Northeast Italy - suggestions

M

monc

Likes Dirt
Looking for suggestions for good places for 3-4 days riding (& bike hire) in northeast Italy (we're flying in and out of Venice). More at the XC-trail-all mountain end of the spectrum rather than downhill.
 
downunderdallas

downunderdallas

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Not super close but Livigno would appear to be worth it, was too far out of the way for me or rather my family (I made do at Massa Marittima in Tuscany which was great if you are down that way) but Livigno looks awesome
 
B

Bamm

Likes Bikes
Lake Garda is pretty spectacular. Quite a few bike shops to hire bike and a lot of them do tours.
www.bikeshuttletorbole.com/en This guy runs a shuttle service, tours and hires bikes. We where there right in the European summer and it was nuts busy. Lots of places to explore with a lot of history, fantastic food, wine, beer and friendly people.
 
EsPeGe

EsPeGe

Likes Bikes and Dirt
In 16 my family and i went to Italy for 5 weeks. I ditched them in Venice, hired a car and headed off to the Paganella area of Trentino, basically the Dolomites. From memory it was about a 3 hour drive. The place is sublime and when I'm in witness protection I'm going to be living in Molveno, I just need to witness something!!!! There are nearly 400km of trails accessed by about 3 lifts there ranging from the old world cup DH to some of the most fun technical riding I've ever done I'd certainly recommend checking the area out. Bike hire was easy but before you go hurtling off remember their brakes are the opposite of ours!!!!

Their trail maps are really good and you'll find their suggested times are pretty much spot on. I also found there was plenty of fresh water up on the hill in little springs which were all clearly marked on the maps and was always nice and cool. I googled everything and found all the info I needed but if you have any questions fire away.

Cheers Scott.





Me and the Commencal Meta I hired.




 
hilo

hilo

Likes Bikes
Great I came across this thread--we typically holiday around that area (my wife is from South of Munich, so it's very close). Lago di Garda area I'll be looking at, and further north too--just hope I can hire XL or XXL bikes as I am 6'7" . . . .
 
hilo

hilo

Likes Bikes
EsPeGe said:
In 16 my family and i went to Italy for 5 weeks. I ditched them in Venice, hired a car and headed off to the Paganella area of Trentino, basically the Dolomites. From memory it was about a 3 hour drive. The place is sublime and when I'm in witness protection I'm going to be living in Molveno, I just need to witness something!!!! There are nearly 400km of trails accessed by about 3 lifts there ranging from the old world cup DH to some of the most fun technical riding I've ever done I'd certainly recommend checking the area out. Bike hire was easy but before you go hurtling off remember their brakes are the opposite of ours!!!!

Their trail maps are really good and you'll find their suggested times are pretty much spot on. I also found there was plenty of fresh water up on the hill in little springs which were all clearly marked on the maps and was always nice and cool. I googled everything and found all the info I needed but if you have any questions fire away.

Cheers Scott.



Me and the Commencal Meta I hired.
Click to expand...
You don't look short in the photos--how is the sizing for hire bikes?
 
EsPeGe

EsPeGe

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Mate I'm a giant 171cm or 5'7" in the old speak so the photos instead of adding 10lbs added 10cm's I guess. As a result I found sizing no issue. Honestly have no idea how you'll go. I suggest emailing before you go which is what I did. Check the link below and you'll find pretty much everything you need to know for this area anyway. Garda may be a different mob but these guys may be able to suggest someone if it's not them.

http://www.dolomitipaganellabike.com/trentino/en/

I found everything I needed here, bike hire details, maps, how to get there the works. The guys were super helpful but a number have very little english.
 
aboutfivebucks

aboutfivebucks

Likes Bikes
Monc,
We rode Livigno for a week in 2016. What a great place. We rode DH/All mountain when we were there but will be going back for XC next time. There is plenty of riding there, very few aussies, duty free alcohol and €1.50 cappuccino's on the hill. We had our kids with us, there is plenty of riding for them also.

bike wash.jpg
1816 Brew.jpg
Mottolino.jpg
 
M

monc

Likes Dirt
We followed EsPeGe's advice and went to the Molveno/Paganella area. It was stunning! Fortunately they had some trails and a lift open (and only saw evidence of one bear!) - we were there too early in the year (official opening was the first week in June). There's still a lot of snow cover and areas like Livigno etc are still getting prepared for summer activities. We drove through Val di Sole and Bormio and they both look stunning too.

The guys at Danger Zone bikes looked after us - good rental equipment and a willingness to swap brakes around etc.

The Lake Garda area also looked like it has lots - but was already crazy busy.
 

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