Adige cycle path: Innsbruck – Bolzano 8 days

Adige cycle path Innsbruck-Bozen

Start in Innsbruck, the „treasure vault of the Alps“, visit the monastery Stams and go to the pass Reschen easily by bus. Now the pleasure is just about to start! You enjoy a wonderful ride through the fruit orchards of the lower Vintschgau, follow the river Adige (Etsch) into the charming small town Meran and through the wine area of the Trentino. The silence of the Lake Kalterer and the lively old town of Bozen with the famous access balconies are a phantastic end of your journey. The route leads mainly along real bicycle paths and small tracks across the fields. Although there is a gradient of 1200 m on the bicycle path from the lake Reschen to Bozen, you have to cope with small gradients every now and again.

1. day Innsbruck arrival

You must see the famous „Goldene Dachl“ and the Hofburg of Innsbruck! Personal tour information and if booked  handing out of the bikes.

2. day Innsbruck - Imst 65 km

Discover the mountains of Tyrol along the Inn valley - it is a fascinating feeling to cycle on flat paths amongst the majestic mountains. After recommendable visit of the monastery Stams you roll to Imst.

3. day Imst - St. Valentin/Burgeis/Mals 50 km + transfer by bus

Follow the river Inn until Landeck. Afterwards you go by bus (40 km) upwards onto the Reschen pass. What a wonderful panorama! You cycle past the sunk, much photographed church in the Reschen lake to Burgeis–Mals on smallest byways.

4. day St. Valentin/Burgeis/Mals - Meran 65 km

Today you can admire many palaces, castles, ruins and monasteries, which stick to the rocks or sun theirselves amongst rolling wineyards like the mountaineer Reinhold Messner ´s palace Juval. The highlight is Meran with the beautiful city, the famous access balconies and the ethnic patios. If you want to be very early in Meran you may cut the biking stretch short by using the Vinschgau train.

5. day Meran stay / Round trip to Passeiertal - Meran 40 km

A marvellous day lies ahead! What do you like most? A biking roundtrip to the birthplace of Andreas Hofer, the hero of freedom of Tyrol, in the valley Passeier, a walk at the famous Tappeiner path or a shopping spree in Meran?

6. day Meran - Kalterer See - Auer 50 km

Today you can see the change of the countryside from the „fruit orchard of the Vintschgau“ into the „wineland of the Trentino“. You cycle along countless grapevines past noble villas and elegant country estates to the Lake Kalterer. Accommodation in the snug wining villages Kaltern or Tramin.

7. day Auer - Bolzano 35 km

You cycle to the centre of Bolzano either easy-going through the flat valley of the river Adige (Etsch) or sporting via the lakes Montiggler and Sigmundskron. Look forward to historical buildings with Italian flair, access balconies and the Ötzi-museum.

8. day Bolzano departure

Today, after breakfast, your beautiful cycle tour through the fascinating mountains comes to an end. If you want to return to Innsbruck, you can book our practical return transfer by minibus. If you still have time, you can also extend your cycle tour and follow the cycle path from Bozen to Venice.

Worth knowing

Below you will find specific information about the bike tour from Innsbruck to Bolzano If you have further questions about this trip, you simply call us: Phone: 0049 (0)6421 – 886890.

Arrival by train

Innsbruck is easily accessible by train. We recommend to take a taxi from the station to get to the partner hotels in Innsbruck. Current schedule information and price information can be found at www.bahn.de

Train schedule information

Parking facilities at the hotel

The partner hotels in Innsbruck offer parking in a garage (approx. €17.00 per day) for the entire duration of your bike trip. A reservation is not possible, the costs are payable on site. You will receive detailed information about the parking facilities at the hotel booked for you with the detailed travel documents two weeks before the start of the trip.

Condition of cycle paths

The cycle paths run in the river valleys of the Inn and Adige. In the direction of the Reschen Pass, which connects the two valleys, there is a bus transfer from Landeck to Nauders. Approximately 70 vertical meters remain to the Reschenpass, then there are more than 1,200 vertical meters of descent ahead of you to Bozen. Nevertheless, you have to cope with small intermediate climbs here and there in order to keep the route as traffic-free as possible. The route has its own signage.

