Cycling tours in South Tyrol: Three MTB trail tours starting in the wine town of Tramin
Sissi Pärsch
· 13.10.2023
Tour 1: Cisloner Almrunde
- Length: 42.8 kilometres
- Uphill: 1188 metres in altitude
- Pure journey time: 3 to 4 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
To circumnavigate the Cislon (1563 m), you first start from Tramin on the cycle path along the Adige river, before ascending on the old Fleimstal railway line, which was closed in 1963, at a constant moderate, battery-friendly gradient (maximum 6%). The narrow path winds its way past Montan through the Trudner Horn Nature Park. You look out over vineyards, pass small settlements with old stone houses, cycle through rock tunnels and over stone viaducts to Truden. From here, you take a forest path and finally a gentle trail to the Cisloner Alm, which lies in a wide clearing.
It could hardly be more idyllic: a small pond in front of the pretty hut, surrounded by kids and cows and a panoramic view of the South Tyrolean lowlands and the Brenta mountain range. Afterwards, the 1er trail forms a rough contrast, with its S2 passages demanding even good technicians: It's bumpy and steeper, with countless hairpin bends and rock slabs before you can take it easy on the soft forest floor. After the Lexnhof farm, turn left and take the fun descent across the horse meadow to Neumarkt.
Starting point: Tramin
Key points: The 1er trail down from the Cisloner Alm is challenging and contains a few demanding, sometimes steeply sloping S2 passages.
Retreat: Cisloner Alm (tip: Strauben), Lexnhof (tip: Schlutzer), Arlecchino Gelateria (very tasty ice cream!)
Tour 2: Up Monte Roen
- Length: 35.9 kilometres
- Uphill: 1304 metres in altitude
- Pure journey time: 4 to 4.5 hours
- Difficulty: medium to difficult
Tour description
Whilst South Tyrol's peaks are fading out here and the Adige Valley is widening more and more, Monte Roen towers impressively behind Tramin. It is the highest mountain of the Mendel ridge, its flanks are massive and steep, and from the valley to the summit at 2116 metres it is around 1900 metres in altitude in one go. The western ramp of the Mendel Pass - and therefore 850 metres in altitude - is covered by the quaint funicular railway, which starts in St. Anton near Kaltern.
From Tramin, you cycle only a short distance on tarmac to the valley station before heading uphill on small paths through vineyards towards Kaltern shortly after Camping Gretl. Once you reach the top of the pass, you pedal southwards along the South Tyrol-Trentino border ridge. Steep stretches are a constant challenge, but they are nothing compared to the final, extremely steep and bumpy 350 metres in altitude from the Romeno-Alm. It's worth the fight: once you have overcome the tree line, the high plateau of the Roen opens up and presents an all-round panorama of the Dolomites, the Ortler group and the main Alpine ridge. There are now 14 kilometres of trail down to Tramin in the valley. The first, steep section (trail marker 500) is very challenging and, thanks to loose scree and tight corners, can be categorised more as a pushing section. And shortly afterwards, the descent to the cross at the Schwarzer Kopf is once again tricky and slippery.
This is followed by the 1a trail (the name says it all) to Graun and finally trails 6 and 4 to Tramin. The further down you go, the more flowy it gets. In general, everything is included: from rough, technical sections to forest-soft treesurfing and canyon rides.
Starting point: Tramin
Key points: The long uphill section from the Romeno-Alm is a challenge. Downhill, especially the first sections of the trail along the Mendelkamm ridge. From the tree line onwards, you can also ride round the trail again and again on the forest road.
Retreat: Romeno-Alm and Lenzenhof, a little off the trail descent.
Tour 3: Montiggl forest and lake tour
- Length: 35.7 kilometres
- Uphill: 858 metres in altitude
- Pure journey time: 2 to 3 hours
- Difficulty: easy
Tour description
It looks harmless, the Montiggl hill: a "wooded hump" that rises inconspicuously behind Lake Kaltern in the Adige Valley. From Tramin, the route first leads through the vineyards and orchards and along the eastern shore of the lake before turning right uphill into the forest after the Klughammer. Sweet chestnuts, beeches, elms, ash trees, oaks - the paths here are as colourful as the foliage. Hidden in the Montiggl thicket next to two capri-blue lakes is a network of trails that is as impressive as it is confusing.
You can quickly leave the forest road and head north along narrow paths, up and down, first to the large Montiggl lake. There is a lido here and accordingly some hiking traffic. There is less traffic at the Kleiner Montiggler See lake, around which you can make a fun trail loop. The way back runs parallel to the Adige along the edge of the Pfattner Walls (which you can't see in the undergrowth). The maze of little trails is difficult to describe, so it's best to ride with a guide or GPS track. They vary from fast fun routes on soft ground to paths with narrow and steep stone steps.
