Cycling Trip to Dolomites

[ByronApp]

Hi Everyone - would love your advice on how to structure an approximately 7/8 day trip to the Dolomites in Italy in late April.

What are the "can't miss" climbs there that I should do and which cities (ie. Milan/Venice etc.) should I fly out of. I'm leaving from NYC.

Thank you!!:beer:

[christian]

To my mind, you sort of have to pick your spots in the Dolomites - you can't do the Stelvio/Gavia side and the Sella/Giau/Tre Croci and the Trento alps unless you're planning on a couple of transit days.

For me, in a week, I think I would fly to Milan, take the train to Bolzano, ride a counterclockwise loop to Innsbruck and train back to Milan. The loop would be:

1: Bolzano to Canazei (if half day) or Val Gardena (if you sleep in Bozen night before) stay at Gerhard or La Perla)
2: Rest of Sella Ring
3: Fedaia/Giau/Sottoguda
4: Cortina/Tre Croci/Tre Cime de Lavaedo
5: cross into Austria and go through Lienz to Heilgienblut or even Zell-am-See
6: Zell-Krimml- and on to Innsbruck

This is what my wife and I did in 2004, and even having previously done the Gavia and the Stelvio, I think this is the most iconic Dolomites tour, plus it includes the Grossglockner hochalpstrasse and glacier and the Krimml waterfall.

Get the Aldo Adige TCI map for Italy and the Freytag and Berndt or Michelin for Austria.

[christian]

BTW, you can't do that in April - that's still ski season. Late May maybe. Ideally June. in April, I'd plan on La Marche.

[93legendti]

I did it in May of '98 and the weather was cold to rainy...yuck.
On the way up the Stelvio we saw people still skiing higher up.
Fedoi (spell?)
Stelvio, Marmolada and a few others I forget

[tv_vt]

I'm going in July. Late April sounds pretty early. A lot of the nice passes will be closed, I'd guess.

[cv1966]

Did a tour with Cinghiale last summer and we spent the first half of the trip in Alleghe. Alleghe is about 2-2.5 hrs from Venice. Great little town that is close to Sella, Giau, Fedaia, Duran, Staulanza, etc. Second half we stayed in Alta Badia which is closer to Campolongo, Pordoi and Passo delle Erbe. If I only had 2-3 days I'd probably choose Alleghe. I would agree with previous posts that April would be dicy. We had some snow flurries in early September.

[Plum Hill]

I believe there was something on Pez Cycling about the Dolomites.

[jh_on_the_cape]

I am going on Friday... to ski!
I am familiar with 1,2,3 below. We go to Predazzo. Nearby is Val di Cembra with a famous bicycle maker DP.
Other passes which are beautiful are Pordoi, Pellegrino, Lago di Carezza, Rolle, Lavaze, Sella Ronda.
Bolzano and Trento are lovely. Try the Forst brewery.

I am really only familiar with the east side of the autostrada. We always go to the same place where my mother in law grew up.
My advice to anyone who asks about going to Italy is to choose a small town that is centrally located to your interests and just stay there and go out on day trips.
From Predazzo or Moena or Canazei you can do a solid week of awesome riding/hiking. You might drive a little (under an hour) to make some other rides. Also depends on how much you can handle in a day. You get to know a little town well and don't have the hassle of packing/moving every day.

Fly to Venice or Milan, Milan is usually cheapest/easiest. Or check Verona, which is closer but small but really nice.
April is too early. That time of year stay lower and further south like Umbria.

To my mind, you sort of have to pick your spots in the Dolomites - you can't do the Stelvio/Gavia side and the Sella/Giau/Tre Croci and the Trento alps unless you're planning on a couple of transit days.

For me, in a week, I think I would fly to Milan, take the train to Bolzano, ride a counterclockwise loop to Innsbruck and train back to Milan. The loop would be:

1: Bolzano to Canazei (if half day) or Val Gardena (if you sleep in Bozen night before) stay at Gerhard or La Perla)
2: Rest of Sella Ring
3: Fedaia/Giau/Sottoguda
4: Cortina/Tre Croci/Tre Cime de Lavaedo
5: cross into Austria and go through Lienz to Heilgienblut or even Zell-am-See
6: Zell-Krimml- and on to Innsbruck

This is what my wife and I did in 2004, and even having previously done the Gavia and the Stelvio, I think this is the most iconic Dolomites tour, plus it includes the Grossglockner hochalpstrasse and glacier and the Krimml waterfall.

Get the Aldo Adige TCI map for Italy and the Freytag and Berndt or Michelin for Austria.