Available rental bikes

For this trip you can choose between 7-speed unisex touring bikes with back pedal and 21-speed unisex touring bikes with freewheel in different frame sizes as well as unisex electric bikes with back pedal. 21-speed men's touring bikes with freewheel can be made available for people taller than 1.85m. You can choose the bike at your booking.

Touring information and rental bike

The personal route information with rental bike (if booked) takes place on the day of arrival in the hotel. 

Special dates

Special dates are bookable on request. 

Transfer back to the starting point of the journey

Every Saturday morning there is the possibility to transfer back to Innsbruck with a minibus. A pre-reservation is desired, the costs are payable on site and amount to € 79 per person and € 29, - additionally if you arrive with your own bike. The driver will come to your hotel and have room for you, your luggage and your private bike (if you have a rental bike, just leave it at the last hotel). He drives you back to your starting hotel and thus ensures a perfect return journey service without the hassle of changing trains.

Cycling in italy

In Italy, warning vests are mandatory outside closed areas at night and at dusk.

Costs which are not included in the price

A possibly resulting tourist tax is not part of the travel price and therefore it has to be paid locally in the hotel.

7 day hotline service

In case of chain breakdown, flooding or other bad surprises that makes a continuation of your tour impossible: no problem, we also work during weekends and you can reach us 7 days a week in case of emergency.

Passport and visa requirements, health regulations

For EU citizens, there are no special passport or visa requirements and no health formalities to be considered for this trip.

Corona travel information:
Before booking your trip, please inform yourself about the measures in place to contain the Corona pandemic.

An up-to-date overview of applicable measures and travel and safety advice regarding Covid-19 for all countries in the EU and Switzerland can be found here:
https://reopen.europa.eu/en/

You can also find more information on our website at:
Corona virus and holiday planning

Travel insurance

The tour price already includes the statutory insolvency insurance. In addition, we recommend that you take out travel cancellation insurance upon receipt of your travel confirmation in order to protect yourself against financial disadvantages in the event of travel cancellation, interruption of travel, illness or accident.

Innsbruck, Kaiserliche Hofburg

At the end of the 15th century, when Emperor Maximilian I filled the castle with magnificent court life, the building already had the extension of the Imperial Palace to Innsbruck. Empress Maria Theresia had the Hofburg converted into a monumental late-baroque residence in two construction phases.

Innsbruck Hofburg

Innsbruck, Hofkirche

Emperor Maximilian I strongly influenced culture, politics and life in Tyrol, and ordered his unique imperial tomb in Innsbruck. On the deathbed, the Emperor expressed the wish to be buried in St. George's chapel in Wiener Neustadt. Thirty years after Maximilian's death, 28 surviving bronze statues were completed, designed by famous artists such as Albrecht Dürer. Since the statues were not taken to Wiener Neustadt and remained in Innsbruck, they were erected in the court church built between 1553 and 1563.

Hofkirche

Innsbruck, Nordkessenbahn

With the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen you can travel in a few minutes from the city center to the spectacular landscape of the Nordkette with a breathtaking view of Innsbruck, the unofficial capital of the Alps on the one hand and the Karwendel Nature Park on the other.

The impressive experience on the "Top of Innsbruck", the 2,344 m high Halelekar, is within reach for everyone thanks to the direct connection to the city. It is not uncommon for guests on the Nordkette to catch a glimpse of the otherwise shy wild animals and, above all, when it comes to the view, the unique panorama at the city's highest excursion destination leaves nothing to be desired.
Nordkettenbahn

Stift Stams

The Stift Stams is widely visible in the middle Oberinntal on the south side of the Inn about 35 km west of the state capital Innsbruck.

The birth of the Stams beating in 1273. Stams became a major economic center in the region. In the 14th century the Stam Fathers were entrusted with the preservation of the Reichskleinodien for several decades. The 16th century then caused dark shadows to rise above the monastic community: in 1525 there were plunderings in the course of the peasant revolts, but the monastery was devastated in the Schmalkaldic War in 1552. Finally, a fire destroyed 1593 large parts of the monastery complex. Between 1650 and 1750 a lively building activity began, in which, among other things, the two distinctive "ontowers" were erected and the Stiftskirche was converted from Romanesque to baroque style. In 1938, the Stams monastery was occupied by the National Socialist rulers and officially dissolved a year later. In 1945 there was a second new beginning. From 1973 to 1985, the church was fundamentally renovated (including the early Baroque high altar by B. Steindl).