Starting point: Tramin
Key points: The forest floor trails are only slightly rooted (maximum S1).
Retreat: The snack station at the Little Montiggler Lake
Info Tramin
Journey: Tramin is located around 25 kilometres south of Bolzano/Bozen. Take the Auer/Neumarkt/Tramin exit on the Brenner motorway and four kilometres later you will be in Tramin.
The train and long-distance bus connections to Bolzano/Bozen are very good. From there, the bus takes about 30 minutes to Tramin. Info: bahn.de
Best touring time: The season starts as early as mid/end April and lasts until the end of October. Thanks to the climate and the low altitude of Tramin at 210 metres, many of the mountains are free of snow early on and easy to ski.
Accommodation: The bike hotel par excellence in the area: Established by grandma Rita, developed into a cycling hotspot by son Armin and modernised by grandson Andreas. The rooms are high quality, the cuisine is excellent and the hotel's own bar is also popular with locals. Hotel Traminerhof, Weinstraße 43, I-39040 Tramin a. d. Weinstraße, traminerhof.it
In the neighbouring village of Kurtatsch there is also a bike accommodation, the Hotel Terzer, where you will be excellently looked after and catered for. Bike-Hotel Terzer, Obergasse 5a, I-39040 Kurtatsch, gasthof-terzer.it
The report: Traminer trail spice
Andreas Pomella can afford to have this attitude. "I'm more of a fair-weather rider," he admits. "I don't necessarily like rain and mud." Yes, that's easy to say when you're a sun-loving Traminer. When you have a good-humoured sky where heavy clouds never seem to settle in. Where there are no cloudy views, but apple orchards in full bloom.
Tramin lies at around 210 metres above sea level on the Adige river. In the south of South Tyrol, where the German language is finally replaced by Italian after a few kilometres. The wide valley floor stretches from Bolzano to Trento and finally extends into the Po Valley. Many people switch off in the Adige Valley. They rush straight on towards Lake Garda. Perhaps because they don't trust Lake Kaltern's warmth, perhaps because they prefer pizza to dumplings - or because they are simply so familiar with the dense crowds and rough trails on the lake.
On the Wine Route, on the other hand, things are more leisurely. The climate is mild, the Traminer wine is flavoursome and the numerous trails and tours are both mild and spicy. The tour to the Cisloner Alm provides the first proof of this. Through narrow tunnels and over small viaducts, we first ride uphill on the long disused railway line from Val di Fiemme. It was built by Russian prisoners of war in cruel conditions during the First World War, but today it could hardly be more idyllic. The steady ascent hardly drains our batteries, leading us past quaint stone houses, through vineyards and into the Trudner Horn Nature Park. A gentle trail finally releases us onto the wide, open plateau of the Cisloner Alm. It lies at an altitude of 1249 metres and offers a view of the mighty peaks of the Brenta Group. The cows graze, the goats stare, the chickens peck and the hosts serve freshly baked strauben. We pull the sweet spirals through the cranberries and blink into the sun, smacking our lips. This is how life should be, at least in South Tyrol.
Andreas' father Armin was one of the first to explore the mountains around the Adige Valley by bike - and one of the first to turn his hotel into a bike hotel and get his guests on the saddle. "In the days when people still rode tours with an altitude difference of 1900 metres," grins Andreas and adds: "without assistance!" His generation, on the other hand, is more interested in trail riding. And the region is as short of trails as it is of sunny days. The 28-year-old went to traditional bike school. His father let him guide his first group when he was nine, and Armin took him on his first Transalp when he was eleven.
Enduro fun down from the Cisloner Alm
Things are much more relaxed on the Cislon loop - until now. Because the 1er starts behind the Alm, a trail exactly to Andreas' liking: rocky and steep. "There's also an easier downhill option," says Andreas and lifts his rear wheel in slow motion to turn sharply, "but we want to have fun." The man can also afford this attitude: under his tyres, the tricky hairpin bends seem like smooth curves.
If the forest and trail allow it, you can look out over the valley from the deep slope. Over the vineyards and the Adige to Tramin and the mighty rock face of the Roen behind it. Which paths will lead us down there in the coming days is a mystery to us. The steep flanks seem to be made for climbers. Andreas waves us off. Everything is rideable and portable, he says, and lets go of the brakes. They can finally breathe, the trail becomes smoother and we finally shoot across the horse meadow down to the pretty and unexcited Neumarkt and straight into a hidden gelateria that serves great ice cream.