[uber]

Would you have time to visit Dario Pegoretti and get fit for a frame? I think he is not far from there.

[wc1934]

Hi Everyone - would love your advice on how to structure an approximately 7/8 day trip to the Dolomites in Italy in late April.

What are the "can't miss" climbs there that I should do and which cities (ie. Milan/Venice etc.) should I fly out of. I'm leaving from NYC.

Thank you!!:beer:

I can't answer your question, but can remind you that in late April Serie A will still have about 5 weeks left of the season.

[ByronApp]

Thank you (and everyone) so much for your advice - this is amazing. Based on everyone's thoughts, it does seem like April is too early to visit and properly do everything.

I need to find a warmer destination in April (and maybe visit Italy in late Summer/August).

:beer:

To my mind, you sort of have to pick your spots in the Dolomites - you can't do the Stelvio/Gavia side and the Sella/Giau/Tre Croci and the Trento alps unless you're planning on a couple of transit days.

For me, in a week, I think I would fly to Milan, take the train to Bolzano, ride a counterclockwise loop to Innsbruck and train back to Milan. The loop would be:

1: Bolzano to Canazei (if half day) or Val Gardena (if you sleep in Bozen night before) stay at Gerhard or La Perla)
2: Rest of Sella Ring
3: Fedaia/Giau/Sottoguda
4: Cortina/Tre Croci/Tre Cime de Lavaedo
5: cross into Austria and go through Lienz to Heilgienblut or even Zell-am-See
6: Zell-Krimml- and on to Innsbruck

This is what my wife and I did in 2004, and even having previously done the Gavia and the Stelvio, I think this is the most iconic Dolomites tour, plus it includes the Grossglockner hochalpstrasse and glacier and the Krimml waterfall.

Get the Aldo Adige TCI map for Italy and the Freytag and Berndt or Michelin for Austria.

[bikemoore]

I lived in northeast Italy for nearly 5 years back in the 1990s and know the Dolomites well. NE Italy is the best mountain cycling in the world. However, August is not a great time as it is the height of Italian and European vacation season. Simultaneously crowded and closed. Europeans largely take their annual vacations in big chunks of time, mostly at the same time, and mostly in the late summer. Lots of restaurants and shops are closed for weeks at a time as the proprietors are away on their holidays.

Especially in the often rainy areas of the Alps & Dolomites, the best month is September. Still plenty warm, sunny and drier than earlier months of summer, and less crowded in the vacation areas as school has resumed.

For an April trip, I would head further south in Italy. Emiglia-Romagnia, Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo, Molise, Lazio. Its not the soaring scenery of the Dolomites, but it is beautiful and difficult cycling.

[moose8]

In April you might consider Spain - I was just in Altea for a couple of weeks and saw hundreds of cyclists with a huge number of pro teams. I didn't get to ride any but it looked pretty amazing once you went about a mile in from the coast - roads were incredibly twisty and steep with very light traffic. Pez cycling did an article on it from awhile ago: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/travel/pez-travels-costa-del-pez/#.Vq3cbEU8JR4 Not all the towns are tourist traps on the coast but for the most part it is touristy but you really don't need to go far at all to feel like you are in a different world - if you stayed in the Old Town in Altea it would be pretty neat.

And I know Team Sky trains on Mallorca which is supposed to have some beautiful and challenging cycling. In April that would probably be really nice.

[marciero]

^ Second that. We did counterclockwise circuit that included Costa Brava north from Barcelona, then west into Pyrenees, and back through Girona, in March. Was balmy on the coast, though we did have some rainy days in the 40's in the mountains. Was great just before tourist season, which I think starts after Easter. Majorca was on the radar but did not get out there.

[Polyglot]

Would you have time to visit Dario Pegoretti and get fit for a frame? I think he is not far from there.

Dario just finished moving shop to Verona.

[martl]

some good advice in the postings above.

Pegoretti: if coming from the Bozen/Bolzano region, Verona is only like 1/2 an hour more to drive as it would have been to Caldonazzo, by car. By train, it is possibly easier to reach.

Time: April is too soon. The high passes open mid/end of May usually (depending on weather). Important passes connecting valleys are kept snow-free all year, tho. But it would be chilly on top.

Riding:
Bolzano would be an ideal home base if you plan to stay on one spot. Most smaller towns/villages in the alps offer a variety of 2, maybe 3 or 4 day trips as there are only so many roads leaving that particular valley, Bozen is at the heart of just about everything dolomites and offers numerous options without even needing a car - a multitude of that within a 1hr car drive to start. Pretty city, too, good for shopping.