Stift Stams

Imst, Rosengartenschlucht

Just a short walk from the town center, you will find one of the most valuable biotopes of Tyrol: the Rosengartenschlucht. On a length of 1.5 km, the Schinderbach is excavated from the Blaues Grotte through the rocky mountains of the Imster Mittelgebirgsterrassen to the Johanneskirche. (Height difference 200 m). For geologists this is reflected in millions of years of the earth's history, but also by those who are less concerned with geology, the beauty of the Rosengarten gorge, its wealth of flowers, animals and stones is astonishing. The most intense experience is the wild-romantic gorge and its wonderful natural phenomena during the guided geological-botanical wanderings every Monday (14 - 17.30pm 10.00 Euros (geological-botanical hike). But of course you can also "just" relax here

Rosengartenschlucht

Lake Resia, Churchtower of Graun

5 km after the Reschen Pass, Graun in the Vinschgau, an old church tower stands out from the water ... The Resia Lake and how it came to ...

In 1949/50, the villages of Graun and Reschen in the Upper Vinschgau region were victims of a reckless project. The history of this seascape is almost like a crime thriller - but it is the story of a catastrophe. The Reschensee is more than 6 km long; With its 116 million cubic meters of water, it generates around 250 million kWh of electricity per year. A proud performance of technical progress. The church tower of Altgraun, protruding from the water, reminds us, as it were, of a silent accusation, at which price, which has never been paid for, has been bought here. Here once a flourishing landscape spread, with the picturesque village of Graun. 163 houses in Graun and Reschen and 523 ha of fertile cultivated land fell victim to floods. More than half of the 650 inhabitants of Graun had to move abroad, about 1000 people were affected by the disaster.

Lake Resia, Churchtower of Graun

Naturns, Kirche St. Prokulus

One of the art treasures in Meran & environs is certainly the St. Prokulus church near Naturno from the 7th century. The small church belongs to the oldest early Christian churches in South Tyrol and you will also find the oldest frescoes and gothic frescoes from the 14th century, found on German-speaking soil. The Prokulus Museum, which was opened in 2006, is also very close to St. Prokulus Church. The museum complex, which is entirely subterranean, makes 1,500 years of history of the people of this region alive. Four-space time stations lead through the epochs of Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.

St. Prokulus

Meran, Tappeiner Way

The best-known walkway of the city runs along the east-west axis of Passerstadt on the Zenoberg at an average elevation of 380 m. The Tappeinerweg starts at Laurinstraße in Gratsch and ends four kilometers further on Zenobergstraße, which connects the trail with the Gilfpromenade. The wind-sheltered and sunny path is an oasis of tranquility surrounded by alpine, Mediterranean and exotic vegetation which can be practiced in any season and in any weather.

Tappeiner Way

Museum Passeier (Birthplace Andreas Hofer)

The Museum Passeier at the Sandhof in St. Leonhard in Passeier near Meran tells the story of the Tyrolean freedom fighter Andreas Hofer (1767 - 1810). In the former stable of the Heimathofes Hofers, the films and originals about the Tyrolean uprising and Andreas Hofer are very well illustrated.

Andreas Hofer Museum

Lake Caldaro

It is the largest natural bathing lake in South Tyrol and the warmest Alpine lake (bathing season from May to September). It is about 1.8 km long and 0.9 km wide, which corresponds approximately 155 ha. Its depth measures 4 m and it is 216 m above sea level. The center of Kaltern is about 4 km away. In 2006 the Lake of Caldaro was awarded the second-cleanest lake of Italy by the Italian environmental association Legambiente, after the Sirio Lake in the Piedmontese Ivrea.

Lake of Caldaro

Bolzano, South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

The Archeology Museum is the new location of "Ötzi", the approximately 5300 year old man from the ice, the mummy of the Similaungletscher. The exhibition space is approximately 1,200 m² and comprises four floors. In the museum the history of South Tyrol from the first beginnings to the early Middle Ages is illustrated by archaeological findings, models, holograms, videos and acoustic impressions. The mummy is located along with the discovery history and the natural sciences in the area devoted to the Bronze Age, on the first floor.

In the air-conditioned showcases also the devices, which together with the man from the ice were found, are exhibited.

Archaeology Museum in Bolzano