The small, beautiful wine villages here at the southern tip of South Tyrol generally don't seem to make much of a fuss about themselves. In Tramin, the narrow cobbled streets open up into small squares where the locals gossip and chat. Green vines climb up the stone wall facades and red geraniums shine in front of the windows. There are no tall buildings here, and certainly no hotel complexes. Andreas' grandmother built the first hotel in the village in 1962. Grandma Rita was 27 years old and "still without a husband", as she emphasises. She was one of the few who believed that the region would one day attract guests. As she lifts the basket of freshly washed bike laundry, the now 88-year-old tells us that the hotel "had more guest beds than the rest of the village put together". The layout of the Traminerhof is still the same today. The modern interior, however, is due to the grandson. Rita shakes her head. It's not her taste, but she trusts Andreas.
We also have to trust him the next day when we are travelling through the Montiggl forests. We cycle at a good pace through the apple orchards to Lake Kaltern. Contrary to its name, it is one of the warmest bathing lakes in the Alps, probably because it is less than six metres deep. Behind it, between Etsch and Kaltern, the hills of Montiggl are almost inconspicuous. They are not very high, making them the perfect winter training ground for Andreas. "You rarely have snow here and the ground is usually dry," says the fair-weather rider. "And you never get bored here."
What just seemed so harmless quickly turns out to be a major challenge: a trail maze unfolds in the thicket of trees - a network of paths that we would get hopelessly entangled in without Andreas' guidance. It is ideal E-MTB terrain: sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes flowing, sometimes tricky, uphill and downhill, first to the large and then to the small Montiggler See lake. Here you stop to jump into the lake or have an espresso before entering the trail labyrinth again and only reappearing at Lake Kaltern a good while later.
The King's Tour: up Monte Roen
Andreas has saved the queen stage for the finale: Monte Roen, his back-of-the-house mountain. He climbs around 1900 metres in altitude at the back of the village. The summit is at 2116 metres. That's two kilometres down, Andreas reckons, full of trails. But first we have to get up there. His father used to pedal everything with his guests - and still does from time to time. But most bikers take the cable car and then give themselves over to the trails at full power.
Or you can take the e-MTB and have fun on the first 300 metres uphill. The route to the Mendelbahn funicular railway in Kaltern is briefly on the road, but soon follows narrow paths through the vineyards. The valley station of the funicular railway, which opened in 1903, is 510 metres above sea level and climbs up to 1364 metres at a gradient of 64%. It's lively at the top of the Mendel Pass. Racing cyclists queue for a photo of the pass sign and tourists crowd around the postcard stands. It's not just the view. Popes and Mahatma Ghandi, Empress Sissi and Archduke Ferdinand have spent their summer holidays here - you have to see it.
But as soon as you leave the souvenir shops behind you on a gravel bend, it suddenly becomes quiet. We only encounter a few hikers. We cycle in a picture-book idyll along the German-Italian linguistic border, alternating between Trentino and South Tyrol, challenging the engine on a few steep stretches until we finally reach Malga di Romeno. We still have 350 metres of ascent to go. But, Andreas tells us over an espresso macchiato, this is no walk in the park, but the start of the biggest biking challenge in the region: whoever rides the route from here to the summit is considered the king of Roen.
What then confronts us is an extremely steep, nasty, bumpy and blocked uphill section, which some people are supposed to master without an "E" - and many don't even despite the "E". After the struggle, the Monte rewards us with a wide, open plateau that offers views in all directions: Brenta and Paganella, the main Alpine ridge and Ortler - and of course the Dolomites with Sassolungo, Sciliar, Catinaccio and Latemar. Below, flat as a flounder, the Adige Valley, which everyone here calls Unterland. The small villages and the large city of Bolzano are dotted across it, the lakes are lightning blue and the apple trees and vines stand in rows.
The time has come: the Roen trails are waiting. The start sets a demanding tone. Greasy pebbles and stony steps. But the rideability increases metre by metre. The route is almost endless on one of the most varied descents that not only South Tyrol has to offer. From rock to forest floor, from roots to soft terrain. After seven kilometres, Tramin is still deep in the valley. "Roughly half-time," says Andreas with a grin. Unbelievable. The trails are as exciting as the South Tyrolean lowlands present themselves - and the tour ends perfectly: No gelati today, but a wine stop at the Rynnhof. In the centre of the village, we toast to this Traminer blend: mild, spicy and full of surprises on the finish.