(They host a touristic ride/race event called "giro dolomiti (http://www.girodolomiti.com/)" which is 6 days of quite relaxed riding suitably for everyone, i participated 10 times and still experience new roads - it happens in the first week of August, so maybe that is even an option for you? )

If you do your own planning, i'd be sure to include:

- Sella Ronda (Passo Gardena - Campolongo - Pordoi - Sella) - a half day trip if done from Wolkenstein/Selva, also doable from the bottom of the valley in Ponte Gardena or even Waidbruck

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I00009jZmhZx9kt0/s/750/750/13ITA-50422-Langkofel-Sassolungo-Dolomites.jpg

- Eastern Dolomites (start in Moena/Val di Fassa or Canazei, Passo Fedaia, Rocca Pietore, Passo Giau, Pocol, Passo Falzarego, Arabba, Passo Pordoi) - This one is my personal favourite, its tough but very doable

http://www.passogiau.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/passo.jpg

- Stilfser Joch from Prad, loop crossing the Umbrail and a short trip to Switzerland (St. Maria M?tair) - this one's mandatory :)

https://www.stol.it/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/bildverwaltung/node_395783/stilfser-joch-radtag/8080737-1-ger-DE/Stilfser-Joch-Radtag_artikelBox.jpg

- Variety of options that touch the Karerpass - Passo Nigra, Passo Costalunga. Karersee is incredlible, as is the view into the Latemar

http://www.schlaneiderhof.com/upload/content/karersee_latemar.jpg

- Passo Erbe/Würzjoch

http://www.suedtirolerland.it/images/cms/D-Peitlerkofel-IMG_0490.JPG

- (from Toblach/Pustertal): "Eddy Merckx meets James Bond" Schluderbach - optional trip up the "Tre Cime di Lavaredo" (tough climb) - Cortina - Passo Tre Croci

http://www.nostraitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/Tre-Cime-di-Lavaredo.jpg

[oldfatslow]

IMHO, there's only one way to see the Dolomites and that's with the only American to win the Giro. Andy's tour company has a Dolomites tour in August (which starts with an "A").

http://cinghiale.com/tour/mightydolomiti2016/

[thunderworks]

IMHO, there's only one way to see the Dolomites and that's with the only American to win the Giro. Andy's tour company has a Dolomites tour in August (which starts with an "A").

http://cinghiale.com/tour/mightydolomiti2016/

Couldn't agree more . . . Fabulous people, organization, experience. I was on their tour last year, and even though the ride was super hard for me ( I was the slowest rider in the group), I enjoyed the experience thoroughly.

[christian]

IMHO, there's only one way to see the Dolomites and that's with the only American to win the Giro. Andy's tour company has a Dolomites tour in August (which starts with an "A").

http://cinghiale.com/tour/mightydolomiti2016/

As much as I would love to go to the Dolomites with Andy, I actually think the Dolomites are an incredibly easy place to tour on one's own. Given the high number of tourists both in summer and winter, the area is easy to tour in even if you are just an English-speaker. The roads are well-signed and maintained, there's a bike shop in most towns (and plenty of other cyclists), hotel and shopkeepers often speak a little English. And even the "hidden gems" are pretty well-known.

And it means you get to set your own itinerary. I know that for me, a first Dolomites trip without a view of the Rosengarten, the Sella Ring, the Sottoguda and Giau, and the Tre Croci just wouldn't be worth doing. Setting your own agenda, you can do that.

[cnighbor1]

http://www.aukadia.net/alps/ita.htm

[oldfatslow]

As much as I would love to go to the Dolomites with Andy, I actually think the Dolomites are an incredibly easy place to tour on one's own. Given the high number of tourists both in summer and winter, the area is easy to tour in even if you are just an English-speaker. The roads are well-signed and maintained, there's a bike shop in most towns (and plenty of other cyclists), hotel and shopkeepers often speak a little English. And even the "hidden gems" are pretty well-known.

And it means you get to set your own itinerary. I know that for me, a first Dolomites trip without a view of the Rosengarten, the Sella Ring, the Sottoguda and Giau, and the Tre Croci just wouldn't be worth doing. Setting your own agenda, you can do that.

But you wouldn't be riding with the only American ever to win the Giro. An American loved to this day by his adopted country. And the absolutely nicest, most unassuming, person out there.

[christian]

True, but I'd be riding with my wife and she s pretty awesome too.

No but seriously, riding the Dolomites with Andy must be an absolute blast. I was just making the point that you don't have to ride with Andy to ride the Dolomites. Though I am sure it is sublime!

[martl]

if you like to ride with legend(s), the "girodolomiti" is a good place for that, too. I met Fondriest, Gianni Motta and Italo Zilioli there...