in the middle of apple orchards and is sublimely tranquil.
The Hotel Jonathan’s owner Toni Uberbacher is another lifelong hotelier, long time local and an avid bike rider. You’ll feel right at home here.
More good food at the Hotel Jonathan!
Brixen Ride of Plose Gondola
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Local Ride in Bruneck
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