Touring - Biking in the Dolomites/Val Gardena area

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happytraveler
08-20-04, 11:58 AM
Thank you for looking.

I will be traveling to Santa Cristina in early September and was wondering where to mountain bike in the Dolomites while I was in the area. I will have a car so I'm willing to travel.

Also, are there huts in the mountains to hike and stay overnight at in the area?

Thanks!

blonde
08-20-04, 04:18 PM
Not sure about 'huts' but what you do get are mountain hostels known as Rifugi (sing. rifugio) and there are many both the brenta and marmolada dolomites. You get evening meal, bed and breakfast for ~€25. Only problem is that they close in mid september. The local climbing clubs can give you info about them.

See http://www.dolomiti.it/ita/rifugi/ for details of where.

Never did mountain biking in the dolomites as I was too busy climbing, do have a go at some vie ferrate if you like mountaineering. I don't recall seeing many bikers anywhere in the dolomites, it may be that they are a bit too steep for that - the roads are steep enough for me! I did a bit of road cycling and saw lots of italian roadies on the passes.

My one bit of advice would be to be very wary of italian and the austrian (kompass) maps! If you can get them the Alpenvereinskarte (german) maps are up to ordnance survey / swiss standard but they only cover certain regions. The freytag & berdt maps are good for large scale route planning.
Guest
08-20-04, 06:04 PM
Contact nathank from the forums. Drop him a PM, because he is a mountain bike guide who lives in Germany but frequently goes to that area to lead mountain bike tours.

If you want to do it yourself, I highly recommend the Touring Club Italiano maps- they are excellent and give grades of roads, as well as tell you what roads are bike friendly, how fast the traffic is, and how scenic the roads are.

Koffee

busker
08-23-04, 01:47 AM
Try to take a look at:
http://www.dolomiti.it/eng/itinerari/mtb/valgardena.htm
http://www.dolomiti.org/dengl/welcome.html

And if you understand a little bit of italian:
http://www.kudoweb.it/ (those trails are wonderful)
http://www.enrosadira.it/mtb/

You can also ask to the local bike shops, they'll suggest you nice places and trails, they also have books, maps and free brochures for mountain bikers.
If you have a car, drive to Cortina d'Ampezzo, where there are the best views of the dolomits and a lot of good trails too.

Ciao.