Category: Italy

For the next two days we planned to cycle up to Monte Altissimo, sleep in the Rifugio there and cycle down the next morning. From Torbole we cycled up a paved road that begins at the Panorama parking place above the city. This road leads in many turns up to another parking space at 1500m. Even if this is a paved road almost no cars drive on this road. At about 1000m there is fresh water where you can refill the bottle. At 1500m the paved road ends and a gravel road begins for the next 300m. In the end you follow the hiking path 601 from where we had to carry the bike up to the top of Monte Altissimo. The view from top is really great. The Rifugio Altissimo is at 2060m, so you can look down 2000m and see the lake! When the weather is good you can also see the mountains from Brenta and Adamello. Because of the view it is really worth going up there. Half pension at the Rifugio is 39 Euro per person. The pasta in the evening was really good. Unfortunately the water pipe was broken when we arrived and there was no water to wash ourselves or flush the toilet. Anyway, mountain huts are always good for suprises 😛 So we shared the room with three Italian boys and after breakfast the next morning we biked back down again. First 200m we had to carry the bike down. But according to the Internet there are some good mountainbikers who can bike this down! I will definitely never do this. Shortly after arriving in Torbole it started to rain and we took the next bus and train back home.

GPS track is available here

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Today we cycled to Pregasina. There is a paved road leading up to this small village. All along the way the view down to the lake is beautiful. From Pregasina we continue through forest to Bocca Larici. A small path to the left leads to an amazing view point! This is one of my favourite places in the whole region. On one side you can look down to Riva and Torbole, on the other side there is Limone and on the opposite side the Monte Baldo. We stayed here for more than one hour before going back to Torbole. On the way down we stopped at the bar at the Ponale road. Its a nice place to buy some cold drinks on a hot day like this.

Another famous bike tour on the Lake Garda is to cycle up to Rifugio Nino Pernici. From Lake Ledro there is a paved road that leads in many turns up to the Rifugio. Only the last part shortly before arriving at the hut is unpaved through a forest, but easy to cycle. From Rifugio Nino Pernici the view is really nice. I had an apple soda an an apple strudel. The apple studle was not good, seemed really old. The Rifugio is full with bikers, hard to have a silent moment here to really enjoy the landscape. I left the Rifugio quickly and enjoyed a longer break a bit away from the many people. Going down you can either chose way back to Ledro Lake or downhill on a difficult trail to Campi and from there steep roads to Riva.

GPS track is available here.

Having read in bike magazin and on the Internet about Tremalzo we thought this is definitively a route we would like to bike. Passo Tremalzo is famous for its way down on gravel in many turns. On this way first mountainbike tests for the bike magazin were done in 1989. It is possible to use a shuttle bus that takes you to the top of Tremalzo. But we decided either we do the whole thing on bike or we leave it. So we started in the morning and cycled from Torbole to Riva, from there along the old Ponale road with an amazing view on the Lake Garda up the Lake Ledro. When we reached the lake the first 600m in altitude were done. There is a nice cycling road from the lake to the beginning of the road up to Tremalzo. When you reach the road that leads up to Tremalzo 900m in altitude are left. The road is easy to cycle, never to steep, but still we were happy when we reached Rifugio Garda at 1600. From here the view around is great! We felt already quite exhausted at this moment, but then you have to cycle another 200m on gravel road. Then we reach a tunnel and the way down starts! That was great!! In endless turns you bike down to the lake and after each turn the view is amazing! At Passo Nota we had to decide which way we want to continue. Already quite tired we decided to go down to Lake Ledro and from there back to Torbole. That was a really cool start of our vacacion! 2300m in altitude in total, and in the evening we had a huge pizza! 🙂

GPS track available here.